NATURAL HISTORY BUILDING 11 



lections and for the laboratories are spacious and readily accessible, 

 and by the introduction of a power plant, an auditorium, construction 

 and repair shops, and many other necessities and conveniences, the 

 scheme of a perfected museum building appears to have been quite 

 fully rounded out. For the exterior designs as well as for the more 

 elaborate features and the harmonious arrangement of the interior, 

 which have made it one of the most notable structures at the National 

 Capital, the architects are solely responsible. 



Except for delays in securing certain of the structural materials, 

 which somewhat retarded building operations, the work proceeded 

 satisfactorily and is entirely of a high standard and permanent 

 character. It also seems worthy of record that the building was 

 erected within the amount of the appropriation. 



The architects of the building were Messrs. Hornblower & Mar- 

 shall, of Washington, while the heating, electrical and ventilating 

 equipment was designed and installed under the supervision of Prof. 

 S. Homer Woodbridge, of Boston, Mass. The building construction 

 was, by designation of Congress, directed by Mr. Bernard R. Green, 

 Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds of the Library of Con- 

 gress, whose experience especially qualified him for successfully 

 carrying out this large and somewhat novel undertaking. 



In the preparation of this paper, the writer has been dependent 

 upon others for most of the technical descriptive matter incorporated, 

 which was submitted to him in the form of two detailed reports, 

 preserved in the office jfiles. One of these, by Mr. James Millar, for- 

 merly of the architects' office, covers the structural details of the 

 building. The other, relating to the mechanical equipment, is by 

 Mr. C. R. Denmark, an assistant of Professor Woodbridge during 

 its installation and at present in charge of its operation, as engineer 

 of the Museum. 



LEGISLATION, ACTION BY THE REGENTS, PROGRESS OF THE WORK 



Following the preparation of certain tentative sketches designed 

 to illustrate the size and character of structure required for housing 

 the natural history collections of the Government, the matter of pro- 

 viding an additional building for the National Museum was brought 

 to the attention of the Fifty-seventh Congress, First Session (1901-2) , 

 in the form of an estimate of appropriation sufficient to cover the 

 expense of making the necessary preliminary plans. With the in- 

 formation then available it had been impossible to determine the cost 

 of such a building, but a limitation in that respect was considered 

 advisable by Congress and was incorporated in the measure which 

 passed as an item in the sundry civil act for the fiscal year ending 

 June 30, 1903, in the following terms: 



For the preparation, under the direction of the Secretary of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, of preliminary plans for an additional fireproof steel- 



