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.
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