BRITISH MUSEUM
The British Museum photographed in 1857 by Roger Fenton
(“The Changing Metropolis,” Gavin Stamp, 1984)
Two early examples of building services engineering were the heating of the
British Library Reading Room and the arc lighting of the Egyptian Gallery
Daylighting of the Egyptian Gallery
Construction of the British Library Reading Room began in
1854 and was completed in 1857
This drawing by Sir Muirhead Bone shows the interior of the
Reading Room under construction c.1856
The Reading Room was provided with a hot water heating system by
G N Haden in 1858 (“Hadens of Trowbridge,” Ferris, Roberts & Yunnie, 2004
This drawing of the Reading Room dates from 1897, the year of the founding of the
Institution of Heating & Ventilating Engineers
(Illustrated London News)
Arc lighting trial in the Egyptian Gallery
(Illustrated London News from”Victorian Science & Engineering Portrayed,”
Kenneth Chew & Anthony Wilson, 1993)