596 REPORTS OF THE BUILDING COMMITTEE. 



By a resolution of the Board of the 5th of February last, the preparation and 

 publication of a work to be entitled " Hints on Public Architecture," and to contain, 

 among its illustrations, views and plans of the Institution building, was intrusted to 

 the committee ; and an appropriation of $1,000 was made for that purpose. 



In carrying out that resolution, the committee made with Messrs. Wiley & Putnam, 

 one of the most respectable publishing firms in New York, a contract, of which a 

 copy will be found on their journal ; according to the terms of which, the committee 

 agrees to furnish the entire illustrations, which it is stipulated shall not be of less 

 value than $1,000 ; and the publishers, without further cost to the committee, agree 

 to furnish a thousand copies of the volume bound in cloth, provided the letter-press 

 does not exceed one hundred and fifty pages. 



In order to give increased value to the work, the committee applied to several pub- 

 lic bodies, having control of edifices of which the architecture is of reputable char- 

 acter, for plates of the same. In the case of one of the New York churches they 

 were successful, and they hope to obtain in the same way plates of one or two other 

 public edifices. The particulars of these applications will be found at large on their 

 journal. 



The committee hope to make this treatise, of which a portion of the manuscript is 

 prepared, a work of practical importance, and of national interest. Among the reso- 

 lutions on the journal of the committee, several will be found relating to this subject, 

 and providing, among other things, that the forthcoming work should include a com- 

 parative review of the advantages, economy, and facility of adaptation to modern 

 purposes, of various styles of public architecture, particularly the Grecian, Koman, 

 modern Italian, Gothic of different ages, and Norman ; giving the actual cost, com- 

 pared to extent of accommodations, of some of the principal public edifices in the 

 United States, in the various styles, including some of the public buildings erected 

 in Washington, and elsewhere, by the General Government; also, that, so far as the 

 funds permit, the work shall contain illustrations, in the best style of art, represent- 

 ing such among the public buildings of the United States as exhibit the purest speci- 

 mens of architecture, in various styles, including two perspective views of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution on steel ; and including, also, one or more perspective views of 

 the best designs for the Institution, offered in competition. 



To execute such a plan as this in a reputable manner, the illustrations, including 

 numerous wood cuts, essential to a proper elucidation of the text, will, the committee 

 have ascertained, cost more than the sum heretofore appropriated. The two steel 

 engravings of the Institution building in perspective cannot be obtained, executed in 

 the best style of art, for less than $350 to $400 for the two. The committee ask, 

 therefore, of the Board an additional appropriation of $1,000. By reference to a 

 supplement recently made to the original contract with Wiley & Putnam, and of 

 which a copy is given in the minutes of the forty-first meeting of the committee, the 

 Board will perceive that such an additional appropriation, expended on illustrations, 

 will entitle us to an additional hundred pages of letter-press ; making in all two hun- 

 dred and fifty pages. This the committee consider important, as it is doubtful whether 

 the number of pages to which, by the original contract, the volume was restricted, 

 will suffice for the purpose of the work. 



It will require six months, properly to execute the illustrations of this work ; so 

 that it cannot be published before next summer or autumn. The committee will pro- 

 ceed in its preparation as rapidly as is consistent with the proper execution of the 

 work. 



It is the purpose of the committee to add to this work, as an appendix, the result 

 of the experiments heretofore (to wit, by resolution of the first of March last) author- 

 ized bj' the Board, to determine the economical value of the different building 

 materials used in the United States. This will give to the work additional value for 

 builders, carpenters, and mechanics, generally. 



For further particulars regarding the various subjects touched on in this report, 

 the committee beg to refer the Board to the copy herewith submitted, of their 

 journal. They think it would be useful to make that copy a portion of the annual 

 report of the Board to Congress. 



They submit also, herewith, the original contracts with Dixon & Cameron, Joel 

 Downer, Caleb Buckingham, and Wiley & Putnam ; and the security bond signed 

 by Dixon & Cameron, Winter, and Butler. 



All which is respectfully submitted, 



KOBEKT DALE OWEN. 

 W. W. SEATON. 

 JOS. G. TOTTEN. 



December 7, 1847. 



