f the principal front in Chancery-lane is
purely Grecian. The details and proportions appear to have been founded
upon the best examples of the Ionic order in Athens and Asia Minor,[2] but
they are not servilely copied from any of them.

Mr. Vulliamy, the architect for the Institution, has thrown into this
front the true spirit of the originals; and the effect which the
harmonious proportions of the building produce on the spectator, when
viewing it from Chancery-lane, must have been the result of much
observation and experience in ancient and classic models.

This front, extending nearly sixty feet in width, is of Portland stone. It
consists of four columns and two antae, of the Grecian Ionic order,
supporting an entablature and pediment, and forming together one grand
portico. To give the requisite elevation, the columns and antae are raised
upon pedestals; these, as well as the basement story and podium of the
inner wall of the portico, are of Aberdeen granite; the columns and the
rest of the front are formed of large blocks of Portland stone. In the
front wall, within the portico, there are two ranges of windows above the
basement.

The front in Bell-yard extends nearly eighty feet, and will be finished
with Roman cement, in imitation of stone. It will have a portico of two
columns, and two antae of Portland stone, of the height of the ground
story, which is very lofty, and the width of the entire compartment of the
front. From the interior requiring to be divided into several rooms, this
front must have many windows. The elevation is formed more upon the models
of modern domestic architecture than of ancient public buildings, and
resembles, in its general appearance, one of the palazzi in the Strada
Balbi at Genoa, in the Corso at Rome, or in the Toledo at Naples. In its
details, however, the extravagancies of the middle ages, and the often
elegant frivolities of the _cinque cento_ period, have been avoided, and
the breadth and simplicity of Greek models have still been followed.

The ground plan of the building, by its general arrangement, divides
itself into three parts, which may be distinguished under the heads of the
_Library_, the _Hall_, and the _Club Room_. The first of these (that
towards Chancery-lane) consists, on the ground floor, of a first and
second vestibule, and staircase to the Library, the Secretary's Room, and
Registry Office; and above these on the first floor, the Library,
occupying the hei