ABSTRACT
Introduction During the nineteenth century most buildings were designed and drawn in an architect's or surveyor's office, and their drawings included all necessary details of the structure. The 1909 London County Council (General Powers) Act 1 was the first statutory document to lay down floor loadings, permissible stresses and a basis of design and hence it was not until then that consulting engineers started to be concerned with building structures. So during the period covered by this paper, the Institution of Civil Engineers was not the place to seek guidance on common practice, but rather the Royal Institute of British Architects. In those days the Institution of Civil Engineers was concerned
with engineering works, leaving all aspects of buildings to architects.
