114 UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



while the passageway adjoining the pavilion retains the same width 

 as in the other wings, the screen walls, which do not reach to the 

 ceiling, extend to the outer end of the skylighted area, are built 

 against the inner faces of the piers, and return at both ends. For the 

 purpose of increasing the amount of wall space in this general en- 

 closure, which measures 146 feet long by 48 feet wide, it is subdi- 

 vided by walls of the same character and height into eight rooms 

 symmetrically disposed, besides three short sections of corridor run- 

 ning with the longitudinal axis of the hall. The largest of the 

 rooms is midway of the enclosure and occupies its entire width, meas- 

 uring 48 feet by 36 feet. Immediately adjoining it both to the north 

 and south is a pair of rooms, the rooms in each pair being separated 

 by a 12-foot corridor and all having the same dimensions, namely, 

 36 feet by 18 feet. The southern end of the enclosure consists of a 

 single room, 48 feet by 18 feet ; and the northern of two small rooms, 

 each 17|^ feet by 14^ feet, separated by a corridor 18 feet wide. The 

 enclosure is entered from the north and south only, and each of the 

 rooms, except the two smallest ones, has two openings without doors, 

 permitting the free circulation of visitors. The corridors are finished 

 and utilized in the same manner as the rooms. 



The screen walls are built with a core of 3-inch macite blocks 

 strengthened by iron bars and covered with wood as the most suit- 

 able medium for the hanging of pictures. Measuring only 13 feet 11 

 inches high, an open space of 3 feet occurs between the top of the 

 enclosing walls and the under surface of the ceiling girders which 

 span the piers. All wall surfaces within the enclosure have a 6-inch 

 base of pink Tennessee marble, surmounted by a wood base of the 

 same height, and followed by a molded wainscot rail 3 feet above the 

 floor. All of the compartments except the south room and the corri- 

 dors are also provided with a 2^-inch round handrail of oak at the 

 same height as the wainscot rail, and about 2 feet from the wall, 

 supported on ornamental cast-iron brackets. With the exception of 

 the handrail, all exposed woodwork, including the trims of the door- 

 ways and the molding along the tops of the screens, is of cypress. 



The surface for the hanging of paintings measures 10^ feet high 

 from the wainscot rail to the top molding, and has a total linear ex- 

 tent, excluding openings, of about 950 feet. It is covered with bur- 

 lap, as is also the space between the baseboard and the wainscot rail, 

 the color of this material being dark green in the rooms and light 

 brown in the corridors. The outer surface of the enclosing wall, 

 covered with the lighter color of burlap, is used for paintings at the 

 north and south ends, but along the sides it is mainly occupied by 

 cases for ethnological subjects. 



Notwithstanding that the sltylight over this hall was designed for 

 lighting a different class of objects than paintings, it has given gen- 



