NATIONAL MUSEUM BUILDIN(4S. 193 



This .subcommittee reported the results of their inquiries on Novem- 

 ber 30, 1846. After which the full- 

 committee unanimously selected out of thirteen plans that were submitted to them 

 by some of the principal architects throughout the country, two by ]Mr. James Ren- 

 wick, jr., of the city of New York, the architect of Grace Church, the Church of the 

 Puritans, Calvary Church, and other structures in and near New York; and they 

 recommended to tiie Board for adoption one of these, being a design in the later 

 Norman, or, as it may, with more strict propriety, be called, the Lombard style, as 

 it prevailed in Germany, Normandy, and in southern Europe in the twelfth cen- 

 tury. The design comprises a center building, with two wings, connected with the 

 main building l)y low ranges and a cloister. The entire front is 421 feet, and the 

 extreme depth in the center, including the carriage porch, 153 feet. The height of 

 the principal tower is 145 feet, and that of the main building, to the summit of the 

 battlement, 58 feet. The design includes all the accommodations demanded by the 

 charter, to wit: A museum, 200 feet by 50; a library, 90 feet by 50; a gallery of art, 

 in the form of a T, 125 feet long; two lecture rooms, one of which is capable of con- 

 taining from 800 to 1,000 persons, and the other is connected with the chemical 

 laboratory; a committee room for the Board of Regents; a Secretary's room; a room 

 for the effects of Mr. Bmithson; a janitor's room, etc. 



At a meeting of the Regents on January 23, 1847. the following 

 resolution from the committee was brought up for consideration, but 

 no action upon it was taken, namel}': 



That the Norman j^lan of a building for the Smithsonian Institution, furnished by 

 James Renwick, jr., of New York, substantially as amended, agreeably to the sug- 

 gestions of the committee, is approved and adopted liy this Board. 



On January- 26, 18-47, the chancellor submitted the following reso- 

 lutions, Avhicli were read and laid upon the table: 



Resolved, That in view of the vast field of knowledge, to the increase and diffusion 

 of w'hich the act of Congress directs the efforts and funds of the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution, this Board deem it inexpedient and hazardous to appropriate to the erection 

 of a building a larger sum than one hundred thousand dollars. 



Resolved, That John Haviland, of Philadelphia, architect, be recjuested to state in 

 writing, formally to this Board, whether he will undertake to erect a building upon 

 the model of the central structure he has already planned and furnished to this 

 Board, with slight changes of arrangement, which will embrace all the chief objects 

 expressed in the act of Congress, for the sum of one hundred thousand dollars; said 

 building to be of granite or sandstone. 



Resolved, That the committee of three, hereinafter appointed, be authorized to 

 (confer with Mr. Haviland, and that, upon this Board receiving from him the written 

 and formal undertaking mentioned in the foregoing resolution, they be authorized to 

 engage his services as architect for the execution of his plan and to complete all the 

 necessary contracts. 



Mr, Alexander D. Bache, one of the Regents, submitted to the 

 Board on January 27, 1847, two resolutions of similar import, the 

 consideration of both of which was deferred. One of these was as 

 follows: 



Resolved, That in tlie opinion of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion it is unnecessary and inexpedient to expend, in erecting a building to meet the 

 requirements of the act creating the establishment, from the principal of the fund of 

 NAT >us 1903 13 



