Eating Establishmentsinwhich simple and nourishing food is furnished at a small charge are an outcome of the advanced ideas of modern times, like many of the buildings already described. The ground-plan of an in stitution of this kind started in Leipsic at the instance of the City Union for Relief is griven in Figure 20. It can furnish meals for two thousand persons daily. The rooms are as follows: A, corridor for the public, with entrance (a); b , ; c, window for receiving food; B , a small landing with exit on the street; C, the women's eating-room; D, cashier's room; E, kitchen, with kettle (a' ) for vegetables; c, serving-room for meats; f, chopping-block for meat; g , tables; 11, range with steam apparatus and six kettles; i, kettle for cleaning peas, etc., of husks; F, store-room; G, eating-room for men, with entrance from street; H, staircase; J, landing; boiler-room,with (r) steam generator for cook-ing-kettles; L, engine-room, with pump for filling boiler; /1/, yard for domestic uses.
American —Establishments for a similar purpose have increased rapidly in the United States during recent years, but are rarely built for the express purpose, as they are presumed to be of temporary utility, and any convenient building is used for the emergency. The Sun day breakfast offered to the indigent in many places is an instance of a similar service, while cheap meals at cost-price have been faithfully fur nished by institutions that have been known tinder the pleasing designa tions of the " IIolly Tree Inn " and " Boffin's Bower." There are also many benevolent institutions which furnish soup and coffee at a nominal price as a relief to the suffering poor or as a substitute for intoxicants. The organized benevolence of the present day supports such institutions in almost every large city or town.
Continental —13uildings are erected at certain places in Europe, as on the boundary of a city, for the collection of duties, excise, or toll. Figures and 2 (pi. 19) give the perspective and gromid-plan of one of these, which stands at the north end of the Tke d'Or Park, at Lyons, France. It is decorated with perforated wood and colored tiles, and lias a picturesque effect harmonizing with the surrounding landscape. The ground floor (26/. r9, fig. 2) includes a passage, two receiving offices, and two sleeping-rooms for the night service. The second floor contains the dwelling of the collector or receiver.
American Custom-honses.—Up to a comparatively recent period, the most expensive buildings erected or owned by the Federal Government, aside from those located in Washington, were custom-houses. The cost
of constructiou, exclusive of cost of site and alterations and repairs, of the New Orleans custom-house was $4,221,824.4o, and corresponding outlays for the cnstom-houses of other cities included the following: Boston, $884,346.76; Charleston, South Carolina, $2,696,592.34; Chicago (custom hOuse and sub-treasury), $4,529,7o9.24.
Post-offices, United States Court-houses, etc.—During recent years lib eral Congressional appropriations have been made for the erection of post offices, and buildings intended to provide accommodations for them, as well as for United States courts and various classes of national officials. The work of constructing buildings of this class has been progressing for a number of years, and hundreds of fine structures, representing nearly alI known styles of architecture and varying greatly in size and capacity, have been erected. The sums spent for them probably exceed any other gov ernmental outlay for architectural purposes during a similar period, and the cost of some of the most expensive of the new structures is exception ally large, the reported cost of the construction of the New York court house and post-office being $8,549,832.63, and corresponding outlays in Philadelphia exceeding $6,000,000.
Court-houses present differences according to the organization and pur poses of the tribunals for which they are designed. Figure 3 gives the plan of the second floor of the general court-house at Bonn, as follows: a, andience-hall of the court of Common Pleas and of the court of Correc tional Appeals; b, ante-room; c, library; d, conference-rooms; c, presi dent's room; f, ante-room; g, room for secretary and criminal registration; h, counsels' room; i, jury-room; k, 1, rooms for state or prosecuting attor neys; in, for the chief state counsel; n, ante-room; o, secretary's room; fi, recorder's Mom; q, witnesses' room; r, assize-halI; s, judges' consultation room; t, room for defendants. On the ground floor are the examining rooms for the two courts, with a direct communication to the prison in the rear. Tlie central part of the edifice lias a third story with a skylight, in which are a secretary's room and the archive-rooms, the latter having stone floors supported by vaulting, and vaulted ceilings with iron beams, to render them fireproof. In the basement are rooms for janitors and for the storage of fuel. In the United States, the court-houses erected by different cities and counties represent many styles of architecture and variations in aillOmit of expenditure and completeness of accommodations.