“One important feature however may be remarked, as common to the Travellers’ and Reform Clubs on the one hand, and to Bridgewater House on the other, namely, the unbroken cornice which surmounts each building. The cornice is proportioned to the whole height of the building, and it is a curious circumstance that Bridgewater House is the last of his designs which contains this feature. In the case of the Treasury, the original design by Sir John Soane controlled of course very decidedly Sir C. Barry’s operations, but the features which he introduced, namely, the broken entablatures (tending towards a vertical, as opposed to the original horizontal effect of Sir J. Soane’s work), the carved panels between the two principal rows of windows, the covering of the entire surface with rustication and panels, the elaborate carving in the attics, go far to show that, whether influenced by the decorative character of the New Palace, Westminster, or by other considerations, he was rapidly changing the character of his Italian designs, and ornamenting them with increased decoration. The same tendency may be observed in his subsequent designs for the sculpture galleries at Shrubland Park and for the Government Offices. At Shrubland the entablature is broken over the columns and pilasters, and in his design for the Government Offices Sir C. Barry showed his opinion of the present Treasury buildings by adopting them as an integral part of [Illustration: HALIFAX TOWN HALL.] his design, which was indeed materially influenced by this circumstance. “In the design for Halifax Town-hall the freedom of treatment above referred to may be clearly noticed to an even greater extent, not only in the more decorative portions of the work, but also in the arrangement of the plan and general character of the entire design. The tower and spire, which are placed at one corner of the building, form one of its most remarkable features; and, though it is possible that Sir C. Barry might have somewhat modified his design, if he had lived to carry it out, its general outline, and even its details, were too far advanced at the time of his death to have admitted of any radical interference with its essential characteristics.