130 REPORT OF THE ARCHITECTS. 



Architects' Office, National Museum Building, 



Washington, D. C, January 1, 1880. 

 To the Hon. National Museum Building Commission, Washington, D. C. : 



Gentlemen : We have the honor to submit the following- report of 

 the work done upon the erection of the fire-proof building for the Na- 

 tional Museum from March 25, the date when the work was, by you, 

 placed iu our charge, to December 31, 1879. 



It is due to the importance of this national and extensive enterprise 

 to preface the report by a technical and descriptive record of its plan, 

 design, and construction. 



The building starts on the ground in the form of a square, with sides 

 of 327 feet extreme length. This is surmounted by a cross and a dome. 

 Within its facades a net area of 102,200 square feet, or 2.35 acres, is 

 covered in by roofs. 



It contains under ground a coal-cellar of a storage capacity of nearly 

 300 tons. Besides, there are two cellars, containing 3,200 square feet 

 floor space, for storage purposes. From one of these cellars a subter- 

 ranean communication with the adjacent Smithsonian building is estab- 

 lished, by an arched passage, which, besides ordinary uses, will serve in 

 cases of panic, fire, tumult, robbery, &c. 



A basement containing 1 ,G00 square feet of floor space is fitted up for 

 the boiler-room of a steam heating apparatus. 



On the main floor there are available, in 17 halls which freely commu- 

 nicate with one another by wide and lofty archways, 80,300 square feet 

 of floor space and a proportionate amount of wall space for exhibition 

 purposes. 



Further, there are avaiiable on the main floor and two upper stories 

 -7,4oo square feet of floor space, divided off into 135 rooms for admin- 

 istrative functions, offices, working-rooms, photographer, necessary ac- 

 commodations, &c. 



And finally there are about 4,000 square feet of floor space on galleries, 

 formed on a level with the second floor of the offices ; these are intended 

 in part for special exhibits and in part to afford an unobstructed view 

 of the ensemble of the exhibits. 



On the whole, the one-story plan which has prevailed among experts 

 i\ er since the Paris exhibition of 18G7 has been adopted. But by the 

 introduction of upper stories on those outlying sections reserved for 

 offices, ample office-room lias been secured without encroaching materi- 

 ally upon the floor space within the square of 300 feet, to which the 

 building was primarily limited. 



The center of the building is octagonal on the ground floor, and is 

 surmounted by a 10-sided polygon of 07 feet diameter, which contains a 

 tier of large windows and constitutes a domical structure with a slate 



