WASHINGTON, D. C. (ante), was built on the Potomac, as a compromise after a long cbnflict in congress over the claims of rival places. In accordance with the act of _March 30, 1791, the boundaries of the city and the location of the public squares and buildings were determined by president Washington himself, who thus, at the height of his fame, availed himself of the skill in surveying that he had acquired in his youth. He called it the Federal city, but after his death it received his name. The topographi cal plan is a monument of French influence which at the time was so strong; a French engineer, under the direction of Washington and Jefferson, having taken as a basis for his plan Versailles, the scat of the government of France. Thus it happened, at a time when the words "French revolution" were unknown, that the broad avenues crossing in various directions rectangular streets, with the resulting squares, circles, and triangles, which marked the residence of a splendid monarchy, were perpetuated in the capital of the great republic of the west. The streets from n. to s. are numbered; those from e. to w. are lettered; and crossing these in different directions are 21 avenues, named after various states, and the newly laid out Executive avenue winding from the presi dent's house around the city to the capitol. The streets and avenues are from 70 to 160 ft. wide, and their aggregate length is more than 250 miles. As the plan was so extensive and the actual growth for many years was very small, Washington was often 'satirically called " the city of magnificent distances." In 1800 it was said, " The capitol is on an eminence near the center of the immense country called here ' the city.' There is one good tavern and several other houses are finished or being built." Pennsylvania avenue was then a deep morass covered with bushes. For years members of congress lived principally in Georgetown. As a higher price was asked for hind around the capitol, the most commanding and healthful portion of the city remained unoccupied for more than 50 years. The stores and dwellings advanced toward the u.w. along Pennsylvania. avenue. In 1839 an English traveler said, " The town looks like a large straggling vil lage reared in a drained swamp." In 1851 the work of laying out and adorning the res ervations and parks was commenced under the skillful guidance of A. J. Downing, but his death, the next year, and the neglect of congress arrested it for 20 years. In 1871 came a new era. A government for the district was established by congress with a gov ernor and legislature and a board of public works, to which was given control of the streets, avenues, and sewers of Washington and Georgetown, with authority to im prove • them under a general plan. A system of sewerage and of pavements was organ ized which resulted in regrading most of the highways, paving 160 m. of streets with stone, wood, or concrete, planting about 30,000 shade trees, and improving the public squares with fences and trees. In three years the city was transformed. From that time to the present a very large number of public buildings and private residences has been erected. The city covers about 6,000,acres, of which the government reservations com prise 500. and the streets 2,500, leaving 3,000 for the lots on which private residences are built. Half of the ground therefore is not built upon; and as the open places are in all parts of the city, fresh air is abundant and healthfulness is greatly promoted. The un dulating surface of the city produces a constant variety of scenery without obstructing the travel. Its environs present a beautiful and picturesque landscape, which is seen to the best advantage from the portico or the dome of the capitol, and drew from Hum boldt the declaration, " In all my travels I have not seen a more charming panorama." The capitol building is the most conspicuous object; its white dome being visible from all directions for miles around. Its lofty position, massiveness, and harmonious effect have elicited a general verdict from good judges of all lands that it is one of the most impressive edifices of modern times. The central building was designed chiefly by B. H. Latrobe, and the extension with the dome by Thomas U. Walter. The new hall of representatives was occupied in 1857, and the senate chamber in 1859. During the war of the rebellion the work was carried on; the great dome rose from day to day while the city was an intrenched car p, and at the close of 1863 the statue of freedom was lifted to its place. The rotunda is 96 ft. in diameter and 180 in height. The senate chamber, in the center of the n. wing, is plainly finished, but the corridors and committee rooms are elaborately adorned. The marble stairway is a gem of architecture; the long apartment iu the rear is constructed of the richest varieties of marble; and near at hand are the splendid room for the president and the plainer one for the vice-president. The a. wing
contains the hall for the house of representatives, which is said to be the largest legisla tive chamber in the world. The old senate chamber now accommodates the supreme court, and the old hall of the house—not surpassed in beauty by any room in the build ing—contains statues of distinguished men of the several states. The library of congress, in the western projection of the central building, comprises three communicating and thoroughly fire-proof halls. As a copy of every publication for which a copyright is taken out must be sent to it, the number of volumes increases rapidly—far more rapidly than the accommodation; and a new library is now a necessity. The president's house, in the western part of the city, is 170 ft. long, 86 ft. deep,with a portico of 8 Ionic col umns on the n. and a semicircular Ionic colonnade on the south. It is built of freestone, and after it had been burned by British troops in 1814, its blackened walls were painted white; hence it is popularly known as " the white house." The largest apartment—the e. room—is 80 ft. by 40, and 22 ft. high. Other beautiful rooms are named from the color of their respective decorations and furniture, in blue, green, and red. Though large sums have been expended in adorning this house for the executive head of the nation, its situation on low and marshy grounds, with other causes, renders it unhealth ful, and a new residence on a more elevated site will probably be provided. Twenty acres of the grounds around it are inclosed and handsomely laid out. On the e. of the president's house is the massive treasury building, of freestone and granite, 468 ft. by 264, with Ionic porticoes on all the four sides, the monolithic columns on the s. front being 31} ft. high and ft. in diameter; and on the w., the magnificent building for the state, war, and navy departments, of granite, in the Roman-Dorie style, 567 ft. by 342, with four facades of which those on the n. and s., and on the e. and w. respectively cor respond. The department of the interior has a grand Doric building—commonly known as the patent office—of marble, freestone, and granite, 453 ft. by 331. The general post office building is of marble, in the pure Corinthian style, 300 ft. by 204. The Smithson ian institution, one of the greatest adornments of the city, is fully noticed elsewhere. The department of agriculture occupies a building of brick and brown stone, in the Renaissance style, 170 ft. by 61, with green houses, graperies, and experimental grounds, around it, covering 10 acres. The business of the department is the distribution over the country of seeds, plants, and general agricultural information. The U. S. naval obser vatory is on the Potomac between Washington and Georgetown. The grounds attached to it are 19 acres in extent. From the flagstaff on the dome of the principal building a signal ball is dropped daily at noon, transmitting by telegraphic connections the mean time to all parts of the United States. Another edifice has been specially adapted to the reception and employment of the great equatorial telescope made by Alvan Clark, and mounted in 1873. It has an object-glass of 26 in. and cost nearly $50,000. The army medical museum contains 10,000 MS. vols. of hospital reports and a large assemblage of specimens representing the effects of wounds, diseases, and surgical operations. The microscopic section is admirable; and the models of barracks, hospitals, ambulances, and surgical instruments are not equaled in any similar collection. The medical library con tains about 40,000 volumes. The government printing and binding establishment, in a building 300 ft. by 175, has a complete equipment, and manufactures about 1,000,000 volumes annually. The navy-yard, about a m. s.e. of the capitol, covers about 27 acres, and though not much used for the construction of vessels, is of great importance in manufacturing and storing supplies. Besides the public buildings already erected, others in different parts of the city are rented for the department of justice, pension office, commissary bureau, and other branches of service. , Numerous attempts have been made with various degrees of success to adorn the city by the sculptor's art. There are equestrian statues of Washington, Jackson, Scott, Lin coln, and some other distinguished men. The Corcoran gallery of art, founded by the eminent banker whose name it bears, contains also his collection of paintings, statuary, and other works of art. The national monument to Washington was commenced in 1848, and after long delay is now to be completed as a lofty and plain obelisk, 70 ft. square at the base and 470 ft. high.