Vol. CXVIII — 3068
The ARCHITECT
& BUILDING NEWS
October 7, 1927
Proprietors: Gilbert Wood & Co., Ltd.
Managing Director: William L. Wood
Editorial, Publishing and Advertisement Offices:
Rolls House, 2 Breams Buildings, London, E. C. 4. Tel.: Holborn 5708 Registered Office: Imperial Buildings, Ludgate Circus, London, E. C. 4
Principal Contents
Notes and Comments............................................... Pages 559, 560 New Premises for Messrs. Madelon Chaumet, Ltd.
(Illustration).................................................................561
Essays by the Way — VII.: Holiday Towns........................... 561, 562 The Manchester Town Hall Competition (Illustrations)
563-568 Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School, Barnet (Illustrations)
569, 572 The New Midland Bank, Poultry (Illustrations)..................... 570, 571 Correspondence............................................................................. 572 Professional Societies.................................................................... 572
New Masonic Temple, Birmingham (Illustrations)............... 573-576 The Home of a Great French Architect (Illustrations)
577, 578, 581 Architecture and Engineering (Illustrations)......................... 582, 585 London Building Notes ..................................................... 586 Week’s Building News ..................................................... 589 Building Contracts Open.......................................................... 590 Building Tenders..................................................... 590, 594 Current Market Prices......................................................... 593, 594
Current Measured Rates............................................ 597, 598
NOTES AND COMMENTS
Although the result of the Manchester Town Hall Extension and Central Library Competition has been announced, it is, apparently, the intention of the Manchester City Council to proceed only with the Town Hall extensiton at present. The rapid deterioration of the books, at present stored in temporary buildings, has, however, led to a strong movement among Manchester citizens calling for the speedy provision of the contemplated new library accommodation. At the Council meeting this week, the Lord Mayor Elect (Councillor Davy) will move a resolution to enable the necessary steps — obtaining borrowing powers, tenders for erection, etc. — to be taken so that the library portion of the scheme can be started in January 1929. A delay of a year is probably necessary in the circumstances, but though Manchester, like other great cities, has some heavy commitments in expenditure, the general financial situation is not likely to so greatly alter within the next few years as to justify holding up the new library for an indefinite period, and we trust that an approximate date for starting the work will be decided upon.
Mr. Hope Bagenal has made a suggestion that the Guards’ Chapel, in Birdcage Walk, as a fine example in the Greek Doric, should, with the aid of paint, be made an exhibition of the polychromy that was an essential part of the Doric Order. It would undoubtedly be interesting to see some example of the Greek style with its various parts picked out in hues calculated to give to the whole something of the true Classic flavour; and as the Guards’ Chapel is periodically re-decorated with the usual sober stone colour, it might, for once, be possible to vary the procedure if only for the educational value. It is to be feared, however, that the authorities will not take kindly to a scheme for which Mr. Bagenal, probably with the London climate in mind, cannot promise more than a temporary effect, and his request that, to ensure the reflection of light from below, the floor of the portico should be kept constantly whitewashed, would probably horrify the military authorities, unless he can induce them to adopt the operation as a new fatigue duty.
One of the most important new buildings in the City of London — the Midland Bank Head Office, Poultry, E. C. 2 — is now fast approaching completion. It is so nearly finished that the directors were able to hold a meeting in their new board-room last week, and the public have been admitted to do business in part of the future great banking hall. Two-thirds
of the area comprised in the scheme have, however, yet to be delivered up by the contractors, but drawings by Mr. Cyril Farey, which are reproduced elsewhere in this issue, will give some idea of the interior treatment of the building, which has been designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, R. A., in association with Messrs. Gotch & Saunders. When completed, the building will have a frontage of 190 feet to Poultry and of 116 feet to Princes Street, and with a total floor space of over six acres, providing accommodation for a staff of 2, 400. It will possess three floors below ground and ten above, the top ones being set back in two tiers leading up to the domes which surmount each frontage, 137 feet above pavement level. The lowest basement houses the engineering apparatus and machinery required for the heating, water supply, vacuum cleaning, electrical supply and ventilation of the building; the middle basement is taken up chiefly by strong-rooms, book-rooms and stores; while the first basement will be used for safe deposits and additional store-rooms, with private rooms for the examination of valuables deposited, and being accessible to customers, has received a decorative treatment not often accorded to subground levels. For the interior treatment of this floor and its staircase approach, the banking hall, the board-room, managerial offices, as well as the exterior elevations in Portland stone, Sir Edwin Lutyens is responsible. The banking hall is faced in white and veined marble, the columns having white marble bases and shafts of African verdite. All joinery work here is carried out in figured American walnut. The circular balustrade, seen in the illustration of this hall, surrounds an open well lighting the main corridor of the safe deposit below. The first, second and third floors will house the general clerical staffs, the fourth will be occupied by the chairman and managerial staff, the fifth comprises the board-room, committee-rooms, etc., while on the sixth there are to be staff dining-rooms, smoking-rooms, kitchens, restrooms, etc. For access to this great structure, thirteen lifts and five staircases have been provided.
Mrs. G. F. Watts has written to The Times to contradict the statement, often made in the past, that the painting which her husband had contemplated for the Great Hall at Euston Station was to be the “Progress of Cosmos. ” The famous Academician disliked this assumption, for which such an environment was entirely out of keeping. Moreover, the space at Euston was entirely inadequate for Cosmos, dimly perceived by its progenitor as taking its decorative
The ARCHITECT
& BUILDING NEWS
October 7, 1927
Proprietors: Gilbert Wood & Co., Ltd.
Managing Director: William L. Wood
Editorial, Publishing and Advertisement Offices:
Rolls House, 2 Breams Buildings, London, E. C. 4. Tel.: Holborn 5708 Registered Office: Imperial Buildings, Ludgate Circus, London, E. C. 4
Principal Contents
Notes and Comments............................................... Pages 559, 560 New Premises for Messrs. Madelon Chaumet, Ltd.
(Illustration).................................................................561
Essays by the Way — VII.: Holiday Towns........................... 561, 562 The Manchester Town Hall Competition (Illustrations)
563-568 Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School, Barnet (Illustrations)
569, 572 The New Midland Bank, Poultry (Illustrations)..................... 570, 571 Correspondence............................................................................. 572 Professional Societies.................................................................... 572
New Masonic Temple, Birmingham (Illustrations)............... 573-576 The Home of a Great French Architect (Illustrations)
577, 578, 581 Architecture and Engineering (Illustrations)......................... 582, 585 London Building Notes ..................................................... 586 Week’s Building News ..................................................... 589 Building Contracts Open.......................................................... 590 Building Tenders..................................................... 590, 594 Current Market Prices......................................................... 593, 594
Current Measured Rates............................................ 597, 598
NOTES AND COMMENTS
Although the result of the Manchester Town Hall Extension and Central Library Competition has been announced, it is, apparently, the intention of the Manchester City Council to proceed only with the Town Hall extensiton at present. The rapid deterioration of the books, at present stored in temporary buildings, has, however, led to a strong movement among Manchester citizens calling for the speedy provision of the contemplated new library accommodation. At the Council meeting this week, the Lord Mayor Elect (Councillor Davy) will move a resolution to enable the necessary steps — obtaining borrowing powers, tenders for erection, etc. — to be taken so that the library portion of the scheme can be started in January 1929. A delay of a year is probably necessary in the circumstances, but though Manchester, like other great cities, has some heavy commitments in expenditure, the general financial situation is not likely to so greatly alter within the next few years as to justify holding up the new library for an indefinite period, and we trust that an approximate date for starting the work will be decided upon.
Mr. Hope Bagenal has made a suggestion that the Guards’ Chapel, in Birdcage Walk, as a fine example in the Greek Doric, should, with the aid of paint, be made an exhibition of the polychromy that was an essential part of the Doric Order. It would undoubtedly be interesting to see some example of the Greek style with its various parts picked out in hues calculated to give to the whole something of the true Classic flavour; and as the Guards’ Chapel is periodically re-decorated with the usual sober stone colour, it might, for once, be possible to vary the procedure if only for the educational value. It is to be feared, however, that the authorities will not take kindly to a scheme for which Mr. Bagenal, probably with the London climate in mind, cannot promise more than a temporary effect, and his request that, to ensure the reflection of light from below, the floor of the portico should be kept constantly whitewashed, would probably horrify the military authorities, unless he can induce them to adopt the operation as a new fatigue duty.
One of the most important new buildings in the City of London — the Midland Bank Head Office, Poultry, E. C. 2 — is now fast approaching completion. It is so nearly finished that the directors were able to hold a meeting in their new board-room last week, and the public have been admitted to do business in part of the future great banking hall. Two-thirds
of the area comprised in the scheme have, however, yet to be delivered up by the contractors, but drawings by Mr. Cyril Farey, which are reproduced elsewhere in this issue, will give some idea of the interior treatment of the building, which has been designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, R. A., in association with Messrs. Gotch & Saunders. When completed, the building will have a frontage of 190 feet to Poultry and of 116 feet to Princes Street, and with a total floor space of over six acres, providing accommodation for a staff of 2, 400. It will possess three floors below ground and ten above, the top ones being set back in two tiers leading up to the domes which surmount each frontage, 137 feet above pavement level. The lowest basement houses the engineering apparatus and machinery required for the heating, water supply, vacuum cleaning, electrical supply and ventilation of the building; the middle basement is taken up chiefly by strong-rooms, book-rooms and stores; while the first basement will be used for safe deposits and additional store-rooms, with private rooms for the examination of valuables deposited, and being accessible to customers, has received a decorative treatment not often accorded to subground levels. For the interior treatment of this floor and its staircase approach, the banking hall, the board-room, managerial offices, as well as the exterior elevations in Portland stone, Sir Edwin Lutyens is responsible. The banking hall is faced in white and veined marble, the columns having white marble bases and shafts of African verdite. All joinery work here is carried out in figured American walnut. The circular balustrade, seen in the illustration of this hall, surrounds an open well lighting the main corridor of the safe deposit below. The first, second and third floors will house the general clerical staffs, the fourth will be occupied by the chairman and managerial staff, the fifth comprises the board-room, committee-rooms, etc., while on the sixth there are to be staff dining-rooms, smoking-rooms, kitchens, restrooms, etc. For access to this great structure, thirteen lifts and five staircases have been provided.
Mrs. G. F. Watts has written to The Times to contradict the statement, often made in the past, that the painting which her husband had contemplated for the Great Hall at Euston Station was to be the “Progress of Cosmos. ” The famous Academician disliked this assumption, for which such an environment was entirely out of keeping. Moreover, the space at Euston was entirely inadequate for Cosmos, dimly perceived by its progenitor as taking its decorative