The illustration on this page gives point to the foregoing remarks because Mr. B. Vincent Hurris's new City Hall at Sheffield in in the direct line of the grent classic tradition. It is magnificently reactionary, He plays no tricks with his Orders, He maker them give their full value by contrast with well-masued bare forms. He avoids the common vice of potted decoration which deteacts the eye from what should always be the centre of interest of a Corinthian colonnade—the caps of the columns. The whole building has breadth and strength without appearing bald or dull. The sparkle of the metal grilles at the main doors gives just the required amount of relief to the masses of golden-buff Darley Dale atone.
The interior of the great Concert Hall, which has accommodation for 3,600 persons, a true complement to the exterior, It oval in plan and has a domed ceiling. Again the forms are umply decorated, the walls being bare areas of acoustic plaster. A colonnade of four Corinthian columns, concealing the organ, nets ins climax to the interior and the metal grille motif of the entrance is repeated. The vermilion and gold of the grilles contrast with the warm honey colour of the walls, the beige of upholstery and carpets and the brown walnut panelling of balcony fronts and softts. Two magnificent Aayrian lions, carved by Mr. John Hodge in Hopton Wood stone, flank an "entrance of honour" on the platform. link between entrance and exterior there is a hall of three saucer-domed compartments lined with Hopton Wood stone. The gallery shown in our fMlustration ix of Ashburt e one may com mend the yllsh materials by Mr, Vincent Harr tomed to that splendid mate 1, Portland elliptical main hall and its balconies are of solid reinforced concrete construction, while the outer ring of minor rooms has a reinforced concrete frame with brick infilling, the elevations being ashlar faced. It is worth noting that the Corinthian columns of the entrance portico are of solid stone drums, and are weight-bearing. Why we continue to deny the inherent compress sive strength of stone, even sometimes threading drums on to steel cores is a mystery that is never adequately explained. While in one sense Sheffield City Hall is a traditional building, in another it reflects tendencies that are distinctly modern. One in in the understanding of the fluid nature of reinforced. concrete to produce such forms as ellipses, another is the use of usual decorative materials The acoustics of the large Concert Hall re anid to be very good, a matter of some surprise with a shape inherently awkward the Albert Hall). lined with acoustic plaster, which not only reduces the danger of odd reverberations from their curved surfaces, bat adds considerably to the absorbent area already provided in the carpets and upholstery, That notorious acoustic nuisance, the dome, is here of so fiat a curvature as to be harmless, while its sur face in broken up with heavy cofferings QElectrical Advance in
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.