NATURAL HISTORY BUILDING 23 



structure. Under the south or main facade the footings are 11 feet 

 wide at the bottom and the walls, 6 feet thick; under the exterior 

 fagades of the ranges they measure 9 feet 3 inches and 4 feet 2 

 inches, respectively, while under the court walls they are consider- 

 ably narrower. Especially heavy foundations were required for 

 the south pavilion and the outer ends of the east and west wings, 

 where the walls reach an extreme thickness of 7 feet 8 inches. 



SOUTH PAVILION AND ROTUNDA 



The south pavilion, surmounted by the drum and dome of the 

 rotunda, owes its prominence exteriorly to its height above the main 

 roofs, its projection beyond the general line of the south fagade of 

 the building and its more elaborate treatment. If its southern pro- 

 jection be excepted, it is square in plan and about 118 feet across as 

 bounded by its main walls to the height of the adjoining wings by 

 which these walls are concealed on three sides. Above the roofs of 

 the wings, where the walls are entirely exposed, the octagonal shape 

 of the interior is also manifested on the outside, and it presents four 

 broad faces, which are 82 feet 2 inches wide on the east, west and 

 north, and 79 feet wide above the portico entablature on the south. 

 The diagonally disposed faces, which are separated from the others 

 by projections right angular in plan, are much narrower, measuring 

 only 8 feet 3 inches wide in direct elevation and 11 feet ^ inch wide 

 in normal elevation. 



The broad fronts, each of which is pierced by a large semicircular 

 window, are pedimented, with a parapet and central parapet block, 

 the top of which is 101 feet 9^ inches above the level of the portico 

 and first floor, the ridge of the slated roofs behind the pediments 

 being 99 feet 1 inch above the same level. The sides of the faces 

 above the roofs of the wings and above the portico have a raised, 

 pilaster-like projection, 9 feet 9 inches wide, terminating above in an 

 entablature which does not extend across the faces but returns with 

 the pilaster upon the pediment walls, and is continued around the 

 broken walls connecting the faces, these walls, like the pediments, 

 being also surmounted by a parapet. The frieze of this entablature, 

 which is 3 feet 8| inches wide, is ornamented with an incised Greek 

 fret. 



While the east, west and north faces are equidistant from the 

 center of the pavilion, the south face above the first floor level is set 

 out 18 feet 8 inches farther and projects 16 feet 3 inches beyond the 

 general line of the front of the building, not including the pilasters. 

 In a recessed wall in the front of this projection, which is 79 feet 5 

 inches wide to the height of the two main stories of the wings, is the 

 main entrance to the building, the recess in combination with a 



