1881 – Entry Regulations for National Museum Competition

The following conditions of the competition for the new Museum in Dublin have been issued by the Commissioners of Public Works:—

I. It is proposed to erect the new museum in the position and within the area indicated by a red tint on the site plan, which will be supplied to competitors, and any spaces necessary for lighting the basement storey of the building must be contained within such red tinted area.

2. There will be two divisions of the competition, a preliminary one of sketch designs open to all, and a final one limited as hereafter described.

3. Before any designs are sent in, a Committee of Selection, one of whom at least shall be an architect (who shall not be a competitor, or interested directly or indirectly in either the preliminary or final competitions), will be appointed by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury.

4. It shall be the function of the Committee of Selection to select, five sketch designs from those sent in, in the preliminary competition, the authors of which shall be invited to compete in the second and final competition.

5. Separate conditions will be issued for the final competition. They will be in strict accordance with the above, so far as applicable, but with such additions or alterations as may be deemed necessary by the Commissioners of Public Works.

6. In order to obviate the possibility of the sketch designs lodged in the preliminary competition being made use of by the competitors: who may be invited to enter into the final competition, such sketch, designs will not be allowed to be seen by any one except the Committee of Selection, by whom they will be returned to their respective authors.

7. In the preliminary competition the designs of competitors shall be exhibited by sketch plans, elevations, and sections, to a scale of 16 feet to the inch, consisting of ground plan, and plan of each floor, elevation of each façade, one longitudinal section in the centre line of the building between Kildare Street and Merrion Place, a transverse. section, and a perspective view taken upon a picture line A, indicated on the block plan; such perspective view shall be drawn to such a scale. that the building itself shall not occupy a width of more than 12 inches, and the stretcher on which it is mounted shall be 20 inches. wide and 14 inches high. The drawing shall be executed in pen and ink, without colour of any sort, save (at the option of the competitors) a flat tint of Indian ink in the door and window openings, and on the roofs.

8. All the geometrical drawings shall be made on sheets of plain, paper, and mounted on plain stretchers without frames; such stretchers shall be 32 inches long and 21 inches high, disposed as follows:—

• No.1. To contain plans of basement and ground floor.
• No.2. To contain plans of first and second floors.
• No.3. To contain the north and west elevations.
• No.4. To contain the south and east elevations.
• No.5. To contain longitudinal and transverse section.

9. The geometrical elevations of the exterior and façades to the central courtyard shall be in outline only, without, etching or shading of any kind, except that a flat tint of light Indian ink may indicate. the clear openings of the doors and windows, and the roofs.

10. The photograph of the courtyard front of Leinster House, which accompanies these instructions, is given for the information of competing architects, but without any intention to suggest that particular style of building.

11. The site of the proposed building may be taken as level with the adjoining streets and the courtyard of Leinster House. It may, also be assumed that the public sewers of Kildare Street will admit of properly draining a basement floor 10 feet under the level of the courtyard. The entrance to the building will be from the courtyard, the present walls of which, and the old buildings on the site, are to be removed, but no part of the building is to be erected within the court yard.

12. The new building should afford a total of 100,000 superficial feet of space for exhibiting the various collections, which should be: allotted in the best forms in which the space can be laid out for each of the following purposes: —
Floor area for Exhibition purposes.

• Zoology and Ethnology. 25,000
• Geology, Palaeontology, and Mineralogy, including the collections of the Irish Geological Survey. 15,000
• General Industrial and Physical Science collections. 30,000
• Agriculture, not including Implements, which may be in a court. 3,000
• Art collections, including those of the Royal Irish Academy (1,500 square feet). 25,000
• Refreshment Rooms, Retiring Rooms, &c. 2,000

13. The above areas are exclusive of a basement under the entire building, which is to contain stores, preparation rooms, and all necessary arrangements connécted with drainage, water-supply, and Sanitary arrangements, heating and ventilating, &c.

14. Provision is to be made for a communication from the New Museum to the present Natural History Museum. Side lights may be placed in the north, south, and west fronts, and also in the east, except. that portion which may adjoiri the Lecture Theatre.

15. The construction is to be fire-proof throughout.

16. It is intended that the entire cost of the building, including any sculptural work and all architectural embellishments shown on the drawings, and all necessary appliances for heating and ventilating, with 10 per cent. for contingencies and architect’s commission—but excluding internal decoration, painting, gilding, and furnishing—shall not exceed the sum of 100,000., and any design adjudged to be likely to exceed this amount will be set aside.

17. Each sketch design is to be accompanied by a description of the accommodation (stating the areas) provided on each floor, the total cubical contents of the building measured from the top of the footing up to half-way between the wall plate and the ridge of the roof, an explanation of the material and mode of construction proposed to be adopted, and an approximate estimate of the cost, to which the competitor will be required to adhere in his matured design, should he be one of those selected to enter into the final competition.

18. From the designs lodged in this preliminary competition, five will be selected by the Committee of Selection, and the authors of the designs so selected will be invited to enter into the final com petition.

19. In the final competition, plans, elevations, sections, or other drawings to a scale of 8 feet to the inch will be required, in which the author’s sketch designs, and no other, shall be fully matured, and each of the competitors so selected shall be paid the sum of 150l., towards his expenses, provided he complies with all the conditions to be here after prescribed for such final competition.

20. The Committee of Selection shall report to the Treasury upon the five selected designs, and the Treasury will select the author of one of them to execute the new building as architect. The remuneration of the architect selected will be such a fixed sum as would be equivalent to 5 per cent. upon the amount which the Treasury may authorise to be expended upon the building ; and his employment will be subject to conditions which will be stated by the Commissioners of Public Works.

21. Until after the award in the final competition is given and officially made public, no drawings or photographs, or written or printed statements, descriptive of or alluding to any of the competi. tive designs lodged in either the preliminary or final competitions, shall be sent to any member of the Committee of Selection or to the public; nor shall any of the designs, or copies thereof, be exhibited publicly or privately, nor shall any canvassing of the Committee of Selection in favour of any particular design take place. The design of any competitor violating this condition will be forth with excluded from the competition.

22. Each design in the preliminary competition shall have a device or motto marked on each drawing, and be accompanied by a sealed letter bearing the same device or motto, addressed to the Secretary, Office of Public Works, Dublin, giving the name and address of the author, which shall only be opened after the selection, mentioned in paragraph 4, is made, and for the purpose of ascertaining the names of the architects to be invited to send in plans in the final competition, or for the return of unsuccessful designs to their authors. Each set of drawings, if forwarded in a case, must be properly secured and sealed, and marked on the inside of the lid, and in no other place, with the device or motto by which the drawings are distinguished.

23. All designs in the preliminary competition shall be delivered, at the expense of the competitor, at or before 12 o’clock noon on November 15, 1881; any design which may arrive after that time will be set aside, unless the delay shall be occasioned by accidents in transit, of which proof satisfactory to the Committee of Selection must be given.

24. The designs of unsuccessful competitors in the preliminary competition will be returned to them at the expense of the Com missioners of Public Works, but all the five selected designs will re main the property of the Government.
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