KC-84-08-1 -- Nineteenth Century Heating and Ventilation—The Houses of Parliament, London; the New York State Capitol, Albany PDF

This paper discusses the early developments of steam heating and mechanical ventilation for the Houses of Parliament and the New York State Capitol in Albany. Historically, the study begins with the work of Dr. J.T. Desaguliers and Sir Humphrey Davy on the Houses of Parliament in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The primary focus, however, is on the work of Dr. Boswell Reid after 1834 on the House of Lords and House of Commons and later the work of Thomas Fuller and Isaac Perry on the New York State Capitol in Albany. The paper describes the design of steam heating, air-distribution systems, and filtration as applied to these two early examples of heating and ventilating technology.