The term air-conditioning originated in the United States and it is usually assumed that the first air-conditioned buildings appeared there after the introduction of mechanical refrigeration into building services. However it is clear that air-conditioned buildings first appeared in the United Kingdom in the middle of the Nineteenth Century under the supervision of David Boswell Reid. His best known buildings are the Houses of Parliament and St George’s Hall, Liverpool, however, other notable examples where he applied his ‘systematic ventilation’ were Brighton Pavilion, Windsor Castle, St James’ Palace, Buckingham Palace, The Old Bailey, London Opera House, The Tuileries in Paris, a Chemistry Academy in St Petersburg and hospitals in London, Chicago, New York and Copenhagen.

In October 1834, a serious fire destroyed most of the Parliament Buildings and when a Commons Committee was established to enquire into the ventilation and acoustics of a new building, Reid’s work in Edinburgh was brought to its attention. A Temporary House of Commons was speedily erected to Reid’s design with Lord Sudeley acting as architect.

In the system employed in the Temporary House, which was actually in use for over fifteen years, air was drawn in from New Palace Yard (although Reid’s original design involved the use of a high turret), whence it passed into a basement plenum chamber, where it was heated or cooled. The air then passed through numerous apertures in the floor, upwards through the Chamber and eventually into a false ceiling connected to a downcast shaft. The vitiated air then became the combustion air for a furnace at the base of a chimney 120 ft (36 m) high. This first attempt at air-conditioning therefore included displacement ventilation.

Lord Sudeley, Chairman of the Commissioners who selected the design for the New Houses of Parliament, said in the House of Lords “The ventilation of the [Temporary] House of Commons was complete and perfect – and the first plan of systematic ventilation ever carried out in this or any other country”. In a written report he stated ‘To the skill, zeal and determination of Dr Reid, it is owing that the members of the House of Commons can now pursue their senatorial duties without a sacrifice of either health or comfort. To him we owe the solution of the problem, that, by a proper system, ventilation may be obtained in the most trying and difficult circumstances’ (Harris in Reid, 1858). In 1835, Sir Benjamin Hawes, Chairman of the Committee on Acoustics and Ventilation, which had originally recommended Reid’s appointment, wrote to Reid ‘You have facilitated public business, and prolonged the lives of public men’ (Harris in Reid, 1858).

The Committee of the House of Commons in its report in August 1846 stated ‘The great improvement which Dr Reid has effected in the atmosphere of the existing House of Commons, [the Temporary one] can be appreciated by every Member of the House; and your Committee entirely concur in what they consider to be the general opinion in its favour’ (Harris in Reid, 1858).

It is very clear from all the comments above that Reid’s system for the Temporary House not only worked, but worked extremely well up until the time the New Houses of Parliament Building was ready for occupation in 1852. The essential features of the system were as follows (Reid, 1837) -

1. a means of filtering the outside air, this was done with a veil 42ft (12.6m) long by 18ft 6in. (5.5m) deep;
2. a means of heating and moistening the air, this was done in a chamber below the House connected from below to an equalising plenum space immediately below the floor;
3. the facility to mix the heated air with unheated fresh air so that the temperature of supply could be varied as required (ie there was a recirculation duct);
4. a means of controlling the speed of throughput of air, this was done with a single valve between the extract duct in the roof space and the downcast shaft connected to the furnace and chimney;
5. the facility to run cold water through the heating pipes in summer to provide cooling and dehumidification (ice could be used in extreme weather).

Reid appears to have taken his duties very seriously and he would often stay in personal control of the system when the House was in session. His instructions were that the velocity of air supply was to be varied, not only in relation to temperature, but also in relation to the numbers present. He recorded that the number of variations applied to the system over a single sitting often varied between 50 and 100. The velocity of the air was to be increased when the temperature was high and he indicated that the building should be cooled overnight in summer by drawing air through it ‘when the Members have retired’. In very hot weather cold (mains) water could be supplied to the heating coils or the air could be cooled ‘in rare cases, by the use of ice’, however, he adds ‘but no mode is more capable of regulation, so economical, and so readily available, as a variation of velocity’ (1844). Not only do we have an engineer here who understood the benefits of night purging, he also gave much consideration to economy of system operation.

One or two details of the system indicate Reid’s thoroughness and are worthy of special mention. Reid made sure that the atmosphere supplied to The Speaker was separately controlled since he may be required to remain still for long periods of time, he also realised that people in the galleries would require a higher velocity for comfort because they were that much nearer to the gas lights, which, by their very nature, radiated large quantities of heat. It was possible for the controller of the system, in the lower levels, to check on the temperature in the House by means of a thermometer, which could be raised and lowered by means of a cord and pulley.

Reid, who had very strong opinions and a fiery temper, became so perplexed with the fact that Barry kept making alterations without, Reid would claim, due authority, that he was ‘determined to cast off all responsibility unless proper arrangements were made in future for controlling the proceedings of the architect’ (1858). Between 1846 and 1852 he would only attend the project under protest and his salary was stopped. Building work was held up for four years at one point. Reid’s original scheme, which involved taking in air from high level at both ends of the building, through the Clock Tower (Big Ben) and the Victoria Tower, and allowing vitiated air to escape through a spire-shaped tower over the Central Hall, was never fully brought to fruition. He was unfairly pilloried in the press, especially The Times and ridiculed in Punch.

Reid was, once again, expected to shoulder the blame, but he had been constantly requesting a full investigation of the whole process and eventually, in a vote which called him to the Bar of the House, the Government was defeated by more than two to one. He then pointed out the utter impossibility of their having any comfortable atmosphere in their New House until Barry’s alterations to the original arrangements were put right. He was then empowered by the Government, in addition to other works adopted immediately during that session, to execute no less than thirty-five recommendations, which he afterwards made. He was also granted the arbitration he had so long demanded and he insisted on his right to cross-examine the architect at the enquiry which followed. Reid’s cross-examination of Barry lasted for seven successive days and the whole investigation took thirty days. Reid was awarded compensation totalling over £3,700, he was also paid six years salary (£4,400) retrospectively. This was presumably the first case of a person suing the Government for ‘unfair dismissal’. The fact that Reid was totally vindicated appears to have been forgotten by later writers, for example, Sir Robert Cooke (Cooke, 1987).

A major bone of contention between Reid and Barry was that Reid did not seem to consider draughting to be part of his work and he steadfastly refused to produce any drawings. He must surely be criticised for this but, strangely, he was quite happy to produce drawings for St George’s Hall and so one might deduce that this had more to do with his problems with Barry than with obstinacy.

In Liverpool in the early Nineteenth Century a triennial music festival had been held for a number of years and the Merchants of the City, who had grown rich importing goods such as cotton, tobacco and rum, decided that the city should have a large, purpose-built hall for this festival. The main concert hall was to be big enough to hold 3000 people plus an orchestra or choir of up to 400.

The City Merchants were so confident that they could raise the money that the Foundation Stone was laid on the day of Queen Victoria’s Coronation in June 1838. A design competition was announced in The Times in March 1839 and the design of the young London architect Harvey Lonsdale Elmes was chosen in July 1839. However, the Merchants had only raised about £30 000, which would not have allowed Elmes’ grandiose classical concert hall building to be erected and it was very fortunate that the Law Courts Committee of the city had obtained funding for a new court building. This was to house the main Crown Court and a Civil Court of similar size.

Another competition was announced for the new court building and there was considerable disquiet among the other entrants when it was announced, several months after the closing date, that Elmes had also won this competition and within weeks that the two buildings were to be combined. A few months later Elmes who had been to lectures given by Reid about ventilation in London, requested that the Law Courts Committee appoint Reid as ‘Ventilator’ and he was appointed in April 1841.

Reid explained that this change meant that some of the minor apartments had now to rely on doors and windows for ventilation because of ‘the expense that would have attended a different arrangement of vaults and foundations, such as would have been more suitable had they been commenced on the plan now adopted’ (1855).

Despite the difficulties outlined above and the fact that the building, with its Great Hall, two separate Law Courts and Small Concert Room, resembled a series of separate public buildings aggregated together rather than one single building, it was a triumph for both Elmes and Reid in terms of its functionality. It is considered by many to be the world’s first air-conditioned building and in 2005 was awarded a plaque by the Heritage Group to this effect.

Shortly after Reid produced his operation manual for St George’s Hall in 1855, he emigrated to the United States, where his younger brother, Hugo, was Professor of Chemistry at the College of Pharmacy in New York.

Meigs records in his journal in January 1855 that he was aware of the system www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate/meigs/index.html                                            Reid had employed in the Houses of Parliament but at that stage he appears to be referring to the Temporary House of Commons because he dismisses the practicality of using chimney draft as a motive power for the air. Steam driven fans had been installed in Parliament for the New Houses in July 1851. He refers to the cost of Reid’s system at the Houses of Parliament, but remarks that the cost (£220 000) must have included the cost of the Victoria Tower, which, although used for the ventilation was not built purely for that purpose. He must have been referring here to the New Houses but seems to have been unaware of the part played in the system by St Stephen’s Tower (Big Ben).

In his entry for 16^th April 1856, Meigs states that he ‘had another visit from Dr Reid’ but it is not clear from his journal when they first met. In February 1857, Reid gave three lectures at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington all attended by Meigs. They also spent another evening together, the same month, in Professor Henry’s rooms at the Smithsonian where ‘we had much talk about ventilation and sound’. Professor Joseph Henry was the first ever Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Michael Faraday had described him as the greatest US scientist since Benjamin Franklin. He had been called upon by the Vice-President to evaluate Meigs’ plans for the acoustics, heating and ventilation of the new chamber of the House of representatives, but is probably best known for his research into electricity and magnetism and for the invention of the telegraph.

In the United States, Reid again showed concern for the well-being of his fellow man and published ‘Ventilation in American Dwellings’ (Reid, 1858), in which he strove to enlighten the general population, as well as those designing buildings, about the health benefits of good ventilation and good sanitation. An extensive introduction to this book, running to over 30 pages, was written by Elisha Harris, Physician in Chief at the quarantine hospital on Staten Island. In this introduction, Harris praises Reid, not only for his pioneering experiments in ventilation but also for his untiring efforts in attempting to raise awareness of the importance of the incorporation of proper arrangements for ventilation in domestic as well as public architecture. Harris says ‘For more than a quarter of a century, in addition to important public services, he has, in promoting improved ventilation, been an earnest advocate and projector of measures for the more universal diffusion of scientific knowledge, and its application to the arts and affairs of daily life’ (1858).

In his earlier book Reid himself reported that he had organised many courses on the chemistry of daily life to schoolmasters and young persons including one at Exeter Hall for a thousand teachers, which was sanctioned by no less a body than the Education Committee of the Privy Council. He had suggested that financial support should be given to ‘enable missionary teachers to traverse the kingdom, and teach schoolmasters … the great elementary truths that bear on health and length of life’ (1844).

As well as his lectures at the Smithsonian Institution Reid published numerous articles about ventilation, public health and acoustics including one in Barnard’s American Journal of Education in December 1856. In this article, entitled ‘ A College of Architecture and it relation to Professional Education and to the Improvement of Public Health,’ Reid discusses at length the need for Architects to be much more conversant with the correct means of ‘warming, lighting and ventilating public buildings’ and goes on to suggest a curriculum for the better teaching of architecture, which, he suggests, needs to be ‘placed on a more systematic footing than it has hitherto occupied.’ It is interesting to note that the first University in the United Kingdom where architects were taught alongside heating and ventilation engineers, more than 100 years later, was the University of Liverpool, the city in which exists, according to Reid’s own words, the only building in which his ‘systematic ventilation’ was completely carried out.

Harris lists the leading points advocated by Reid for his system of ventilation and these appear to confirm Reid’s pre-eminence as an air-conditioning pioneer. They include ‘The importance in all public buildings, of providing channels for the supply and discharge of air, entirely separate and apart from doors and windows’ and more specifically ‘the formation of extended arrangements for supplying air from the purest accessible source; for excluding or covering local impurities; for cooling, drying and moistening the air; and for the entire and absolute isolation of the warming and ventilating power, so as to permit the latter to be used in full force in warm weather’ (1858). He is defining air-conditioning here just as we might define it today, the only difference being that Reid termed it ‘Systematic Ventilation’.

What began with Reid as a fascination with the chemical make-up of fresh air and of expelled air, developed into a vocation to improve conditions in large public buildings as well as dwellings.

Harris reports (1858) that noticeable improvements in health of patients was demonstrated in any hospital where Reid’s system was adopted. He made significant differences in hospitals in Chicago and New York in addition to systems he had supervised in Copenhagen and Lambeth (London). At the request of the Government, Reid provided plans for ventilation for the Chemical Schools at Alexandroski near St Petersburg. The Tuileries and the Palais Royal in Paris were examined by Reid and he reported methods for improvement. His suggestions were adopted in the Chapel Royal of St James’s Palace as well as Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. Other famous buildings where Reid’s Systematic Ventilation was adopted included the London Opera House, the Old Bailey and Brighton Pavilion. He also designed a ventilation system for the Royal Yacht ‘Victoria and Albert’ as well as a hospital ship bringing back wounded from the Chinese War and Reid goes into considerable detail (1844) about how the steamships used for the Niger Expeditions were ventilated to his design.

He provided a means of calculating the amount of fresh air needed according to occupancy, based on extensive experimentation and measurement. He demonstrated that humidification of the air was essential in winter for comfort. His recommendation was that there should not be a wet-bulb depression of more than about 4^oF (about 2.2^oC) in habitable spaces.

REFERENCES

Reid, D.B. 1837. “Brief Outline Illustrations of the Alterations in the House of Commons”, London (publisher not known).

Reid, D.B. 1844. “Illustrations of the Theory and Practice of Ventilation”, London : Longmans.