NATURAL HISTORY BUILDING 15 



While the materials for the building were obtained on contract, the 

 major part of the work connected with its erection was conducted 

 directly by the Government through the employment of labor under 

 the supervision of master mechanics and foremen. A considerable 

 amount of construction work in certain lines, including the materials, 

 was, however, performed under contract, comprising the foundations, 

 the plastering, the roofs in part and the skylights, the stone and con- 

 crete floors, the Guastavino tile work, the steam and electrical plant, 

 etc. 



The collections of natural history and anthropology destined for 

 the new building had by June 30, 1912, been practically all trans- 

 ferred to the more ample accommodations which it affords, leaving 

 the two older buildings to the occupancy of the departments of arts 

 and industries and American history, except the upper main hall in 

 the Smithsonian building, which has been assigned to the division of 

 plants. 



LOCATION OF THE BUILDING 



The longest section of the Mall, bounded on the sides by B Street 

 north and B Street south, is that lying between Seventh and Twelfth 

 Streets west. Under the terms of its organic act, the southern half 

 of this square between Ninth and Twelfth Streets was secured to the 

 Smithsonian Institution as a site for its building which was centrally 

 located on this so-called Smithsonian reservation. To the entire 

 square the terms Smithsonian park and Smithsonian grounds have 

 for many years been applied, the latter designation being commonly 

 used in connection with legislative matters. The first of the buildings 

 erected expressly for the National Museum, the brick structure, was 

 placed on the same side of the square but farther south. Beginning 

 about 50 feet from the eastern end of the Smithsonian building, it 

 extends to Ninth Street, the line of which it slightly overlaps. Still 

 farther east, at the corner of B Street south and Seventh Street, is 

 the Army Medical Museum, built a few years later. 



As it was important for administrative reasons and for the con- 

 venience of the public that the new building should be located near 

 the older ones, and as there was not sufficient space for it in the 

 southern part of the grounds, it became necessary to look to the 

 northern side, no portion of which had yet been occupied. The site 

 chosen is directly in front of the Smithsonian building, the north 

 and south axes of both buildings corresponding with that of Tenth 

 Street extended, and the distance between the two being about 725 

 feet. While both of these structures face the center of the Mall, the 

 Smithsonian building is parallel with B Street, and the new building 

 parallels the so-called axis of the Mall, a line drawn from the dome 

 of the Capitol to the Washington Monument. As a result, the north 



