Page:Library Construction, Architecture, Fittings, and Furniture.djvu/182

158 shelved in each of them. The completion of the building is an urgent necessity, and it is to be hoped will take place at an early date.

The Edinburgh Public Library was erected in 1890 from the designs of Mr. G. Washington

Browne. It is in the French Renaissance style, and may be said to be one of the most artistic buildings in the city. The general plan is that of a Greek cross for the three great public rooms, with staircases in the re-entering angles. The latter are roofed at a somewhat lower level than the main building, which is carried to a greater elevation, and crowned with a cornice and balustrade. The arms of the cross are covered with flat roofs, and sub-ordinated to the central figure of the composition, which is a steep pitched roof carried up over the intersection of the cross containing the dome of the reference department, and terminating in an ornate flèche.

The public rooms are arranged upon the top three floors, the building consisting of five, the