architect, having given free rein to his own conceptions
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 Boroug