Page:Library Construction, Architecture, Fittings, and Furniture.djvu/180

156 "Suggestions as to Public Library Buildings" and was carried out by Sir Thomas Deane, the architect. The stores are divided into three storeys by two floors, the first 16 feet 8 inches, and the second 19 feet 1 inch in height. These are again divided horizontally by perforated iron floors, making in all four tiers or storeys of bookcases. Across the stores 26 double bookcases, between 7 and 8 feet in height, are placed at nearly equal distances apart, the average width of the gangways being 3 feet. They stand at right angles to the windows, and so are fairly well lighted; but as the architect was prevented by aesthetic considerations from giving to the side walls a sufficient number of windows, it has been necessary to provide accumulators to supply electric light during the daytime in several of the divisions. There are eight uprights in each bookcase in the central portion of the book-stack, where the room is slightly narrower than at the ends, and nine in the latter. In the lower storey they are set in the concrete floors, and fixed in the ceiling. In the upper they are also set in concrete, but do not rise to the roof, and the bookcases are steadied by iron bands running along their tops. This method of construction strengthens the whole building, for the uprights connect the two concrete floors, and the weight of the books is evenly distributed over the whole structure. The different floors are reached by straight staircases placed in the centre of the room.

An examination of the plans given in Figs. 71–