REPORT OF THE BUILDING COMMITTEE FOR 1867. 



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

 was proposed, dnrino- the year 1867, to roof the main building 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 Avith slate, fastened to the iron 

 purlines with wire, and plastered inside with v/all 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 

 shoAVTi the necessit}- 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 l)e advisable. 



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

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

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

 and expense, as Avell as making additional means indispensable 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 luiild- 

 ings generally in this city, (and we may say elsewhere,) where ])attlement3 

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

 the Avails, much inconvenience, and at times damage, arises ivom leaks, the 

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

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

 architect's original design, approA^ed by the conmiittee, is set forth in liis report 

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

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

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

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

 perty Avithin it, from dampness and moisture. 



The introduction of the proposed Avarming apparatus for all the apartments 

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

 ever the funds of the Institution Avill justify. 



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

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

 use, and for Avhich no permanent smoke-flues or other arrangements Avere pro- 

 vided. 



All the rooms in the north toAA^er, forming three suites of three in each, Avith 

 tAA'o rooms on the entrance floor, one for the janitor and the other for a recep- 

 tion room for Ausitors, 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 toAver, above these otflces, have also been completed. The 

 roofns and apartments in the south tower liave also been finished and are uoaa' 

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

 museum and is noAV devoted to the reception of the larger and most Aveighty 



