Page:U.S. Department of the Interior Annual Report 1873.djvu/31

Rh the center building are being renewed, the improvements may be made in a tireproof manner by replacing the present wooden rafters with iron ones; also, that the remodeling and tlnishing of the rotuuda be made to harmonize with the vault and interior walls of the dome.

First street, which bounds the Capitol grounds on the west, has been paved from Pennsylvania avenue to Maryland avenue with cypress-wood pavement, and the curve at the southwest, from Maryland avenue to New Jersey avenue, is now being paved with granite blocks. Over one hundred thousand loads of earth have been deposited in the grounds south of the Capitol and on south B street. The Capitol grounds are now in a condition for laying out the interior walks and for planting, and the architect recommends the employment of a. competent land- scape gardener, under whose direction the grounds may be properly laid out and ornamented.

The architect reports that the buildings of the reform-school for the District of Columbia are nearly completed. The main building is so far advanced that portions of it are used as work~rooms. It is expected that said building will be completed before Congress conveues. The family building has been occupied since the middle of last winter.

Congress, at its last session, appropriated the sum of $284,199.15 wherewith to complete the purchase, by the United States, of the prop- erty embraced in squares 687 and 688, lying adjacent to the square East of the Capitol. The whole of said appropriation has been disbursed through the supreme court of the District of Columbia, and the title to the entire property above described is now vested in the United States. Under authority conferred by the act of March 3, 1873, those of the buildings and other improvements on said property which were not required for public use have been sold at public auction, and the mate- rials have nearly all been removed therefrom. It is expected that thetwo ‘remaining buildings on square 688 will be removed, and that all the materials yet remaining on both squares will be cleared away, before the meeting of Congress. Litigation may be necessary in order to con- clude the sale, at auction, of one of said buildings. I am unable, there- fore, to report the exact amount which will have been received from the sale of said improvements. The amount thus far received is $19,357.44, from which the sum of $3,619.80 has been paid for advertising, auc- tioneer fees, extra clerical labor, services of commissioners of appraise- ment, and the other expenses incident to the purchase of said squares and the sale of said improvements. When the whole expenses shall have been paid, the residue, which will approximate the sum of $1.7,000, will be applied to the improvement of the extension, as provided for by law.

This addition to the grounds surrounding the Capitol will bring them into greater harmony with the noble proportions of that building than