Description: The Hall was 110 ft long, 59 ft wide and 40 ft high, It had a floor space of 8,400 sq ft. It was lit by 5 clusters of 81 gas jets. The balcony was fitted with easy cushioned stalls, and the groud floor with chairs. See R Iliffe and W Baguley's book 'Victorian Nottingham', Vol 14 The Mechanics Institute stood at the junction of Milton Street, Burton Street and Trinity Square, opposite the old entrance to Victoria Station (now Victoria Centre). It comprised of a group of buildings; The Mechanic's Institute Large Hall, a members refreshment room, a former Baptist Chapel built in a Romanesque style which was purchased by the Mechanics in 1912 and was known as The Queens Hall. On march 26th the large hall became a cinema and was called Mechanics Pictures. (All these Victorian buildings have been demolished and replaced by Birkbeck House, a somewhat ugly 'modern' office block, which itself is again waiting for re-development. The Mechanics Institute was incorporated into this building.) The idea of a Mechanics Institutes first emerged in Scotland at the end of the 18th century. At the University of Glasgow, two professors, John Anderson and George Birkbeck began offering free lectures to the working people of Glasgow. When Anderson died in 1796 he left all the money he had to found Anderson's College. Birkbeck worked as professor of natural philosophy at the college but eventually moved to London where he founded the London Mechanics Institute. The publication of Observations Upon the Education of the People (1825) by Henry Brougham helped to popularize these institutions. These self-improving working men's adult education colleges were often funded by wealthy local industrialists. Mechanics Institutes became common in most towns of Britain and the United States between 1820 and 1860 for the voluntary education of skilled manual workers. Ideally such an institute was to have a library, a museum, a laboratory, public lectures about applied science, and courses in various skills, but few had all of these. They were places where artisans could learn, part-time, the basic principles of science, particularly mechanics, physics and chemistry. Mechanics Institutes were also used as exhibition centres and meeting places for clubs in the Sciences as well as the Arts.