The Capitol at Washington (pi. fig. 2)—the inception of whieh belongs to the last century—is unquestionably the grandest pile in that city, and probably still the most monumental of United States buildings, Notwithstanding its conventionally classical style—abandoned in this age because of its evident incongruity with modern needs—it is an edifice of which a great nation may be proud, majestic both within and without and gaining in effect from its position on a commanding site. The Capitol consists of an older portion, now forming the centre and measuring 352; feet by 121,, feet, and two wings, each feet by 238 feet, exclusive of porticoes and steps. The centre has a portico 16o feet wide. The entire length is feet and the greatest width 324 feet. The dome rises to a height of 30o feet above the basement-floor. This edifice is the work of successive government architects from its foundation, in 1793, almost 'to the present time. The order of the porticoes is Corinthian, and a Corinthian colonnade runs around the base of the grand dome. Above this colonnade the dome has a tier of round-arched windows between pilasters, and the transition from this to the curve of the dome is effected by a series of scrolls. The dome is of cast iron.
Treasury and Patent-Office.—Among the older government buildings may be cited the United States Treasury, a structure 465 by 266 feet, with four fronts. The building commonly known as the Patent-Office, which has recently been subjected to considerable alteration, is also a four-fronted building, with a portico in the centre of each of its sides, the principal one consisting of two rows of eight columns. As Grecian structures these monumental piles are not unworthy, but the incongruity between their appearance and their purpose is manifest.
Pension newer government structures at Washington have followed neither the Grecian nor the vernacular Palladian. The Pen sion Bureau is a large and severely symmetrical structure in the style of Bramante, having three storeys of rectangular windows, a bold cornice, and an attic in the centre. The decorations are of terra-cotta.
The Bureau of Engraving and Prinling is in red and brown brick, round-arched and without the orders, and may perhaps be called Roman esque. The National Museum will be found under Museums.
of the finest structures upon the continent, and at the same time one of the best examples of modern Gothic left by the Victorian revival of the style, is the Parliament-houses at Ottawa, Canada (pl. 59, fig. i), for the most part a work of the sev enth decade. A recent and beautiful addition to this is a polygonal library having a lofty window with trefoil tracery in each of its sides.
Above is a lantern with lancet lights.
The New Chateau SI. Louis, at Quebec, is an actual French château of the sixteenth century, with its round turrets, high-dormered roofs, and tall chimneys, with its screen-work of pilasters separating windows with rounded upper angles, and its picturesquely broken sky-line. The ranges of large windows which light the two principal floors are carried across the tower, the upper part of which is frowningly massive and pierced only with small windows. The contrast is striking, but there is no look of weakness, as ample piers are left at the angles. The St. Louis Gate, Quebec, is modelled upon the old St. Louis Gate, and harmonizes with the existing fortress.
Boston custom-house may perhaps be reckoned the finest structure built under the influence of the Greek revival, since, though it suggests a temple, its low central dome and the different treat ment of the centre and the ends of the longer fronts prove that it is not one, while they do not destroy its look of repose. The columns, free in the porticoes and engaged elsewhere, are of the height of the two storeys of windows. Other pseudo-Greek government buildings are the New York custom-house, which has on the north front a row of twelve Ionic col umns, while six others form a deep portico in the centre, and the custom house and treasury at Philadelphia, a temple-like structure with eight Doric columns along its facade. Standing among more lofty modern piles, these have a look of monumental repose which is in strange contrast to modern ways. The custom-house at Chicago is a semi-Gothic pile of imposing dimensions. The lower storey, with its segment-headed arcades, has nothing Gothic about it, but the arches of the upper storeys have the extrados pointed, and the roof is frankly Gothic. The original design had domical towers rising above the roof, but alterations were neces sitated by the weakness of the foundations.
The New at St. John's, New Brunswick, is a plain free stone structure in English round-arched Italian, with pilasters in the cen tre pavilion only. The windows are in tiers of three, the upper enclosed by a round arch; above these is a tier of tall round-arched windows. The ensemble is pleasing, though the circular windows in the upper part of the centre pavilion seem out of place.
The illints of the country are Greek temples. Philadelphia has a small one massive in its proportions, and doubtless at one time imposing, but now dwarfed by comparison with the huge city-hall. The San Fran cisco branch-mint is an imposing Doric pile with lofty porticoes and a mag nificent flight of steps, but has nothing which needs special description.