"The Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal" termed the presence of pediments despite the absence of a roof a "gross and palpable violation of meaning and common sense". "The Athenaeum" was similarly critical of the roofless pediments—"the building will look as if there had originally been a roof to it, which had fallen in!"—and expressed disapproval of the lack of cella and inner walls, writing that the architects had "cut the Gordian knot" by omitting them. The decision to make the walls and columns hollow was condemned by "The Athenaeum", which called the structure "nearly as much a sham, as if it were composed of cast iron coloured in imitation of stone" and said it "may be intended as characteristic... of an age which estimates plausible appearances above solid worth". "The Art Union" agreed: the hollowness of the columns, it said, "partakes too much of sham construction, with little if any thing to recommend it on the score of economy".