of what was required in a modern erection of the nature of a local Parliament House.  The south, or principal front (to Ann Street), has a length of 296 feet, the frontage to Congreve Street is 122 feet, and that to Eden Place is 153 feet.  From the ground to the top of the main cornice the height is 65 feet; the pediment over the central entrance is 90 feet high; the stone cornice of the dome 114 feet; and the top of the finial 162 feet, the dome rising behind the central pediment from the main staircase.  Looked at from a distance, the features of the building that at first strike the spectator are the carved groups of life-sized figures in the six pediments.  The Ann Street and Congreve Street frontages have a pediment at each end, of semicircular shape, and the Eden Place frontage has one at the end where it joins the principal front.  The pediment in the centre of the south front is triangular in shape, and contains a group of sculptured figures representing “Britannia rewarding the Birmingham manufacturers.”  In the other pediments the groups represent Manufacture, Commerce, Literature, Art, and Science.  Under the central pediment, and within a semicircular arch over the central entrance, is a large and beautiful figure-subject in mosaic, executed by Messrs. Salviati and Co., of London.  Besides the central entrance, which is reached through a portico supported by square and round columns, and is reserved for the use of the Town Council and state occasions, there are four entrances to the building, one at each end of the principal front, one in Eden Place, and the other within the gateway which runs through the Congreve Street wing into the courtyard at the back.  By the last-mentioned staircase access is obtained by the general public to the Council Chamber.  The building contains 94 rooms of various sizes, three of the largest devoted to occasions of ceremony, and the rest to the uses of the different departments of the Corporation work.  The central of the three reception rooms is 30 feet square, and is divided from the other two by an open screen of marble columns, both rooms being 64ft. by 30ft.  The Council Chamber is 39ft. wide and, including the gallery for spectators, is 48ft. long, the fittings and furniture being of the most substantial character as well as ornamental.  In various parts of the building accommodation has been found for the Town Clerk, the Borough Treasurer, Surveyor, Analyst, Chief Constable, and every other department of Corporation work.  The furnishing of the Council Chamber and the other parts of the Municipal Buildings amounted to L15,603, the laying in of the gas and water services being L2,418 additional.

Odd-Fellows’ Hall.—­Before the New Street Railway Station was erected there was an Odd-Fellows’ Hall in King Street.  The first stone of the present building in Upper Temple Street was laid early in 1849, the opening ceremony taking place Dec. 3 same year.  The principal room or “hall” will accommodate about 1,000 persons, the remaining portion of the premises being let off in offices.