RELIGION, EDUCATION, FINE ARTS. 



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gray limestone, and is not only one of the 

 noblest structures of this century, but a most 

 successful attempt to secularize this truly 

 northern style of architecture. 



Architecture in the United States. 

 During the Colonial period of the United 

 States there was neither time nor opportunity 

 for the practice of the fine arts. When the 

 Revolution was over, however, Congress in 

 spite of heavy debt proceeded to lay out a Na- 

 tional Capital and erect national buildings. 

 These latter were the first to receive serious 

 architectural treatment, and until recently 

 were, together with the state capitols, in what 

 may be called a classic style, because they had 

 porticoes with columns and other features of 

 the ancient orders. 



The Capitol at Washington, the inception of 

 which belongs to the last century, is unques- 

 tionably the grandest pile in that city, and 

 probably the most monumental of United 

 States buildings. Notwithstanding its con- 

 ventionally classic style it is an edifice of 

 which a great nation may be proud, majestic 

 both within and without, and gaining in effect 

 from its position on a commanding site. The 

 corner stone of the Capitol was laid in 1793. 

 It is of the Renaissance, and consists of two 

 stories rising from a lofty rustic basement. 

 The ground plan is a central pavilion with 

 north and south wings. The principal fagade 

 is on the east side, where a portico of Corin- 

 thian columns thirty feet in height fronts 

 the pavilion, while pilasters of the same order 

 are continued along the wings. The eight 

 middle columns project so as to admit of an- 

 other inner row, and these sixteen columns 

 support a noble pediment adorned with a bas- 

 relief. The subject is allegorical, Liberty at- 

 tended by Hope and Justice, and is said to 

 have been designed by John Quincy Adams. 

 The approach to this imposing portico is by a 

 flight of broad marble steps. The central 

 portion of the edifice is, for the most part, oc- 

 cupied by a circular apartment, measuring 

 about one hundred feet in diameter and height, 

 and known as the Rotunda. It is ornamented 

 with paintings and bas-reliefs illustrative of 

 our national history. The paintings are sepa- 

 rated from one another by gilded pilasters, 

 which rise to the dome forming the roof. 

 The dome compares well with those that are 

 famous in the world, and, taken as a whole, 

 the Capitol is more stately than the Houses of 

 Parliament, and is open to as little criticism 

 as the buildings of its class in other lands. 



Treasury and Patent Office. Among the 

 older government buildings may be cited the 

 United States Treasury, a structure with four 

 fronts. The building commonly known as the 



Patent Office, which has recently been sub- 

 jected to considerable alteration, is also a foui 

 fronted building with a portico in the center of 

 each of its sides, the principal consisting of 

 two rows of eight columns. As Grecian 

 structures these monumental piles are not un- 

 worthy, but the incongruity between their ap- 

 pearance and their purpose is manifest. 



Pension Bureau. The newer government 

 structures at Washington have followed neither 

 the Grecian nor the vernacular Palladian. 

 The Pension Bureau is a large and severely 

 symmetrical structure in the style of Bramante, 

 having three stories of rectangular windows, 

 a bold cornice and an attic in the center. 

 The decorations are of terra cotta. 



The Congressional Library is of the Italian 

 Renaissance order of architecture ; it has three 

 stories with a dome ; and is in area 470 by 

 340 feet, covering nearly three and one half 

 acres of ground, with four inner courts. The 

 building is surmounted on all sides by a carved 

 balustrade. The dome is finished in black 

 copper with panels gilded with a thick coating 

 of gold leaf. The cresting of the dome above 

 the lantern terminates in a gilded finial rep- 

 resenting the torch of Science ever burning. 

 The general plan of the structure consists of a 

 great central rotunda, from which radiate 

 book stacks and which is inclosed in a paral- 

 lelogram of galleries and pavilions. The 

 building material employed for the exterior 

 walls is white granite from New Hampshire, 

 and for the inner courts Maryland granite and 

 white enameled bricks. The interior is rich 

 in choice marbles from Europe, Africa, and 

 America. The entrance to the building is by 

 massive stairways of the central pavilion, and 

 through bronze doors to the central stair hall. 

 This magnificent apartment is pronounced to 

 be unsurpassed by any other entrance hall in 

 the world. It is lined throughout with fine 

 Italian marble highly polished. On the sides 

 rise lofty rounded columns, with elaborate 

 carved capitals of Corinthian design ; while 

 the arches are adorned with marble rosettes, 

 palm leaves, and foliated designs of exquisite 

 finish and delicacy. The newel posts of the 

 stairway are enriched by beautiful festoons of 

 leaves and flowers, and are surmounted by 

 two bronze lamp bearers. The staircases are 

 ornamented with miniature marble figures by 

 Martiny, carved in relief, representing in em- 

 blematic sculpture the various arts and sciences. 

 This beautiful and spacious entrance hall has 

 been described as a "vision in polished stone," 

 and taken in connection with the grand cor- 

 ridors and rich decorations may be pronounced 

 the finest marble interior in America. 



The Bureau of Printing and Engraving is in 



