WASHINGTON 



6195 



WASHINGTON 



series of building operations, beginning with the 

 laying of the first comer stone in 1793, by 

 Washington, and ending with the completion of 

 the iron dome, in 1865. The House and Senate 

 extensions, both of white marble, were com- 

 pleted after 1850. In all, $26,000,000 has been 

 expended on the Capitol and its beautiful 

 grounds. 



The building is 751 feet long and 350 wide, 

 and its dome is 287 feet, 5 inches above the 

 base line of the east front. Stately columns 

 and pilasters in the Corinthian style of archi- 

 tecture are its chief exterior adornments, and 

 the eastern main entrance, where the Presidents 

 are inaugurated, i- magnificent. This, the 

 grand central portico, has twenty-four columns 

 and is 160 feet wide. It is flanked by two 

 groups of colossal statuary, and in its center is 

 a great bronze door designed by Randolph 

 Rogers. The door panels are decorated in high 

 relief, showing scenes in the life and career 

 of Columbus. This door opens directly into a 

 rotunda occupying almost the entire width of 

 the central building, and rising upward to the 

 top of the dome. The rotunda is embellished 

 with many historical paintings, including the 

 famous Revolutionary series by John Trum- 

 bull. On the canopy of the dome is the beauti- 

 ful Apotheosis of Washington, painted by the 

 Italian artist Constantino Brumidi. Through 

 tin northern door of the rotunda one passes to 

 the Supreme Court Chamber and thence to the 

 Senate Chamber, and through the southern 

 door to Statuary Hall and the House of Rep- 

 resentatives. Statuary Hall, formerly the meet- 

 ing place of the Representatives, is now a 

 repository of marble and bronze memorials of 

 illustrious Americans, each state being repre- 

 sented by one or two. It is interesting to note 

 that though the Capitol faced east, the city has, 

 so to speak, grown up in its rear, for the N. W. 

 section is by far the largest. The western face 

 of the building, therefore, has been greatly im- 

 ed and embelli>h< !. and the Capitol has 

 r illy two fronts of almost equal beauty. Ad- 

 joining the Capitol grounds, on the north and 

 :. respectively, are two imposing marble 

 I >i nldings containing the administrative offices 

 >f the Senate and H -ise of Representa- 



'iiur the Capitol in point of interest is 

 tli- official In mi'- of the President, popularly 

 known as the White House. This homelik* 

 mansion and the beautiful grounds about it are 

 described in detail in these volumes under tin- 

 heading WHITE HOUSE. Another building which 



strangers in Washington enjoy visiting is the 

 mammoth Treasury, at 15th Street and Penn- 

 sylvania Avenue, N. W. Unfortunately, the 

 Treasury was erected on ground almost adjoin- 

 ing the White House Park, and it spoils what 

 otherwise would have been a splendid view of 

 the Executive Mansion, down Pennsylvania 

 Avenue from the Capitol. The Treasury, a 

 massive granite structure 466 feet long and 264 

 feet wide, is an example of Greek Ionic archi- 

 tecture. The building which houses the de- 

 partments of State, War and the Navy is lo- 



d west of the White House, at 17th St 

 and Pennsylvania Avenue. It is an adaptation 

 of ' French Renaissance, and is an imposing 

 structure covering four and one-half acres. 



The Department of the Interior has its head- 

 quarters in the massive Patent Office at 7th and 

 F streets, an example of Greek Doric. Across 

 the street from it is the General Land Office, 

 and on G Street are the buildings used by the 

 Pension Bureau and the Government Printing 

 Office. The most notable feature of the 

 terior of the Pension Building is an ornamental 

 frieze in terra cotta, picturing scenes of tin- 

 War of Secession. Among the newer govern- 

 ment buildings is the home of the Department 

 of Agriculture, an artistic white marble st 

 ture on the Mall, between 12th and 14th streets. 

 The Mall contains also the buildings of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, including the recently- 

 completed structure which contains the collec- 

 tions of the National Museum (see illustration, 

 page 4077). The latter, magnificently built of 

 white marble, is a notable addition to the 

 stately buildings in the Capitol district of tin- 

 city. 



Visitors also find much to interest them in 

 various other buildings, though these have no 

 special distinction as to architecture the gun- 

 shop and museum of the Navy Yard, on tin- 

 bank of the tidal estuary of the Anacostia ; 

 Marine Barracks, on 8th Street, S. E.; the 

 Naval Observatory, north of Georgetown; and 

 the building of the Fish Commission (6th and 

 B streets, 8. W.). with its marvelous aquariums. 

 One who attempts to make a tour of the na- 

 tional buildings is improved with the fact that 

 they are widely scattered. As a matter of fact, 

 the buildings were purposely erected at consid- 

 erable distances apart to avoid overcrowding 

 of street cars by government employees at rush 

 hours. 



Washington has many <>th, r buildings of 

 beauty and interest. Its new Union Station, at 

 th< intersection of Massachusetts and Delaware 



