The Mall before construction 

 of the new National 

 Museum, as viewed from the 

 tower of the Castle. To the 

 right is the Post Office 

 Building, a massive granite 

 structure completed in the 

 1890s; the museum site is 

 farther to the right, just out 

 of the pict ure. June 1, 1904. 



"Looming up amidst the trees which skirt tiie northern 

 edge of the Mall, near Tenth Street, the walls of the 

 new United States National Museum are now beginning 

 to assume tangible pro])ortions."'' 



Delays in Construction 



However, it was not going all that smoothly. "Work on 

 the new building has not progressed as rapidly as was 

 expected, owing to delays in the delivery of the granite 

 which was to compose the greater part of the outer 

 wall," Rathbun complained again in 1907. "The fault 

 has lain both with the cjuarrv and with the railroad 

 leading therefrom, the former have already violated 

 the time limit of its contract by a considerable amount, 

 and the latter having neglected to furnish necessary 

 cars when called upon to do so. This delay has not only 

 caused annoyance, but is resulting in pecuniary loss to 

 the Government through the deterioi ation of large col- 

 lections held in storage, and in other ways.'"' 



Annoyed as he was, Rathbun did overemphasize the 

 deterioration of the collections. This was in large meas- 

 ure material from the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Ex- 

 position in St. Louis. Once again, as at Philadelphia in 

 1876, a great deal of material was available and the 

 Smithsonian took it, knowing full well that storage space 

 was inadequate."^ Still, Rathbun could report there had 

 been some progress, with the east side completed to 

 the second story and work on the west side ready to go 

 as soon as the granite arrived. 



In the summary of 1908 Rathbun wrote: 



At the close of the [fiscal] year the exterior walls, 

 except those enclosing the south pavilion and the 

 dome, for which the stone had not been received. 



were finished, and the construction of the roofs 

 was well underway. The interior structural walls 

 and piers were also completed in the rough, and 

 many of the metal window frames of the first and 

 second stories were in place. Some of the latter 

 likewise had been glazed. So much work still 

 remains to be done in the interior, however, such 

 as the building of partitions, the laying of floors, 

 the plastering, the installation of the heating, 

 ventilating, and lighting plants with their immense 

 ramifications of pipes and wires, the completion of 

 the windows, and countless lesser details, that the 

 expectation held forth of being able to make some 

 use of the building by January, 1909, has had to 

 be abandoned.^ 



For once Rathbun was wrong, for the building was 

 used earlier than anticipated — "as the meeting place of 

 the Sixth International Tuberculosis Congress, held in 

 the early autum of 1908. ... A large part of the first 

 and second floors, as well as the basement, was given 

 over to the Congress and while the progress of con- 

 struction of the building was thereby much retarded, 

 this delay may be regarded as fully sanctioned by the 

 exceptionally important nature of the event which oc- 

 casioned it."'" 



In his next report Rathbun fired another blast at the 

 granite quarry and the railroad, this time including the 

 stonecutters, and remarked that a monuinental stair- 

 way had been dropped from the plans because it would 

 take up too much space. Actually he had a great deal 

 to be pleased about, even though the building was still 

 not finished. "The entire stonework of the outer walls 

 of the building, including the porch, columns, and front 



30 



The Structure 



