Volltext Seite (XML)
1841.] THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 33 NEW TOWN HALL, ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE. Architects, Messrs. Young and Lee. With an Engraving, Plate II. A brief description of this building appeared in the No. for last July. It is in the Roman style of architecture, and consists in front of an attached Corinthian colonnade in antis, surmounted by a balus trade of the same order, which forms a parapet to the centre /of the facade, and is crowned by a group of sculpture. The wings consist of a single interpilaster, and terminate above witli a plain parapet. The two flanks of the building are alike; and consist simply of three win dows in length, each similar to those in front, with antae at the corners only. The attic wall with its cornice is also continued round the flanks. The internal arrangements, it will be seen, demanded that the front wall should form an uninterrupted line, and be pierced w.ith windows along its entire length ; and it was therefore considered preferable to have attached columns—an arrangement adopted in the Erectheium at Athens. The order itself is divided into two stories, and is elevated upon a lofty stylobate. Its proportions are chiefly taken from the Pantheon at Rome. A dentil cornice, instead of one-with modillions, is used to save expense. The design although making no pretensions to originality, is in keep ing with the style adopted, and does credit to the architects, Messrs. Young and Lee of Manchester. y This building, erecting from designs bv one of the architects en gaged, Mr. William Young, of Manchester, is now on the point of being roofed in. It stands on the north side of the new market-place, Ashton-under-lyne; a town which, compared with its size, may be said to be rich in public and private, buildings of importance. Many of these are of a very tasteful character, and certainly reflect great credit on the spirit of the inhabitants. The main portion of the edi fice before us, being that shown on the plan, is entirely faced with tooled Ashlar, from the quarries of Saddlevvorth, in Lancashire, and the remainder of the building faced throughout, with stone from the neighbourhood, neatly hammer-dressed. Ground Plan. £ s § A, Area. P, Piazza, 33-0 x 8'G. E I-I, Entrance Hall, 33'0 x 31’0. S, part of Staircase. C R, Committee Rooms, 26 - 0 x 24'0. C 0, Collector’s Office, 13’0 x 24’0. W R, Waiting Room, 24-6 x 13'0. The plan will describe the principal floor, which is 1G feet high in the clear, and comprises an entrance hall, approached by a piazza in front, and arranged as a triple colonnade of the Ionic order. A handsome geometrical stone staircase, 24'x21' leads from this to the first floor of the building, whose principal feature is a large public room extending over the entire space shown in the plan, S3 ft. in length by 40 ft. in width, and 28 feet high to the cove. The ceiling, as will be seen by the accompanying section, is divided longitudinally into a centre and two side compartments, the former of which is a segmental cove with double panels or lacunars, the upper ones being enriched with open rosettes, screening the ventilators in the roof. To afford light and give effect to these and the members of the ceiling generally, a circular or wheel window of an ornamental character is placed in each tympanum or plane extremity of the cove. The cornice and fascia round the room are entirely plain, and where the latter crosses the ceiling transversely, dividing the three compart ments before mentioned, ornamental brackets or cantilevers are intro duced, connecting the soffit with the opposite walls. The doors and windows of the room are finished with architraves and cornices with plain consoles. Attached to it is a suite of ante and retiring rooms. It is intended for the use of public meetings, assemblies, &c., as well as for holding petty sessions; for this latter purpose it communicates on one side by a circular stone staircase with the police office on the ground floor, and a range of stone lock-ups in the basement. All the doors in the entrance hall and staircase, have architraves and cornices in keeping with the finishings of the large room. The whole of the timbers throughout are Kyanized. This building will be erected for less than the sum specified in the architects’ estimate. ENGINEERING HONOURS AND REWARDS. It seems to be an admitted fact that England is, of all countries, that in which the fewest and most trifling honorary distinctions are con ferred upon men of science—a proposition in which our readers are doubtless fully prepared to express their acquiescence, as one which they have always heard uncontroverted and deplored. For this cause our men of science have complained, and the policy of our government has been called in question, for certainly all history and experience attest to us that honorary distinctions are those rewards which are most grasped at, and most fiercely contended for. It was for a perish able crown of leaves from the neighbouring t: ees that kings entered the lists at Olympia, and Grecian heroes exerted all their powers. It is with such feeling that the man of science looks forward to a dis tinction which is to herald him in society, and to be perhaps the only reward of the labours of years, and of the greatest triumphs of the mind.—The astronomer, the geologist, the mathematician, the natu ralist has few golden premiums to look forward to, a scanty profes sorship or a death-bed pension is the limit of his hopes, and he clings the more to a recompense which is but an acknowledgment of services, for which he can obtain no pay'. The system is good, and we do not wonder that our countrymen strive for its extension, we are only sur prised that they should make invidious comparisons as to their native land, when a little consideration would teach them that their lot is not so much to be contemned. Napoleon gave, it is true, his counties and his baronies, his grand crosses and his stars pretty liberally—the same may be said of other governments—now we have to ascertain what our own authorities have done in this respect. M. Arago complains most truly that we did not make Watt and others peers, but both he and most others seem neither to have reflected upon the reason for this omission, nor to have noticed what really has been done. Politi cal power is one thing, honorary distinction another, and in no country that we are aware of, although isolated instances occur, is it a recog nized principle to invest scientific men with political functions, for (with exceptions of course) no class perhaps could be found less adapted for their competent exercise. The special world of the student is not the great world of the politician, it is a sphere brilliant, but inferior, having its own laws, and pursuing its own revolutions. The chemist has been educated for his laboratory, the astronomer for his watch- tower, the naturalist for his cabinet, and so also must the politician be educated for his duties, and accustomed to their performance. This certainly is one reason why in England the peerage is not to be reck oned among scientific rewards, but there is also another, which how ever it may arise from prejudice, is equally authorised by precedent— the peerage of England is a rank, which whether it be held by the duke or the baron, in the scale of courts is received as princely, which coequalizes with the grandeeship of Spain, and the principality of the Roman empire—a rank similar in fact to Napoleon’s dukes. Now, however it ought to have been—we know that Monge, Cuvier, and. the other illuminati of the empire never were created dukes, but re ceived a lower title, and were not, except in extraordinary cases, invest ed with political power. The. ranks which they received, in the com parative scale of French and English society, are very little more than our knighthood, if so much, for although the counts and barons of the empire were few in number, yet France so swarms with counts and barons of other kinds that they form a very squirearchy for multitude. The same may be said of the Prussian barony and councillorship of state. Admitting then that knighthood is by precedent a competent .reward, we think it will be found that England has not been behind hand, but has rather gone farther by giving, as in the case of baronet cies, an honorary title of even a higher kind. If we look only at the last half century, we shall find a multitude of distinctions given which in our opinion far outbalance any exertion of other nations. The law partakes so much of a political profession that we need scarcely allude E
