Watercolour painting, thought to be the work of Richarda Airy or Elizabeth Smith. Dated and captioned on the back. This view shows the observatory buildings from the garden known as ‘the Drying Ground’, looking west towards the Altazimuth Dome.

The buildings on the right housed the kitchen and the apartments for Airy’s assistants (ground floor). Above, on the first floor, was the library. In the distance, behind the gate, is the three-storey Altazimuth Dome with its low wooden drum, built by Airy in 1844. Through the gate was the Meridian Garden. A painting by Christabel Airy in the collection [RGO 116/5/7] shows a view from the opposite side of this gate looking back from the Meridian Garden towards the South East Dome (built in 1857).