3-003-939 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The old Foreign Office, Downing-Street, [London], 1861. 'The accompanying Engraving represents that which was the front view of the Foreign Office in Downing-street, now in process of demolition...It is not necessary here to refer to the famous "battles of the styles" which took place in the House of Commons from time to time, and in which Lord Palmerston so vigorously defended the Italian or Palladian (we never understood exactly which) against the advocates of the Gothic. As matters now stand, we believe that the building to be erected will belong to a style which is essentially "Palmerstonian," Mr. George Scott, the celebrated Gothic architect, having, with a grim humour, concocted a plan which, it is said, owes a good deal to the suggestions of the Premier, and which will be broadly Italian with an occasional infusion of Gothic'. From "Illustrated London News", 1861.