170 REPORT OF THE ARCHITECTS. 



REPOET OF THE SUPERINTENDING ARCHITECTS OF FIRE- 

 PROOF BUILDING FOR NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1880. 



Washington, D. C, January 1, 1881. 

 To the National Museum Building Commission^ Smithsonian Institution, 



WasJdngton, D. C. : 

 Gentlemen : We have the honor to report to you the completion of 

 the new building under the appropriations available for the purpose, 

 and simultaneously to submit a report of operations on the construction 

 of the building since January 1, 1880, the date of our last report. 



The progress of the work was such that the plastering of the building 

 could be commenced as soon as the state of the weather permitted it, 

 in the early part of the spring. It was completed by the middle of 

 August, and, after this, miscellaneous work for finishing, such as iron 

 balconies, railings, and stairways, were put up, all the offices were 

 floored and put in readiness for occupation, the cellars were laid with 

 asphaltic concrete, the wooden floors of all the outside halls were laid 

 upon a solid bed of hydraulic cement-concrete, and a concrete base was 

 laid for the floors of the main and square halls. All the numerous de- 

 tails of the steam-heating apparatus were attended to so that steam 

 could be put on with the advent of the cold weather; and though the 

 heavy walls and piers were considerably chilled by long-continued ex- 

 posure during the early fall and the excessive moisture in the unfinished 

 building, a comfortable heat was obtained within a few days and was 

 maintained during the coldest days of this unusually severe winter, no 

 more than a reasonable amount of fnel being used for heating the vast 

 space of about 3,500,000 cubic feet inclosed within the walls and roofs 

 of the building. 



The asphalt facing of the floors of the main halls and rotunda, as in- 

 tended under the estimates, has not been put on, since with hardly any 

 difference of opinion it was held that nothing less than a chaste tiling 

 would do justice to the building, and i)ro vision ought to be made for 

 this without delay. On the other band, much more than an equivalent 

 of the cost of this surfacing has been spent on work not included in the 

 estimates, but deemed more important for the opening of the building 

 at as early a date as possible. 



The approaches to the building, for which always a separate estimate 

 is brought before Congress, have been mostly finished under the orig- 

 inal appropriation. We may be allowed to state a few of the items not 

 originally contemplated, but included in the construction accounts, to 

 wit : 



The windows in exposed walls were set with two sheets of 

 glass for each pane, and an improved skylight for photo- 

 grapher was put up at a cost of $1, 965 00 



Three more cellars than originally contemplated were con- 

 structed, and annexes to the corner-pavilions, involving 



