210 ARCHITECTURE. 
whole is a bell-tower with arched openings and covered with a dome. 
The building is, on the whole, well proportioned, although many of the de- 
tails lack good taste. 
Much better is the town-hall in Neuenburg in Wirtemberg, built in the 
present century, and of which pl. 55, jig. 9, shows the view, and jig. 8 the 
ground plan. The portico, of six Ionic columns, is well proportioned, and 
the arcade which ornaments the front side is of good effect. The windows 
are rather low, which is the more striking on account of the heavy cornices 
over them. The large hall in the interior, extending through two stories, 
is very beautiful. Its two tribunes rest upon six Corinthian columns. 
each. | 
The Capitol at Washington, of which pl. 56, jig. 1, gives a perspective 
view, is the seat of the Congress and of the Supreme Court of the United 
States of North America. This handsome building, erected in the year 
1814, is elevated upon a hill 78 feet high, and consists entirely of marble. 
It is 362 feet long, 120 feet deep, and has three domes, the highest of which 
is 120 feet. The front of the building has a portico of eight Corinthian 
columns, with a wing-portico of five columns on each side, receding about 
one columnar distance, and bears a finely decorated gable. On the rear is 
a colonnade of 10 Corinthian columns, forming a gallery in front of the 
library room. The windows on the whole circumference of the building 
are laid between Corinthian pilasters. The facades would merit to be 
classed among the best, if it were not for the tasteless mixture of differently 
shaped windows. The interior plan is susceptible of great improvement, 
as there is a sad want of room for the transaction of business. Besides, no 
regard has been had in the construction to the laws of acoustics, so that the 
edifice is far from being adequate to its purpose. The great rotunda in the 
middle of the principal floor is surmounted by the great dome, which is very 
valuable in point of construction. 
6. EXCHANGES. 
Exchange buildings would answer their nearest purpose of affording 
‘places of meeting for merchants for the transaction of mutual business, if 
they were merely, as in former times, spacious inclosures sheltered from the 
weather by roofs only. Such were the ancient Greek stow, and similar 
halls or inclosures were for a long time found all-sufficient for the wants of 
the merchants. More recently, however, it has been found very convenient 
to connect with these places of meeting a number of offices with which the 
greater number of merchants have daily business, and hence the open halls 
have been abandoned for solid, and for the most part magnificent edifices, 
affording room for banks, insurance companies, commercial reading-rooms, 
and sometimes the post-office, besides the great hall where the merchants 
and brokers meet for business transactions. The plans of the Exchanges 
of Paris (pl. 56, fig. 6, ground floor, jig. 7, upper story) and of Ghent 
(fig. 8, ground floor, jig. 9, upper story) will serve as illustrations; the 
210 
