§ LORD WILLIAM GRAHAMsaid, he wished to ask the Vice-President of the Committee of Council on Education, Whether the Buildings for schools and residences at South Kensington Museum, for which a Vote of £15,000 is proposed in the Educa- 1480 tion Estimates, are to be erected after the plan designed by Captain Fowke, which plan includes the commencement of an ornamental architectural elevation, thereby deciding the style of architecture to be adopted for the whole of the Buildings?
§ MR. LOWEsaid, that the best answer which he could give to the question of the noble Lord was to read the following paragraph from the Report of the Committee of last year, of which the noble Lord was a member:—
Your Committee are by no means anxious to involve the revenue in large expenses for mere ornament. The Museum is yet in course of formation, and they think it unwise to commit the country to a heavy expense in anticipation of its wants. The Committee recommend that any plan which may be adopted for the buildings to be erected should be capable of being worked into a general plan which would at once fully occupy the ground, and be susceptible of a proper amount of decoration. Such a plan has been laid before the Committee by Captain Fowke.If Parliament granted the money which was to be asked for it was intended that the buildings should be erected according to the plans of Captain Fowke; but that would not determine the style of architecture of the Building of which those erections would form part.
§ LORD WILLIAM GRAHAMsaid, that the schools would occupy nearly the whole of the western front, and, therefore, their elevation must determine the character of the Building.