Page:Library Construction, Architecture, Fittings, and Furniture.djvu/281

Rh the public rooms of a library in a subsidiary portion. The noble examples of decorative art which have been obtained for Boston, while most creditable to the aesthetic taste of the inhabitants, make the public rooms art galleries instead of places for study. The two objects are quite incompatible; each is excellent, but they brook no rivalry, and the crowds who gather to inspect the decorations are a nuisance to the student, who wishes for quiet. In the report of the examining committee of the Boston City Council for 1895, the following pregnant sentence occurs: "The disturbance caused to readers by the influx of visitors, attracted solely by the mural paintings, should warn the trustees of the extreme caution that should be employed in extending the decoration of the walls to rooms occupied by readers."

The new building for the Library of Congress at Washington is now finished, and is expected to be opened in 1897. It has been built under the charge of General T. L. Casey, from the modified plans of Messrs. Smithmeyer & Pelz.

The site of ten acres, which was purchased for $585,000, is situated opposite the Capitol, and at a distance of about 1270 feet from it. The building itself covers about three and a half acres, and is 470 feet by 340 feet. It has frontage on all four sides, and is also lit from four large interior courts. There are three floors, comprising a basement 14 feet high, first floor 19 feet high, and a second storey 29 feet high. The walls are 69 feet high to the roof, and the apex of the dome 195 feet