LONDON'S NEW BUILDINGS

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 314, 29 September 1908, Page 9

LONDON'S NEW BUILDINGS

MARBLE USED IN PLACE OF PLASTER. MILLIONS ADDED TO WEALTH Of THE STREETS. Tho boast of Augustus...that he " found Rome of brick and left.it" of marblo" may soon bo applicable to London by its present citizens. New and costly buildings" are rising or hare risen in' ■ the.- ' streets . conceived on a scale af magnificence that would have astonished our fathers, and that has certainly ereited MUKSwai aid admiration from the stranger. _ 'V . The development is mainly, id the use of •xtote beautiful ;ind costly' building.materials. Portland stone displaces bricki bTonze' tak'cs '\io place of iron, marble the place of plaster, ind polished hardwoods replace painted deal. Probably the Inst word-.in luxury! fa .'the Jse of jasper, which is being employed in two new buildings in course "of construction in London. One is the Norwich Union office, St,. James's, Street, where the lower part of the building is. faced. with Welsh jasper. . . ■ , j.; 0v ..,;-. MARBLE FLOORS.AND' WALLS: Tho most magnificent now building in Lonr, don, probably, is thitt^df'tlifi 1 United Kingdom Provident Institution' in the J Strand." "Its' bronze outer doors opon into an entrance ha|l lined with Swiss Cipollino marblo, - with -a ceiling of mosaic and a'floor of Italian andSiberian marbles, the prevailing green tones being contrasted with bronze enrichments. The great' circular offico -beyond has walls framed in Greek Cipollino, " one ' of '■' tho world's most exquisite marbles, its cool greygreen tones contrasted-with violet Cipollino panels, - . The staircase is of Swiss "Cipollino marble',■ And tho upper, hall is liiiod with Irish and other grion marbles, enriched with mlays'of blue sodolite. from' Canada, a stone much admired and first quarried for the Princess of Wales. Over the doors aro decorative panels of ormolu bronze and mother-of-pearl. Though Comparatively small in area the building cost upwards of £100,000. The now Central Criminal Court, which has a fine marble staircase with marblelined public halls and wall paintings by famous artists, involved an expenditure of £250,000. A bank, in Lombard Street cost a liko sum, and is decorated with tho phoicest marbles and fine wood-panelling. The new War Office- and tho new Public Offices, each involving a- sum of about £500,000 aro necessarily costly because of their size. ■. Both buildings have fine principal staircases, that at the War Office being of alabaster, with Piastraccia and Brescia marbles; and that at the new Public Officcs being entirely of Mazzano marble from Brescia, a dark oream and very' hard stono, which has not previously been Used on. ail extensivo scale.

MARBLE EXTERIORS. The re-opening of tho old Hellenic quarries by an English syndicate has led to the use of Pentelikoli marble for the exterior of several of London's new buildings, including tho Royal Insurance office at the north-west corner of St. James's Street, which is faced with marble, Onyx has long been used for decorative panels. Tho difficulty with semi-precious stones is to get sound sheets of fair size. Pentclikon costs, roughly, per foot cube twice as much at Portland stone; but tho price of marblo depends always on the sizes of tho blocks. Large blocks cost more per 'foot cuho than small ones. Seven of the hotels and other buildings recently opened in the West End represent an approximate addition of' £2,000,000 to tho wealth of London's Many m'oro costly buildings,- liko the Victoria and Albert Musoum, the now Admiralty block, the new Victoria Stations, and the new Wesleyan Hall are on the way to completion.