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“ We again venture to state to the Committee the difficul-ties which have attended the making of the report herewithsubmitted, and which, but for the unanimous decision atwhich we have arrived, we confess, might have left doubtsin our minds, if our view had not been confined by the Com-mittee to the expenditure of a given sum.”
On receiving this report, the Joint Committee met at Mer-cers’ Hall on Friday, the 18 tH October, to consider thereport, and again inspect the designs, and came to the follow-ing resolutions :—
“ Resolved,—That the premiums he awarded to the archi-tects who have produced the plans numbered as under—
No. 36 the first premium .£300
„ 43 the second “ £200
„ 37 the third “ £100
being those reported by the architects as the three bestdesigns.
“ And it was resolved, that Sir R. Smirke, and I. Gwilt,and P. Hardwick, Esqrs., having stated in their report uponthe respective merits of the plans selected by them, that theycannot recommend any one to be carried into execution, thisCommittee doth request them to take the 1st, 2nd, and 3rdplans, as selected by them, into consideration, and prepare aplan and specification for a new Royal Exchange, such as intheir judgment should be carried into execution, havingreference, at the same time, to the printed instructions issuedby this Committee to the architects.”
The following were the architects to whom the premiumswere adjudged.
No. 36, £300, to Mr. William Grellier, district surveyor,20, Wormwood-street.
No. 43, £200, to M. Alexis De Chateauneuff, of Ham-burgh ; and Mr. Arthur Mee, of Carlton Chambers.
No. 37, £100, to Mr. Sydney Smirke , of CarltonChambers.
The architects of the remaining designs of the first class.
No. 33, Messrs. Wyatt and Brandon.
The architects of the second-class designs, which were con-sidered too expensive.
„ 46, Mr. Richardson.
„ 27, Mr. David Mocatta.
The next step taken by the Committee was to appointMr. George Smith, the City - surveyor, and Mr. Tite, toinquire into the eligibility of some one of the designsselected by the umpires for the premiums. Mr. Tite, how-ever, refused to act, and the onus devolved on Mr. Smithalone. This gentleman submitted a report to the Com-mittee , in which he advised the rejection of the wholeof the designs; and the Committee , acting on this advice,without ceremony threw the supposed successful candi-dates overboard, and boldly selected six other architects,whom they requested to send in designs for the contemplatedbuilding. The gentlemen so honoured by the Committeewere Sir R. Smirke, Mr. Barry, Mr. Gwilt, Mr. Hardwick,Mr. Cockerell, and Mr. Tite, the whole of whom, exceptingthe two last, declined accepting the invitation, being doubtlessinfluenced to such course by the bad faith observed fo allparties by the Committee. What also added to the publicdissatisfaction was, that rivalry or competition between Mr.Cockerell and Mr. Tite was considered out of the question,from their previous connection. Thus the whole mattereventually settled down in Mr. Tite being selected finally toprepare the design for the new Royal Exchange.
That design we shall now proceed to describe, as given byMr. Tite himself, in his explanation to the Committee :—
Extent and Site. . . _ fro®
The total length of the building is 293 feet 6 me fliethe columns of the portico on the west, to the pila ste * . tb eeast end ; the width of the portico is 89 feet 6 me t) isextreme width at the east end, at the broades f t |, to175 feet, and the width through the centre, from
south, is 144 feet.
The building is placed in the centre between pre*front of the Bank , and a mean line of the irregu* aI j ’.jj . tl> esented by the houses on the south side of 0°i n jj n0 , a nd,east and west fronts are at right angles to the "n n Mtben° rlbof course, the angle formed by the intersection o g#n) e >and south fronts, with the east and west fronts, is r egU"by this means, the building, though not rectangular,lar in the plan.
Arrangement. , 0 f th e
Gresham College occupies the north-west a ”®£ roBJ tl> ebuilding on the principal story, and is enterednorth. soutll .ives‘
The Royal Exchange Assurance occupies the s a( j e , ° nangle, and the space over the west end of the co 0 0 f th ethe one-pair floor, and is entered from the southloggia, under the portico. j 0 f d,e
The London Assurance occupies the greater p‘ ^ thesouth front on the principal story, and is enteresouth. t jj fi'on 19
Lloyd’s fills up the remainder of the east and no
SOU
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of the principal story, and is entered in three P^' ce ^from the east and the north-east corner, and f J °north.
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the
There is a small additional staircase and en j pi' 0 'principal lecture-room of the Gresham College . g op eI19pose to use for the exit from the lectures only) an f
into the loggia under the portico. A
The commercial room proposed to be attache -htaarflrom Mr. Barnes, of the 26tb rop.’i ated
and which, in a letter from ivrr. names, oi - r0 pI am requested so to manage as that it might be apP ^ ur pifor offices, if not eventually required for the a o gt0 ,.y
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lias been accordingly placed by me on the principal pr0 pos ethe north side. Tfr.ru iw T.lnvd’s, I shoum g „ eto convert this
If not required by Lloyd’s, 1 8 0 gjces>lv/ VyOll V V/i 1/ Lino room into a double range o t ], elighted from the street, and the other lighted to - n a tbFof the Exchange, each office having a room °^.^j nC t st®floor ; the access to these rooms would be by a . t j nC t s *‘ fcase and entrance on the north, for which a j a i r°°must he taken. The mean width of this com aw ®
must be taken. The mean width of this comi “)C e for »”is 39 feet, and its length 96 feet; allowing, tl .‘® re p or 12 ® et98 feet passage in the middle, it would provide
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of offices, each 16 feet hvite .
act for prov£„ r / n f' ^ ^ fhe 62nd Se fr,S#°Committee wo h° 1 S , lte ior tlle Royal Exchange, the G ein any part‘of b t ? Und . , toaompen sate any party holding » rlessee 7 is ,-!- ' he , old Ko J raI Exchange, unless thebably onlTh^t^ A ® regards the offices, this would preseLd /J* Value of ‘*>e difference betvf 'importance 116 actUid rent, and not a matter o
round the Ex Ut > ^ Va!uable ^ades and occ^ ]dbecome . “S 6 are reinstated, the question
good-wills lm P ortan t one, because it would ‘° v0 . sta te-meni tf the . P^ies. The mere question of r^
revenue Tt™! ’ 8 not the only one ; for it is <*<* r ’ of
revenue to be obtained from the shops, after the exp^
—c iten ’
icvouuc tv uc uuiauicu ixuiu
the present leases, must form a very importan . tincome to be derived from the building- la 0 • :
to & eet111 0rQe inj ure tl> e
these requirements, and still, I hope, in no way to^ th®design, 1 have placed the shops or offices on a e