NATIONAL MTTSEFM BUTLDTNGS. 251 



NATIONAL MUSEUM BUILDING. 



DESCRIPTION. 



In describiiif,^ the present Museum buildino-/' the architects, Messrs. 

 Chiss & Schulze, spoke of it as follows: 



A modernized Romanesque style of architecture was adopted for the new building 

 in order to keep up a relationship with the Smithsonian building, which is designed 

 in Norman, a variety of this style. To modernize this style was found necessary 

 on account of the different building material, and to do justice to the purj)Oses of the 

 building with its modern demands of perfect safety and elegance of construction, of 

 greatest possible available floor space, of easy communications, efticient drainage, a 

 well-calculated and pleasing admission of light, free circulation of air, and all other 

 hygienic dicta. 



The external architecture is based upon the general arrangement of the interior, 

 and shows plainly the prominence of the four naves and the careful management of 

 the light for the central portion of the building. The main entrances are in the 

 centers of each facade between two lofty towers of 86 feet height, which act as but- 

 tresses for the naves. Between the towers, and receding from the doorways, there 

 are large arched windows set with ornamented glass, and above those the gables of 

 the naves are formed; they contain inscrij^tion plates, and are crowned by allegorical 

 groups of statuary. The group over the northern gable, designed by C. Buberl, of 

 New York, already in position, introduces Columbia as the protectress of science and 

 industry. * * * 



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



he Paris exhibition of 1867 has been adopted. But by the introduction of upper 



stories on those outlying sections reserved for offices, ample office room has been 



secured without encroaching materially upon the floor space within the square of 



300 feet to which the building was primarily limited. 



Whatever ma}^ be the style of architecture represented, the exterior 

 of the building- can not lay claim to dignity of appearance or to any 

 degree of esthetic merit, although by a symmetrical arrangement of 

 towers and payilions some relief is giyen to the low outer walls, and, 

 viewed a short distance off, the tops of the former mingle with the 

 roofs and lantern skylights to produce a not unpicturesque, though 

 crude, effect. The walls are of brick, the roofs principally of iron 

 and slate. The former were well constructed, and should long remain 

 in good condition, ])ut the latter were early found to be, in greater 

 part, unsuita})lo and insecure. These defects were largely due to the 

 smallness of the appropriation, only $250,000, which did not permit 

 of the best class of workmanship and material, and the failure to pro- 

 duce a Ijetter architectural effect can probably also be accounted for 

 in the same way. 



The interior is plain, and its walls are frequently defaced through 

 the imperfections of the roofs, but the many criticisms which, from 

 the beginning, have been directed against the arrangement of the 

 building are entirely unwarranted. For the purpose for which it 

 was erected, the exhibition of specimens, it probal)ly has no superior 



« Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution for 1879, pp. 130, 131. 



