USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > Picture of Washington and its vicinity, also, the Washington guide, containing a congressional directory, and much other useful information, 1850 > Part 4
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incessant agitations, our scholars gain strength for their quiet labors, and visiters from remote states and distant countries contemplate with admiration the opening evidences that here in a city bearing the immortal name of Washing- ton, art, science, and liberty dwell in peaceful communion, their lights blending, as reflected from numerous imposing monuments, and min- gling with those more soft and cheering from the more varied scenery of nature.
PRESIDENT'S HOUSE .- SOUTH FRONT.
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PRESIDENT'S HOUSE.
STRANGERS in the Metropolis visit with ea- ger curiosity, as one of the first objects of in. terest, the Preident's mansion. It is situated in the western part of the city, on a plat of ground of twenty acres, forty-four feet above high water. It has a southern and northern front, the southern commanding a lovely view of the Potomac. On both fronts the grounds are laid out with taste, and planted with for- est trees and shrubbery. The walks are of gravel, broad and delightful. The mansion is of two stories, one hundred and seventy feet
front, and eighty-six feet deep, and is built of white free stone, with Ionic pilasters. The northern front is ornamented with a lofty por- tico of four Ionic columns in front, and project- ing with three columns. Beneath this portico drive the carriages of visiters.
Immediately opposite the front door, across a large open vestibule or hall, is the Reception Room. The paper of this room is very beau-
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tiful, of a pearl white, with a small gilt figure. The carpet is said to be of American manu- facture in imitation of brussels. The ground is of fawn color with figures of baskets of flowers, and the centre table is of fine white marble. The pier table has a white marble top on a handsome gilt frame. The sofas and chairs of this room have gilt frames, and are covered with blue and white damask; the curtains are of the same material, lined with delicate flesh colored silk. Two large mirrors stand opposite to cach other, and a large chan- delier, with many lights, is suspended from the ceiling, and in the evening gives a peculiar splendor by its reflection. Communicating with the Reception Room is a large square room known now as the Green Room, of thirty by twenty-two feet. The sofa and chairs have gilt frames and covered with green and white damask, and the curtains are of the same ma- terial. Two large mirrors and a marble pier table adorn this room, the floor being covered with a dark Wilton carpet, and the chandelier having twenty lights.
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We now enter the celebrated East Room, which in extent is eighty feet long by forty wide, and twenty-two in height. There are four mantles of black marble, with Italian black and gold fronts, and handsome grates; each mantel is surmounted with a French mirror, the plates of which measure one hun- dred by fifty-eight inches, framed in a very beautiful style; two rich French vases adorn each mantel piece; four other large mirrors, two at each end of the room reflect the rays from three large chandeliers with twenty- seven lights each, and beneath each of the chandeliers is a beautiful table of marble set in mahogany; four pier tables correspond in style to the centre tables, all standing on bronze feet. The curtains are of heavy crimson damask, surrounded by rich gilt cornices; the chairs and sofas are of mahogany, covered with rich worsted, woven to represent flowers, in a great variety of colors; the carpet, of Ameri- can manufacture, was prepared expressly for this room, and is of a brown, crimson, and orange color, with the figure of an eagle.
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The following extracts from letters written by Mrs. Adams, the lady of the first President of that name, throw much light upon the con- dition of this house, and also of this city, as they were in 1800.
MRS. ABIGAIL ADAMS TO MRS. SMITH.
WASHINGTON, November 21, 1800.
In the city are buildings enough, if they were compact and finished, to accommodate Con- gress and those attached to it; but as they are, I see no great comfort for them. The river, which runs up to Alexandria, is in full view of my window and I see the vessels as they pass and repass. The house is upon a grand and superb scale, requiring about thirty servants to attend and keep the apartments in proper order, and perform the ordinary business of the house and stables; an establishment very well pro- portioned to the President's salary. The light- ing the apartments, from the kitchen to the par- lors and chambers, is a tax indeed; and the fires we are obliged to keep, to secure us from daily agues, is another very cheering comfort. To
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sist us in this great castle, and render less attend- ance necessary, bells are wholly wanting, not one single one being hung through the whole house, and promises are all you can obtain. This is so great an inconvenience, that I know not what to do or how to do. The ladies from Georgetown and in the city have many of them visited me. Yesterday I returned fif- teen visits ; but such a place as Georgetown ap- pears-why, our Milton is beautiful. But no comparisons ;- if they will put me up some bells, and let me have wood enough to keep fires, I design to be pleased. I could content myself almost any where three months; but surrounded with forests can you believe that wood is not to be had, because people cannot be found to cut and cart it! Briesler entered into a contract with a man to supply him with wood. A small part, a few cords only, has he been able to get. Most of that was expended to dry the walls of the house before we came in, and yesterday the man told him it was impos- sible for him to procure it to be cut and carted. He has had recourse to coals; but we cannot get
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grates made and set. We have indeed come into a new country.
You must keep this to yourself, and, when asked how I like it, say that I write you the situation is beautiful, which is true. The house is made habitable, but there is not a single ap- artment finished, and all withinside, except the plastering, has been done since Briesler came. We have not the least fence, or yard, or other convenience without; and the great unfinished audience room I make a drying room of, to to hang up the clothes in. The principal stairs are not up, and will not be this winter. Six chambers are made comfortable; two are oc- cupied by the President and Mr. Shaw; two lower rooms, one for a common parlor, and one for a levee room. Up stairs there is the oval room, which is designed for the drawing room and has the crimson furniture in it. It is a very handsome room now; but when completed, it will be beautiful. If the twelve years, in which this place has been considered as the future seat of government, had been im- proved, as they would have been if in New
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England, very many of the inconveniences would have been removed. It is a beautful spot, capable of every improvement, and the more I view it the more I am delighted with it.
MRS. ADAMS TO MRS. SMITH.
WASHINGTON, November 21, 1800.
· Two articles we are much distressed for ; one is bells, but the more important one is wood. Yet you cannot see for trees. No arrangement has been made yet, but promises never performed, to supply the new comers with fuel. Of the promises, Briesler had re- ceived his full share. He had procured nine cords of wood; between six and seven of that was kindly burnt up to dry the walls of the house, which ought to have been done by the commissioners, but which, if left to them, would have remained undone to this day. Congress poured in, but shiver, shiver. No woodcutters or carters to be had at any rate. We are now indebted to a Pennsylvania wagon to bring us, through the first clerk in the Treasury office, one cord and a half of wood, which is all we
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have for this house, where twelve fires are constantly required, and where, we are told, the roads will soon be so bad that it cannot be drawn. Briesler procured two hundred bush- els of coals, or we must have suffered. This is the situation of almost every person. The public officers have sent to Philadelphia for woodcutters and wagons.
The ladies are impatient for a drawing room ; I have no looking-glasses but dwarfs for this house; nor a twentieth part lamps enough to light it.
STATUE OF JEFFERSON.
THIS very fine bronze statue now stands in the small square immediately in front of the President's house. It is among the very best statues in the country. It was presented to the Government by Captain Levy of the United States Navy, a gentleman devotedly attached to the memory of Mr. Jefferson, and who now is the owner of Monticello, the former abode of that great man. The statue stands
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STATUE OF JEFFERSON.
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on a pedestal, and in his left hand Jefferson holds a scroll of the Declaration of Indepen- dence, and in his right hand a pen, as . though he had just finished that immortal in- strument, and was anticipating the glorious results of its influence-the terror it would strike among the foes of freedom- the strength with which it would nerve the patriot's heart- the bitter opposition which it would meet with from some-the joy with which it would be hailed by more-and, if adopted, the high des- tinies which awaited young America. The country has never been informed of the per- severing and expensive efforts made by Capt. Levy to secure this statue, nor of the merits of the French artist whose enthusiasm was hardly surpassed by the individual who rewarded him for this admirable production of his skill and genius. It now occupies an eligible position, and will long stand in honor alike of the great man it so faithfully represents and of the noble spirit of patriotism that secured and presented it to the nation. It formerly stood in the Ro- tunda of the Capitol.
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STATE DEPARTMENT.
THE State Department is a plain building, of brick, two stories in height, one hundred and sixty feet long and fifty-five wide, with a spacious passage running through its whole length, both on the first and second floors, to the latter of which the ascent is by a wide staircase in the centre. The building contains thirty-two rooms, besides those in the attic. The first floor is occupied by the Fifth Auditor of the Treasury at the east end, and the Second Comptroller of the Treasury at the west end. On the second floor are the apartments of the Secretary of State and his suite; also the library of the De- partment, containing some ten or twelve thous- and volumes, selected with care, and relating especially to subjects of diplomacy and inter- national law, with the laws and reports of the several States of the Union.
TREASURY DEPARTMENT.
THIS noble structure, adjoining on the south the State Department, is three hundred and
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forty feet in length from north to south, and one hundred and seventy from east to west. When completed, by the addition of the north and south wings, its length will be four hun- dred and fifty-seven feet. In front is an im- posing colonnade, stretching the entire length of the building, after the architecture of the temple of Minerva Polias, at Athens. This portico is of the finest proportions, and the en- tire building does great credit to the taste and judgment of its architect, Mr. Robert Mills. The main entrance is on the east by a double flight of steps. Each floor contains forty-five apartments. The first or colonnade floor is occupied by the Treasurer of the United States and Third Auditor, in the centre or west building ; the First Auditor in the north; and the Attorney General and Solicitor of the Treasury in the south. On the second floor, in the centre building, are the apartments of the Secretary of the Treasury and his suite; in the south, those of the First Comptroller and Register of the Treasury, who also occu- pies a suite of rooms in the north and centre :
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the library of the Department is also on this floor. The third floor is occupied entirely by the General Land Office.
WAR DEPARTMENT.
NUMEROUS and earnest appeals have been made to Congress for a larger and fire proof proof building for the War Department, the present one being not only exposed every mo- ment to destruction by fire, but so small, com- pared with the requirements of the Depart- ment, that many of the bureaus are compelled . to occupy rented private houses. It is situated on the west side of the President's square, and is similar in design to the Department of State. On the first floor are the Major General, Quartermaster General, Adjutant General, and Second Auditor of the Treasury; on the second floor the Secretary of War and his suite at the east end, and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs at the west end.
The banners of the principal victories in the war of the Revolution, in the subsequent war with Great Britain, and many trophies recently
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won from Mexico, are carefully preserved in this Department. Among these are the flags taken at Saratoga, the Cowpens, and York; the flags under which Scott and Jesup and their brave companions fought and conquered are literally riddled through with shot of the foe ; and here will be seen the flag, with an eagle wrought in silk, presented by the ladies of Philadelphia to Gen. Pike, and many others of great interest.
The Engineer Bureau occupies the build- ing on the north west corner of Pennsylvania avenue and seventeenth street, opposite diago- nally to the War Department.
The Bureau of Topographical Engineers occupies the first floor of the double tenement of brick on seventeenth street, opposite to the War Department. The Ordnance Bureau oc- cupies the third floor, and the Subsistence Bu- reau the second floor of the same building.
The Paymaster General occupies the second and third floors of the building adjoining south the one mentioned above, and the Pension Bu- reau the one adjoining north.
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The Medical Bureau occupies a building on the north side of G street, a short distance west of the War Department.
A fine block of buildings erecting opposite the Navy Department, to be rented by the Government, will afford better temporary ac- commodations than at present.
NAVY DEPARTMENT.
THIS building is situated south of the War Department, to which it is similar in design, and is of the same dimensions.
On the first floor is the Fourth Auditor of the Treasury at the east end; and the Bureau of Construction, Equipment, and Repairs, and the Bureau of Provisions and Clothing, at the west end. The Secretary of the Navy and his suite occupy the east end of the second floor; the Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrog- raphy, and the Bureau of Medicine, the west end and centre.
"Between thirty and forty national flags, tro_ phies of battle struck to 'a bit of striped bunting' decorate one of the rooms of the
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Navy Commissioners. They are well ar- ranged and labelled, showing the names of the vessels to which they once belonged. Some of these bear evidence of the strife which took place - before they were struck to the stars and stripes of the Union."
This, as well as the State and War Depart- ments, is becoming inconvenient from its small size for the growing necessities of the nation. We shall doubtless see at no remote day, build- ings rising, more safe, more ample, and in materials and proportions of a richer and no- bler architecture.
POST OFFICE.
THIS beautiful edifice, after the design of Mr. Mills, is of the Corinthian order, of white marble, three stories high, extending two hun- dred and four feet in front, and one hundred and two feet inthedepth of its wings. Its main front is on E street north ; its east wing fronts on Seventh street, and its. west wing on Eighth street. It contains eighty-one rooms, twenty- seven on each floor, and occupies the site of
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the old Post Office building, burnt on the 15th December, 1836.
The first floor, west wing, is occupied by the Receiving. Office, Dead Letter Office, and the Topographer of the Post Office Depart- ment ; the east wing and centre by the Exam- ining and Register Clerks of the Auditor's Office. On the second floor, west wing and centre, are the Postmaster General, his three Assistants, and the chief clerk of the depart- ment, and principal clerks of the Contract, Ap- pointment, and Inspection Offices ; in the east wing, the Auditor of the Post Office, his chief and other clerks in more immediate connection with him. The third floor, west wing, is oc- cupied chiefly by the clerks of the Contract Office; the centre and east wing by the Audi- tor's clerks.
PATENT OFFICE.
THIS bureau formerly occupied a portion of the old Post Office; and in the destruction of that building by fire, a large collection of models and many valuable records were lost.
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Taught by experience, the government now erects only fireproof edifices. Such are the Patent Office, the Post Office, and the Treasu- ry Department ; and such ought to be the State, War, and Navy Departments, and that, too, without waiting, as has hitherto been the cus- tom, till each in its turn, with all its interesting and valuable records, be burned to the ground.
The building occupied by the Patent Office, as now erected, extends two hundred and seven- ty feet, with a depth of seventy feet, and is two stories high above the basement. It fronts to the south, with a majestic central portico, to which the ascent is by a flight of granite steps leading to a spacious terrace, nearly one hun- dred feet long and thirty-two feet wide. Six- teen massive granite columns support the roof of this portico, which, in its proportions, resem- bles that of the Parthenon at Athens. The plan contemplates also fronts on the east, west, and north sides of the square, forming a spa- cious court in the centre. The Commissioner of Patents and his clerks occupy the east end of the first or portico floor; the model room,
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which no stranger in the Metropolis should fail to visit, is on the same floor, in the west end. The second story is one magnificent hall, two hundred and sixty feet in length by sixty- two feet in width. This hall now contains the invaluable relics (including the camp chest) of Washington, the original Declaration of Inde- pendence, the gifts presented from time to time to our civil and naval officers by foreign pow- ers, some excellent pictures and busts, the col- lection of Indian portraits made by the Bureau on Indian affairs, some of the most important of our treaties with foreign nations, the private effects and mineralogical specimens of the late James Smithson, the highly interesting collections of the National Institute, and the most extensive, rare, and precious treasures, secured by the exploring expedition, under Captain Wilkes, comprising many thousand specimens from the Islands of the Pacific, Ore- gon, and California, in ethnology, zoology, or- nithology, icthiology, entomology, mineralogy, geology, botany, with a vast variety of curios- ities illustrative of the habits, occupation, reli-
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gious worship, and modes of life, in distant and unfrequented regions of the world.
WASHINGTON MONUMENT.
BELOW is a full description of the design adopted by the Board of Managers for the monument which it is contemplated to erect at the seat of government to the memory of WASHINGTON, from voluntary contributions.
The design embraces the idea of a grand circular colonnaded building, 250 feet in diame- ter, and 100 high, from which springs an obe- lisk shaft 70 feet at the base and 500 feet high making a total elevation of 600 feet.
This vast rotundo, forming the grand base of the Monument, is surrounded by 30 columns of massive proportions, being 12 feet in diame- ter and 45 feet high, elevated upon a lofty base or stylobate of 20 feet elevation and 300 feet square, surmounted by an entablature 20 feet high, and crowned by a massive balus- trade 15 feet in height.
The terrace outside of the colonnade is 25
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feet wide, and the pronaos or walk within the colonnade, including the column space, 25 feet. The walks enclosing the cella, or gallery within, are fretted with 30 massive antæ (pi- lasters) 10 feet wide, 45 feet high, and 7} feet projection, answering to the columns in front, surmounted by their appropriate architrave. The deep recesses formed by the projection of the antæ, provide suitable niches for the re- ception of statues.
A tetrastyle portico (4 columns in front) in triple rows of the same proportions and order with the columns of the colonnade, distin- guishes the entrance to the Monument, and serves as a pedestal for the triumphal car and statue of the illustrious chief; the steps of this portico are flanked by massive blockings, sur- mounted by appropriate figures and trophies.
Over each column, in the great frieze of the entablatures around the entire building, are sculptured escutcheons, coats of arms of each State in the Union, surrounded by bronze civic wreaths, banded together by festoons of oak leaves, &c., all of which spring (each way)
WASHINGTON MONUMENT.
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into niches for the reception of the statues of the fathers of the Revolution, contemporary with the immortal WASHINGTON; over which are large tablets to receive the National Paint- ings commemorative of the battle and other scenes of that memorable period. Opposite to the entrance of this gallery, at the extremity of the great circular wall, is the grand niche for the reception of the statue of the " Father of his Country," elevated on its appropriate pedestal, and designated as principal in the group by its colossal proportions.
This spacious Gallery and Rotundo, which properly may be denominated the "National Pantheon," is lighted in four grand divisions from above, and by its circular form, presents each subject decorating its walls in an inte- resting point of view, and with proper effect, as the curiosity is kept up every moment, from the whole room not being presented to the eye at one glance, as in the case of a straight gallery.
Entering the centre pier through an arched way, you pass into a spacious circular area,
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and ascend, with an easy grade, by a railway, to the grand terrace, 75 feet above the base of the Monument. This terrace is 700 feet in circumference, 180 feet wide, enclosed by a colonnaded balustrade, 15 feet high with its base and capping. The circuit of this grand terrace is studded with small temple-formed structures, constituting the cupolas of the lan- . terns, lighting the Pantheon gallery below ; by means of these little temples, from a gallery within, a bird's-eye view is had of the sta- tues, &c., below.
Through the base of the great circle of the balustrade are four apertures at the four car- dinal points, leading outside of the balustrade, upon the top of the main cornice, where a gal- lery 6 feet wide and 750 feet in circumference encircles the whole, enclosed by an ornamen- tal guard, forming the crowning member on the top of the tholus of the main cornice of the. grand colonnade. Within the thickness of this wall, staircases descend to a lower gallery over the plafond of the pronaos of the colon- nade lighted from above. This gallery,
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which extends all round the colonnade, is 20 feet wide, divided into rooms for the records of the monument, works of art, or studios for artists engaged in the service of the monument. Two other ways communicate with this gal- lery from below.
In the centre of the grand terrace above described, rises the lofty obelisk shaft of the Monument, 50 feet square at the base, and 500 feet high, diminishing as it rises te its apex, where it is 40 feet square; at the foot of this shaft and on each face project four massive zoeles 25 feet high, supporting so many colos- sal symbolic tripods of victory 20 feet high, surmounted by facial columns with their sym- bols of authority. These zocle faces are em- bellished with inscriptions, which are con- tinued around the entire base of the shaft, and occupy the surface of that part of the shaft be- tween the tripods. On each face of the shaft above this is sculptured the four leading events in General Washington's eventful career, in basso relievo, and above this the shaft is per- fectly plain to within 50 feet of its summit,
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where a simple star is placed, emblematic of the glory which the name of WASHINGTON has attained.
To ascend to the summit of the column, the same facilities as below are provided within the shaft, by an easy graded gallery, which may be traversed by a railway, terminating in a circular observatory 20 feet in diameter, around which at the top is a look-out gallery, which opens a prospect all around the hori- zon.
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