Diagonally to the southwest and northwest extend two grand avenues as far as eye can see—Maryland Avenue to the left leading down to the Potomac and carrying the line of the Pennsylvania Railroad to the river, where it crosses over the Long Bridge into Virginia; and Pennsylvania Avenue to the right stretching to the distant colonnade of the Treasury Building and the tree covered park south of the Executive Mansion. Between these diverging avenues and extending to the Potomac, more than a mile away, is the Mall, a broad inclosure of lawns and gardens. Upon it in the foreground is the government Botanical Garden, and behind this the spacious grounds surrounding the Smithsonian Institution; and the National Museum; while beyond, near the river bank, rises the tall, white shaft of the Washington Monument with its pointed apex; on either side spreads out the city, the houses bordering the foliage lined streets and having at frequent intervals the tall spires of churches and the massive marble, granite, and brick edifices that are used for government buildings.
The Smithsonian Institution is a red stone building in the late Norman style, erected in 1847-1856 at a cost of four hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The loftiest of the nine towers is one hundred and forty-five feet high. In front of it is a statue of Prof. Joseph Henry, the first secretary of the Institution, by Story.
CORCORAN ART GALLERY, WASHINGTON
New buildings for the National Museum, on the Mall between Ninth and Twelfth Streets, and the new one million five hundred thousand dollar marble building of the Department of Agriculture, west of the Smithsonian grounds, are notable. The former, originally established to exhibit the rich contributions given to the government by various countries from the Centennial at Philadelphia in 1876, has become a most extensive and instructive collection of antiquities, ethnology, geology, and natural history generally; and there are many museums, libraries and art galleries.
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing, where the paper money, bonds and stamps of the United States are printed, is at the corner of B Street and the Mall, southwest.
The national monument to Washington, popularly known as the “Washington Monument,” is a towering obelisk of white marble, on the bank of the Potomac, erected at a cost of one million two hundred and thirty thousand dollars. It has a total height of five hundred and fifty-five feet, an area at the foundation of sixteen thousand feet, and a weight of thirty-six thousand nine hundred and twelve gross tons. The apex has an aluminum point, and there is an elevator and an iron stairway of nine hundred steps in the interior of the shaft.
From the Washington Monument the Treasury Department at Pennsylvania Avenue and Fifteenth Street comes into full view. It is an immense edifice, five hundred and ten feet long and two hundred and eighty feet wide, with an Ionic colonnade on the east front and porticos on the other three sides. The materials are freestone and granite, and it cost seven million dollars to erect the edifice. Among the chief objects of interest are the United States Cash Room, in the north corridor; the Redemption Division, in the basement; the Silver Vaults, containing bullion and coin to the value of hundreds of millions of dollars; and the Secret Service Division, with its collection of forged money and portraits of forgers.
On the south, opposite the Treasury, is the fine equestrian monument of General Sherman, by Rohl-Smith, erected in 1903. The pedestal is embellished with bronze reliefs, medallions, and figures of Indian women, and at the corners are four sentinels.
Following Pennsylvania Avenue towards the west, Lafayette Square, is approached. Here are bronze statues of General Andrew Jackson, by Clark Mills; the Rochambeau Monument, by F. [625] Hamar; and the Lafayette Monument, by Falguiére and Mercié. On the east side of the square is the Belasco Theater, occupying the site of the house in which an attempt was made to assassinate Secretary Seward in 1865.