3-028-699 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The New Hall of the Inner Temple, [London], 1870. 'The new hall is now finished. It is situated on the site of the old hall...It is of the Perpendicular Gothic style, faced externally with Portland stone. The contractors were Messrs. Trollope, under the superintendence of Mr. Sydney Smirke, R.A. Two of the carved doors (oak) from the old hall have been rehung on the new building; one bears its own date (1575); the other seems of about the same age...The windows are glazed ornamentally in leaded lights and plain glass, but it is the intention of the Benchers ultimately to glaze the whole of the windows with richly-coloured devices, illustrative of the history of the Temple. In digging the foundations remains were met with of a still earlier hall of smaller dimensions, but of extremely solid masonry, of Norman character'. From "Illustrated London News", 1870.