The life and works of Sir Charles BarryBarry, Alfred
General
The life and works of Sir Charles Barry
Barry, Alfred
Architects -- Great Britain -- Biography; Barry, Charles, 1795-1860
The present wall space for pictures, which amounts to about 16,920
superficial feet, would, by the proposed additions and alterations,
reach 54,720 feet; and ample space would be provided for sculpture,
casts, &c., as well as for the schools, lecture-rooms, libraries, and
other accommodation required by each department, so that the business of
the schools need not be interrupted, as is now the case at the Royal
Academy, during the entire period of the annual exhibition of modern
productions.
The addition, which I would propose to make in front of the existing
building for the purpose of masking its deformity, and shutting out of
view from the south all the unsightly objects on the rising ground at
the back which are now seen above it, would be in the Italian style of
architecture, about 430 feet in length and nearly 100 feet in height,
with flanking towers about 30 feet square, rising to a height of 130
feet. The composition would consist of two orders of architecture in the
façade generally, and three in the towers, elevated upon a lofty arcaded
ground story, affording covered access to the building for carriages to
the extent of 100 feet in length. In the centre of the front in each of
the orders above the ground story I would propose open loggiæ, about 100
feet long, to enable visitors to enjoy the view to the south, and obtain
a little fresh air as a relief to the often oppressive and wearisome
effect produced by an inspection of very extensive galleries of works of
art.
The cost of such additions and alterations as I have suggested would
probably amount to about 135,000_l._, and as the Royal Academy would be
much benefited by the increased and improved accommodation that they
would afford, a portion of its funded property might fairly be required
as a contribution to that expenditure, and the remainder might be
reasonably looked for from Parliament, as being for the permanent
accommodation of a new national institution. Such a building as that
proposed, upon such a noble and commanding site as that of Trafalgar
Square, could not fail to have a very striking effect, and would
dominate over that portion of the Metropolis, as the Vatican does over
Rome.
FOURTHLY.
As regards the present Museum of Economic Geology, in Jermyn Street.
This institution occupies a good, well-frequented, and nearly central
position, and has recently been formed by the country at an expenditure
of about 40,000_l._ It contains 112 squares of building, including a
fine theatre for lectures, a mineralogical museum, and good
accommodation for various scientific purposes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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