addition to the architectural ornaments of the town.
It is in the Grecian style. The principal elevation,
(seen in the Engraving) towards Mosley-street,
has a noble portico of six lofty columns of the Ionic
order, supporting a rich entablature and pediment in
the centre, on each side of which are columns and
pilasters connecting it with the wings. Above
the doors and windows are panels for bas-reliefs symbolical
of the design of the Institution: the attic story
of the hall has been recently, or is to be, surmounted
by a finely-sculptured figure of Minerva. The
area round the building is enclosed with a handsome
iron palisade on a lofty plinth of masonry, with pedestals
at the angles of the steps leading to the portico
and side entrances. The centre comprises the
Hall and the Theatre; one of the wings is appropriated
as an Academy of the Fine Arts, with exhibition rooms,
and the other as a Museum of Natural History.
The Hall which is wholly lighted from the attic story,
is 40 feet square, and 60 feet high; it contains a
grand staircase of stone, consisting of central and
lateral nights, with pedestals for sculptures, leading
to a gallery on three sides of the hall, supported
on Doric pillars; and to the theatre, which is of a
semicircular form. On the gallery are entrances
on each side leading through corridors flanked with
columns, into the exhibition-rooms in each wing of
the building; the ceiling of the Hall is richly-paneled
in deeply-recessed compartments, and beneath the attic
windows is a rich frieze for bas-reliefs. The
Theatre will hold 600 persons, has a gallery supported
on columns of bronze, and the walls are decorated with
engaged columns, and with isolated columns in the
angles: the ceiling is richly paneled, and the
theatre is lighted by a lantern, which, by machinery,
may be darkened instantaneously, at the will of the
lecturer. There are three exhibition rooms in
each wing, which may be thrown into one. There
are also various rooms for the use of officers and
others connected with the Institution, to which access
is obtained from the hall and other parts of the building.
The whole cost of this elegant pile is stated at about
50,000_l_. The Institution is under the direction
of a President, twelve vice-presidents, and a committee,
chosen from a body of nearly 700 hereditary and life
governors, of whom the former are contributors of
forty, and the latter of twenty-five guineas each.
These Views are from well-executed engravings, by Fothergill, of Manchester, which we recommend to the notice of tourists, for memoranda of their visit, as well as of the due rank of Manchester among the provincial towns of the United Kingdom.
Among the other public buildings of Manchester, are the Exchange, a handsome Grecian structure; the Hall of the Literary and Philosophical Society, universally known by its excellent published memoirs; the Portico, and other public libraries; theatres, hospitals, churches, bridges, &c.