A view of the Observatory from the north showing the pines which then flanked the former area of the 'giant steps' and, just visible (left by the flagmast), the original 'drum' dome, built in 1859 to house the 12 ¾-inch Merz telescope, on the Equatorial Building.

Christabel Airy was the daughter of Sir George Airy, 7th Astronomer Royal at Greenwich, 1835-81. She was born at the Royal Observatory on 1 March 1842 and later lived with her father at the White House on Croom's Hill, where he died in 1892 and she continued to live for the rest of her life, dying there on 8 June 1917. She was an active amateur watercolourist and more especially noted for her charitable and educational work in Greenwich. Her wall monument is among others long in store in the crypt of St Alfege, Greenwich, after removal from a church in Lee.