REPORT OF THE BUILDING COMMITTEE FOR 1867. 



It was stated in the report presented to the Board at its last session that it 

 was proposed, during the year 1867, to roof the main Iniikling and towers and 

 finish the interior of all the rooms, halls, staircases and main entrance, leaving 

 the large room of the upper story, over the museum, unfinished until funds 

 could be provided for the purpose and its future use be determined. 



In accordance with this proposition the iron work of the roof over the museum 

 was erected early in the spring, and covered with slate, fastened to the iron 

 purlines with wire, and plastered inside with wall plaster. The iron gutters, as 

 well as the roof, were found perfectly secure from leakage during the hardest 

 summer rains. The severe test of ice and snow during the present winter has 

 shown the necessity for additions in the arrangements for conducting the water 

 from the roof. Plans for this purpose are now under discussion with the archi- 

 tect for persevering in the original plan, or adopting some additional security 

 that the late severe season has indicated to be advisable. 



The adaptation of new to old work, in restoring the building from the 

 destructive effects of the fire, by substituting incombustible materials for wooden 

 partitions, floors and roofs, has been attended, as was foreseen, with much labor 

 and expense, as well as making additional means indispensalde for rendering 

 the roof-surfaces, valleys, and gutters water-tight in winter, when covered with 

 snow, and occasionally ice, as well as the summer rains. Like the public build- 

 ings generally in tliis city, (and we may say elsewhere,) Avhere battlements 

 extend above the eaves with gutters behind them upon the roof, or resting upon 

 the walls, much inconvenience, and at times damage, arises from leaks, the 

 result of such a system. It is experienced in the Smithsonian building in con- 

 sequence of the stone battlements capping all its exterior walls. The present 

 architect's original design, approved by the committee, is set forth in his report 

 of the operations of the yeaV, annexed hereto. Neither time nor the funds of the 

 Institution would permit his carrying this part of his plan into operation ; and 

 until it is done, together with some additions that the late inclement season has 

 pointed out as advisable and necessary, the building is not secure, nor the pro- 

 perty within it, from dampness and moisture. 



The introduction of the proposed warming apparatus for all the apartments 

 is the next most essential particular to be undertaken, to be connnenced when- 

 ever the funds of the Institution will justify. 



The security of the several apartments and contents are in a great measure 

 dependent upon such an apparatus as a substitute for the stoves temporarily in 

 use, and for which no permanent smoke-flues or other arrangements were pro- 

 vided. 



All the rooms in the north tower, forming three suites of three in each, Avith 

 two rooms on the entrance floor, one for the janitor and the other for a recep- 

 tion room for visitors, have been completed and are now used and occupied as 

 offices for conducting the operations of the Institution. The several apart- 

 ments in this north tower, above these offices, have also been completed. The 

 rooms and apartments in the south tower have also been finished and are now 

 occupied. The lower one, or that on the first floor, forms a part of the general 

 museum and is now devoted to the reception of the larger and most weighty 



