360 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1903, 



sity. A liandsoiiio model of Uuivor.sitv Hall is exhibited in the Met- 

 ropolitan Museum of Ai't, a mile and a half away. Only the front 

 part of the hall rests on the plateau itself, the main portion of the 

 building extending- along the back slope of the plateau, which has a 

 steep descent of 88 feet, so that in the rear the structure rises to an 

 imposing height of ISO feet, while in front it is <i9 feet high. These 

 lower-lying portions of the site, affording a park-like green with 

 old trees, are to be inclosed by four doi-mitories." The buildings are 

 69 feet high, the outer ones having four stories and two basements, 

 which is made possible by the sloping nature of the ground. 



Four of the great outlying buildings for lecture rooms, laboratories, 

 and collections are completed; also the library and the power plant of 

 the universit}' hall, and the gymnasium with its l)aths. The foundation, 

 stairs, balustrades and the like are of granite; the librar}- is of white 

 sandstone; everything else is of red-brick construction with sandstone 

 trimmings. The walks are paved with red brick. The whole makes 

 an imposing as well as an agreeable impression, gay in summer from 

 the green color of lofty trees and grass plats. Ever^'thing is fireproof; 

 the framework is of iron; the tioors, walls, and roofs are of hollow 

 brick; the stairs are of stone or of iron and stone. The iron pillars 

 rest in sheet-iron sockets, which are tilled with loose asbestos. The 

 doors and window frames are of wood; the windows are of plate glass. 

 Everything is done according to the expressed principle that the best 

 is not too good and is in the end the cheapest. 



The buildings hitherto erected cost $4:, 250, GOO;'' those yet to be put 

 up will require $5,500,000. The total cost of the university build- 

 ings will amount to $15,000,000,'' and they will accommodate 6,000 

 students and 600 teachers. Already the aggregation of buildings — 

 Columbia University, National Academy of Design, Grant Mausoleum, 

 St. Luke's Hospital, and St. John's Cathedral— splendidly situated on 

 the high bank of the Hudson in the midst of caref ulh^ tended parks, is 

 regarded as the future ''Acropolis of the New World." 



Columbia is exclusively an endowed university, and although it has 

 the authorization of the State of New York for its founding, it has 

 never received a State appropriation. That such a considerable sum 

 for a universit}' can be raised entirely l)y private subscription is char- 

 acteristic of Americans and is an argument for the social justitica- 



«See illustrations in Columbia University Quarterly, I, 1899, p. 149. Two five-story 

 buildings are i)laiino(l 156 feet in tength, and two 200 feet in length and 40 feet 

 wide, which will accommodate altogether about 450 students, and will cost about 

 $750,000. 



&An exact statement of the cost maybe found in the report of the president of 

 October 3, 1898, re])rinted in report of the Commissioner of Education, 1897-98, II, 

 p. 1797, Washington, 1899. >^ee aho Science, XIII, p. 116, January 18, 1901. 



cThe Strassburg University buildings cost $8,750,000. 



