

REPORTS OF THE BUILDING COMMITTEE. 



Report of the Building Committee for the year 1847. 



The committee submit to the Board, as a complete record of their proceedings from 

 the date of their appointment, on the 5th of February last, to the 1st of December 

 current, a copy of their journal. 



By reference to that journal, the Board will perceive that the committee, in dis- 

 charge of their duty, were led into a somewhat extended field of inquiry, especially 

 as regards building material ; and that they have been enabled to collect, and have 

 duly recorded, a large amount of detailed information on this subject essential to 

 their own guidance, but, also, they believe, important to the public generally, and 

 especially to the Government, if Congress should decide to erect any other public 

 buildings in this city. They caused to be examined the various marble, and granite, 

 and freestone quarries within a moderate distance of Washington, having been for- 

 tunate enough to engage the services of a gentleman of practical experience as a 

 geologist, and who tendered these services gratuitously, his necessary traveling and 

 other expenses only being paid. 



The examination embraced the chief marble and granite quarries of Maryland ; 

 the freestone quarries of Aquia creek, Virginia, whence the material has been drawn 

 for the construction of the Capitol, President's house, Treasury building, and other 

 public structures in this city ; and the freestone quarries of the Upper Potomac, 

 chiefly in the vicinity of Seneca creek, on the banks of the Chesapeake and Ohio 

 canal, and about twenty-three miles from the city. 



The results of this examination, as contained in reports made by the geologist, and 

 which will be found spread at large on our journal, were briefly these : 



1st. That the marble quarries of Maryland, chiefly in the vicinity of the village of 

 Clarksville, about thirteen miles from Baltimore, on the line of the Susquehanna 

 railroad, contain two qualities of marble : one fine-grained and of beautiful uniform 

 color, approaching the character of statuary marble; the other, of inferior quality, 

 similar to the Sing Sing marble employed in New York, in Grace church, and other 

 public structures, of a somewhat coarse and highly crystalline structure, and known 

 to the quarrymen here under the name of "alum limestone." The former was con- 

 fidently recommended as a building material equal in durability to any in the world ; 

 the latter was pronounced inferior, both in beauty and durability, yet capable of fur- 

 nishing a very lasting material if the selection was made with care. Being less tough 

 than the finer-grained variety, it was thought less suitable for ornaments having bold 

 projections, and somewhat liable to chip off where there was much undercutting. 



2d. That the granite quarries of Maryland, in the vicinity of Woodstock, on the 

 line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and about sixteen miles beyond the Eelay 

 House, furnish a granite equal to that of Quincy, and not excelled for beauty of 

 appearance, compactness of structure, and uniformity of color, texture, and compo- 

 sition, by any granite in the United States; splitting, also, with remarkable facility, 

 so that on a block twelve or fourteen feet in length the face of cleavage may not vary 

 more than a single inch from a true level ; in short, a building material of unsur- 

 passed durability and uniformity, and to which, as to the finer-grained marble in the 

 Clarksville quarries, no possible objection, except on the score of expense, could be 

 found, unless, indeed, it be considered one, that in this material the effect of light 

 and shade from projecting surfaces is in a measure lost, while in marble and good 

 tinted freestone every shadow is sharply marked. 



3d. That the Aquia creek freestone, heretofore used in public buildings in Wash- 

 ington, is a material not to be trusted to, being pervaded by dark specks of the pro- 

 toxide and peroxide of iron, which, in peroxidating, acquire a yellowish or reddish 

 color, and having occasional clay holes, such as disfigure the Treasury and the Patent 

 Office. A portion of this freestone was, indeed, considered durable and free from 

 material blemish ; but the chance of actually procuring it free from disfiguring spots 

 - and stains was considered so uncertain, that it was recommended to refrain from 

 using it in the Institution building. 



4th. That the freestone of the upper Potomac, in the vicinity of Seneca creek, and 



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