Appendix 1. 



EEPOKT ON THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Sir: I have the honor to submit the following report on the op- 

 erations of the United States National Museum for the fiscal year 

 ending June 30, 1917 : 



INTRODUCTORY. 



In the last report it was stated that Mr. Charles L. Freer had 

 made arrangements for the immediate erection of the building to 

 house the valuable collections of American and oriental art which 

 he has presented to the Nation through the Smithsonian Institution, 

 and also that the preliminary plans had been approved, the site se- 

 lected and the necessary funds, amounting to $1,000,000, transmitted 

 by him to the Institution. It is exceedingly gratifying to announce 

 that the detailed plans having been sufficiently advanced by that time 

 the work of excavating was begun on October 2, 1916, and by the 

 close of the fiscal year the foundations, including the concrete walls 

 inclosing the subbasement, had been completed. 



This addition to the Smithsonian group of buildings, with a front- 

 age of 228 feet, a depth of 185 feet, and a height of 46 feet, and 

 containing an open central court about 65 feet square, will present' 

 an exterior of pink granite from quarries at Milford, Massachusetts, 

 a stone which has been employed with good effect for several promi- 

 nent structures in Washington. Above the ground level it will consist 

 only of a basement and main story, the former lighted by windows, 

 the latter almost wholly by skylights, leaving the upper part of the 

 walls essentially unpierced except for the entrances, of which that 

 on the north front comprises three large arched openings. The loca- 

 tion, at the corner of Twelfth and B streets SW., between the build- 

 ings of the Smithsonian Institution and the Department of Agricul- 

 ture, seems to assure favorable surroundings for the future, as there 

 is slight probability of intrusion by any high or otherwise objection- 

 able constructions in that vicinity. 



Not only beautiful and effective in general design, but showing 

 in interior plan a thorough adaptation to the requirements of the 

 collections both as to space and to lighting, with such facilities as 

 will make it practically an independent unit of the Smithsonian 



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