Freemasons' Hall.

FREEMASONS' HALL .

( From " The Builder . " ) Nineteen or twenty designs for tbe buildings intended to be erected in Great Queen-street , by the Freemasons , or for additions tothe existing hall have been received in competition , ancl have been on view during tbe past week , in St . Martin ' s Hall , Long-acre . Knowing- the problem in this case submitted

to our profession to be one of some difficulty , we applied in due time , for permission to see tbe drawings prior to their public exhibition . Our application , however , could not be acceded to ; and the result is that we are not able to give to-fche subject the complete notice which we believe would be deserved .

The object in view was stated in the printed " instructions , " or particulars , to be the provision of * ' a suitable Temple or Hall for Freemasonry , " to include accommodation for the Grand Lodge , for the Grand Master and Executive Officers , and for private lodges and the Craft . The hall proper , and the apartments and offices were to be adjoining each the other , and to have convenient internal access to a tavern of the first

class , as the case is at present ; whilst in other respects , the two buildings , or parts of the whole , wero to be distinct and separate . The ground shown by one of the plans furnished , at a stated charge , to intending competitors—and which plans should have been exhibited at the commencement of the week , with the competitors' drawings , to admit of the case being understood by visitors at that time—is described as about 19-1 feet in depthand about 132 feet in length . This ground

, would include the site , of tbe present tavern , that of the Grand Secretary's offices east of it ; the hall proper forming the back of the tavern ; and additional space which has been obtained to the west . Tbe "Hall" ( illustratedin Britton ancl Pugin's Public Biddings of London ) is used as well for gatherings of the Craft , as for public dinners in connection with the tavern , as most Londoners are aware . It measures 92 feet by

38 feet , its longer axis running north and south , bnt not exactly in the centre of the ground , It is important to note that this hall is intended to be preserved ; whilst another hall capable of providing for 450 to 500 persons at dinner , and with a gallery for 150 spectators , is contemplated as part of the new tavern-buiding . Light from the exterior of the ground is obtainable only from Great Queen-street and from Middle yard . The printed particulars represented that it was " considered very desirable , but not imperative , that the portion westward" of the present hall ( or tbe new

ground , and the hall itself , should be "applied exclusively for the purposes of Masonry ; " and further , it was said that the facade representing Freemasons' Hall , which was to be of Portland stone , and of a plain ancl elegant character , should extend in length to the east wall of tho great hall , or about 89 feet , presuming the offices placed west , or about 88 feet should these Masonic offices have tbe east side of the property appropriated to them . The present tavern , together with the portion

eastward of it , and now used as offices and including the Temple , — in all about 85 feet in length—is elsewhere distinctly required , with the exception of the facade and such rooms therein as may be appropriated to Masonic purposes , to be occupied by additions and alterations to the tavern , and to be separated from the Masonic portion . These several instructions have sufficed to lead most of tho competitors to place the tavern as considered very desirable , and therefore the new banqnetting-hall appertaining

to the tavern , in tho narrower of tbe two spaces , parallel with tbe hall , that were open for selection . The difference , in that rearward portion of tbe ground , is said to be some feet more than than the statements of figures of the frontage would show . It is obvious that the difference , whatever it is , is important , for , the question is of seating -1-50 people at least , and for this object , not an inch of ground is to spare . The portion of tbe frontage appropriated to the tavernabout 4-3 or 4 . 4 feet in

, length , was to be distinct in character from tho Masonic building , and plain . It might be of brick with stone dressings . Some of the competitors , however , have offered designs bringing the whole frontage into one composition . Some of the number , but we think a small minority , have arranged the plan with the offices in their present position , or to the east , appropriating the new ground west , to the tavern . This arrangement has several advantages beyond the one already

adverted to . . It is important to note as an object which there is in addition to that of preservation of tbe "hall , " the desirableness that the work should be " so arranged as to admit of being carried out with the least possible interference to the business of Grand Lodge , or that of the tenants of the present tavern , " and that "in every case where parts of the present building can be conveniently appropriated , they are to bo so converted as to form part of the new buildings . " All

these objects can best be attained by devoting the new or western ground to the tavern . The arrangement is adopted in a design marked 100 , which treats the centre , tbe offices , and the tavern , in the front , in some measure as distinct buildings . They are shown in a boldly-drawn perspective view . The design , of an Italian character , bas some features of detail which are good as well as novel . A similar arrangement of the hotel is found in a design marked Q , which is also of Italian character , though

very different to the last . Again , the author of a design marked with two intersecting triangles coloured red and blue , shows the arrangement as an alternative . In fact , he shows at least the two arrangements of plan , and an elevation which could be equally adapted to the western or to the eastern principle , if we may so speak , of distribution . Besides skill in the planning , there is much freshness aa well as taste in the design of the exterior in this set of drawings . It is of Renaissance character . The

interior , however , is later Italian , still tasteful , but scarcely a . judiciously chosen contrast . Some of the plans adopting the arrangement just mentioned , preserve the Temple—as they are able to do . The Masonic requirements include a library , a coffee-room , Grand Secretary and . clerks' offices , muniment-room , waiting-room , large committee-room , three offices for charities , —all these rooms suggested to be on tbe ground floor ; andfurtherthey include

, , the present hall ; four lodge-rooms , each with an ante-room , having , where practicable , a small private room attached to it , but the small room not being a passage to the lodge-room ; robing-room for the Grand Master , and one for Grand Officers ; two or three small committee-rooms , should space allow ; Grand Ty ler ' s apartments , five rooms , in the basement , ; and other requisites . The tavern , already described as separated , generally , hut required to have a good internal access provided from the

Masonic portion of the building , is to include , besides the large bivnqnetting-hau , a dining-room for 130 persons , one for 100 , one for 50 , and one for 20 . The rooms known as the Sussex ancl the Cambridge ; the Glee-voom , and the Dining-room could be retained as dining-rooms in the tavern ; and the present Clarence , with an addition , might be used as a coffee-room for Freemasons . Premiums of £ 150 , £ 100 , and £ 50 , were offered for the best designsas our readers are aware ; ancl three desi are

, gns pointed to as likely to receive the re . yards . In the design wit ' n the motto " L ' Union , fait la Force , " the tavern is placed to the east , and the Masonic portion of the building west . One part of the plan , tbe entrance , though treated so as to disguise the difference of centre between the corridor or hall of entrance , and the passage beyond it , and to that extent workmanlike , is in [ dimensions of doorway and its other features , altogether

short of the requirements of tbe chief or only access to a building crowded on many occasions with persons entering . Several elevations , differing considerably , but all of Italian character , have been designed to the general plan here under notice . The design shown in the principal perspective view , having salient columns the hei ght of two stories to carry statues , is , of the lot , the least satisfactory to us , some of the

elevations are beautifully executed drawings . " Elevation No . 1 " has the front , for the height of the principal stories , divided into three bays , by four bold rusticated piers . In each bay a a specimens of loggia , with Corinthians columns , is formed ; the window being set hack . The entablature is common to the small order , and to the piers , which last have capitals ranging with the Corinthian capitals , and are terminated above the

entablature by seated figures . These are in face of piers of an attic that terminates the building . The columns of the small order have vases over tliem . In the centre bay , the cantilevercornice which crowns the attic , is interrupted ; ancl raked mouldings of a pediment are introduced . Beneath , is a semicircular window-arch—the arcliivolt carved with signs of the zodiacthe whole arrangement very difficult to treat efficientl

, y . The banquetting-hall , seen internally , has a segmental ceiling divided by ribs , and the bays between them filled in at the haunches of the soffit wiqh secondary ribs placed diagonally , and leaving on each side of the ceiling a coffer , set diamondwise , in which is a circular opening for admission of light . The