Middos 1:5-6

Middos 1:5

On the north was the spark gate, which was like a portico. It had a balcony on top from which the kohanim would keep watch above while the Leviim kept watch below. It had a door that opened into the cheil (the area around the courtyard). Next to that was the offering gate, followed by the fire chamber.

Middos 1:6

There were four rooms off of the fire chamber, which were like alcoves opening into a hall. Two of these were on sanctified Temple ground and two were on secular ground. There were beams that projected from the walls on either side separating between the sanctified and the secular areas. The room on the southwest was the lamb chamber; the room on the southeast was the chamber where the showbread was made; the room in the northeast was where the Chashmonaim (i.e., the Maccabees) put the stones of the altar that the Syrian-Greeks had defiled; the room on the northwest was the one through which the kohanim would descend to the mikvah (as described in Tamid 1:1 and later in this chapter).