ABSTRACT
The International Exhibition of 1862 occupied a large site reaching from the Horticultural Gardens to Cromwell Road. After the Exhibition was over, an idea was floated that a portion of the Exhibition buildings could with advantage be converted into a museum of natural history. After the completion of the Natural History Museum, the government asked Parliament to set aside funds for a new War Office and Admiralty. The elaborate use of creatures of the animal kingdom as inspiration for the ornamentation of the Natural History Museum was also criticized. The climbing monkeys receive, sometimes hands on, the affection of thousands of visitors to the museum, as can be seen on the polished head of the monkey in the lower left corner of the photograph. The museum is the largest, if not, indeed, the only, modern building in which terra-cotta has been exclusively used for external facades and interior wall-surfaces, including all the various decorations which this involves.
