2-888-563 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Building in Hyde Park, for the Great Exhibition of 1851 - Base of Column, 1850. '...the construction of drainage is shown. On the left is seen the melting-pot containing the lead for making the joints of the horizontal water-pipes, which are 6 inches internal diameter, and running underground in the direction of the length of the building, towards the brick culvert at the east end thereof. These horizontal pipes will receive the water from the gutters through the cast-iron columns which support the roofs of the building. A man is seen in the act of pouring in the lead to make the joints....The base of the socket rests on a bed of concrete, made of gravel and lime...the thickness of concrete varies with the depth of the bed of gravel, which extends under the whole of the ground; thus a very firm natural foundation is obtained'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.