. Thirty years in Washington; or, Life and scenes in our national capital. Portraying the wonderfuloperations in all the great departments, and describing every important function of our national go vernment ... With sketches of the presidents and their wives ... from Washington's to Roosevelt's administration . the rarest ofcolored marbles in great profusion and in massive propor-tions, it reveals everywhere in the sculpture and paintingsthe harmony of the great architectural design which is car-ried clown to the smallest of the countless details. Eightimmense piers support the heavy arches a
. Thirty years in Washington; or, Life and scenes in our national capital. Portraying the wonderfuloperations in all the great departments, and describing every important function of our national go vernment ... With sketches of the presidents and their wives ... from Washington's to Roosevelt's administration . the rarest ofcolored marbles in great profusion and in massive propor-tions, it reveals everywhere in the sculpture and paintingsthe harmony of the great architectural design which is car-ried clown to the smallest of the countless details. Eightimmense piers support the heavy arches around the room,and between them are marble screens, arcaded in twostories, thus dividing the octagon into eight deep these are the galleries, forming a continuous prome-nade from which the spacious interior may be viewed fromall sides. The light streams in from great semi-circularwindows set in the eight massive arches that support thedome. The lantern is thirty-five feet in height and haseight windows. On the mosaic floor of this lofty rotunda are three cir-cles of double desks of polished mahogany, providing seatsfor over 200 readers, while from every alternate side of theoctagon are exits into the alcoves and into the large interiorportions of the building containing the book-stacks. The. THE PUBLIC READING ROOM IN THE LIBRARY OF central and most important part of the building. It is marked by a magnificence ofdecoration and splendor of architecture surpassing every other part of the edifice. It is pan-eled with the rarest of colored marbles in great profusion and massive proportions. The roomis ioo feet in diameter and 160 feet from the main floor to the apex of the dome. Seats are pro-vided for over two hundred readers. ARTISTIC HARMONY IN FORM AND COLOR. 433 Lighting is so arranged that at the press of a button itflashes from hundreds of lamps, set in rosettes in the screensof the alcoves and in rows at the base and at the top of thedome. The wh
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherhartf, bookyear1901
