Lewis Topographical Dictionary - OSi Online Shop

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sides of a small quadrangle and wholly unornamented
except in the principal front to College-green, which
is of hewn stone and has a central entrance supported
by Ionic columns. On the left of the grand entrance-
hall and staircase is a news-room, 60 feet long and 28
feet wide, occupied by the members of the Chamber of
Commerce (established in 1820 to protect and improve
the commerce of the city); and on the right is a hand-
some coffee-room, connected with that part of the building
which is used as an hotel. The north side of the
quadrangle is occupied by the Stock Exchange and
merchants’ offices, and on the east and west are offices
for the brokers. It was built by a proprietary of 400 £50
shareholders, and was completed in 1799, under the
superintendence of Mr. Parkes, The Corn Exchange was
built by merchants who were incorporated in 1815,
under the designation of the “Corn Exchange Build-
ings’ Company,” with leave to augment their capital to
£15,000; the business is managed by a committee of
15 directors. The building, which is two stories high,
has a neat front of mountain granite towards Burgh
Quay; the interior contains a hall, 130 feet long, sepa-
rated longitudinally from walks on each side by a range
of cast iron pillars supporting a cornice, which is conti-
nued round the inner hall and surmounted by an attic
perforated with circular windows; the hall is furnished
with tables for displaying samples of grain, and in the
front of the building is a large room on the upper story
for public dinners or meetings of societies, by the rent
of which and of the tables the interest of the capital,
estimated at £25,000, is paid. The Ouzel Galley Society
was established in 1705 for the arbitration of differences
respecting trade and commerce. The arbitrators must
be members of the society, who are among the prin-
cipal merchants in the city: the surplus of expenses
incurred in this court are appropriated to the benefit
of decayed merchants.
The Bank of Ireland was established in 1783, under
an act of parliament, with a capital of £600,000, which,
on a renewal of the charter in 1791, was increased to
£1,000,000, and by subsequent renewals, the last in
1821, the bank was authorised to enlarge its capital to
£3,000,000. The proprietors are incorporated by the
name of “The Governor and Company of the Bank of
Ireland,” and the establishment is under the management
of a governor, who must be a proprietor of £4000 stock,
a deputy-governor, holding £3000, and 15 directors
holding £2000 each; all these are elected by the court
of proprietors, and five directors must vacate annually,
but not in rotation. Agencies have been established in
most of the principal cities and towns in Ireland,
and connections have been formed with the Bank of
England and the Royal Bank of Scotland, for facilitating
the transmission of money. The building is nearly of
a semicircular form, and stands on an acre and a half of
ground, and previously to the Union was occupied as
the Parliament House. The principal front consists
of a colonnade of the Ionic order extending round three
sides of a quadrangular recess, and supporting an
entablature and cornice surmounted by an attic, which
is broken only in the central range by a projecting portico
of four columns of the same order, sustaining a triangular
pediment, in the tympanum of which are the royal arms,
and on the apex a statue of Hibernia, with one of Fidelity
on the right, and of Commerce on the left extremity
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of the attic. The east front, in College-street, has a
noble portico of six Corinthian columns projecting
far into the surrounding area, and supporting an en-
riched cornice surmounted by a triangular pediment,
on the apex of which is a statue of Fortitude, with
Justice at one end and a figure of Liberty at the
other: this portico, which differs from the style of
architecture of the rest of the structure, was formerly
the entrance to the House of Lords. The west front,
which faces Foster-place, has in the centre an Ionic
portico of four columns, supporting an entablature and
cornice crowned with a triangular pediment, correspond-
ing in style with the principal front. Within the central
portico are two entrances leading to the Cash office,
communicating at each end with corridors leading to the
various offices in the establishment. This part of the
building stands on the site of the former House of Com-
mons. The former House of Lords, which remains
unaltered, is now appropriated to the use of the court of
proprietors; it is of rectangular form, with a semicircular
recess at one extremity, in which the throne was placed,
and in which has since been set up a statue of white
marble of Geo. III. In the rear of the interior is a de-
partment for printing the bank notes, the machinery
of which is wholly worked by steam, and arranged with
such ingenuity as in a great measure to baffle any at-
tempt at forgery, and at the same time to add greatly
to the expedition with which the process of printing is
carried on, while it likewise affords a check upon the
workmen employed, by means of a self-acting register,
which indicates the quantity of work done and the actual
state of that in progress at any moment required. The
Hibernian Joint Stock Banking Company is managed
by a governor, deputy-governor, and 7 directors; it
transacts business at a house in Castle-street, built
for the late private banking establishment of Lord New-
comen. The Provincial Bank of Ireland is managed
by a court of directors in London, and has an office in
William-street and agencies throughout the country
parts. The National Bank of Ireland was formed
under the provisions of the same act, with a capital
of two millions subscribed in London and Ireland, to be
applied to the support of banking establishments con-
nected with it in Ireland, by contributing to each a sum
equal to that locally subscribed; it has also branches in
the principal towns. The private banking establishments
are those of La Touche and Co., Castle-street; Ball and
Co, Henry-street; Boyle and Co., College-green; and
the Royal Bank, Foster-place. There are two Savings’
Banks, both formed in 1818, one in Meath-street, the
other in Cuffe-street, in St. Peter’s parish. The former
has two branches in Marlborough-street and at the
Linen-hall, by which the benefits of the system have
been extended to the northern division of the city. The
Money Order office, held in the general post-office, fur-
nishes means for the secure transmission of small sums.
The Custom-house is a stately structure of the Doric
order, situated on the north bank of the Liffey, below
Carlisle bridge. It was erected under the superinten-
dence of Mr. Gandon, in 1794, at an expense of
£397,232. 4. 11., which the requisite furniture and
subsequent enlargements have increased to upwards of
half a million sterling. The building is 375 feet in
length and 205 feet in depth, and has four fronts, of
which the south is entirely of Portland stone, and the
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