CO129-302 - Public Offices - 1900 — Page 139

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Messrs Aston Webb & E. Ingress Bell to Cromi Afe£tB."

Gentlemen,

19, Queen Anne's Gate,

Westminster, S.W.

5th February 1900.

Hong Kong - Reun 26412.

134

In answer to yours of the Bra instant we beg to

observe that in the plan of the Courts as now arranged, the Public Entrances abut on the Public Street and the Judges and

Registrar's Private Entrances are from the Gardens.

It is no doubt quite possible to reverse the plan as

proposed, turning the present Eastern front over to the West,

and the Western front over to the East.

The consequences would be however that the Public

traffic to the Courts would be on the garden side and the

Judges Private Entrance would abut on the Public Road. More-

over the continuity of the Ground Floor street colomaus

would be interrupted by the Central Block.

In the abstract the proposed changes do not appear

to us to be desirable, but the local conditions cannot be so well known to us, as to those on the spot, and the advantages which would attend the reversal of the plan, may outweigh the objections to which we advert.

We may add that the main lines of foundations will

not be affected by the question raised and may be put in hand without compromising the final decision thereon.

To the other points raised in the enclosures to your letter we will reply in a day or two as they are not of such immediate importance.

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