Excerpt from Report of the Architect of Public Buildings, 1852: Accompanying the President's Message at the Second Session of the Thirty-Second Congress
Architects Office, United States Capitol, Washington, D.C, December 1, 1852.Sir :In conformit to a resolution of the Senate of the United States, passed August 26, 1852, I have the honor to lay before you the i oUowing nbstract or compendium of my annual report, which is herewith submitted: Extension of the Capitol. The appropriation for continuing the w-ork not having been made until the 3 4 th of April last, the buildings are not as far advanced as I inticipated at the date of my last annual report. The contracts all being limited to existing appropriations, the contractors were not at liberty to make preparations for supplying materials until after the passage of the bill. As soon as the appro)riation was made, the contractors promptly commenced operations, and the work has since been prosecuted as rapidly as a proper regard for its permanency, durability, and beauty would warrant. The cellars of both wings are completed, the arches to support the basement floors ai efinished, and the outside marble work is )rogrcssing raj)idly. All the foundations are permanently laid on the natural, undisturbed earth; some of them are 40 ft deep, and none less than 15 feet below the ground line of the building. The character of the earth under all the walls is the sameythroughout, being a stratum of compact gravel of several feet in tliickness The walls are all built widi great care, and the entire sub-structure is massive and solid; The stones of which these foundations are constructed were tested, at the recjuest of a speci;il committee ol th! House of Kepresentativcs, by the late Professor Walter 11. Johnson, whose report is hereto appended. The rnarblc for the exterior has been delivered as rapidly as we have re(iiirfd it; twenfy e;irgoes have arrived since the 5 tli of July last, containing, in the aggregMle, ;J 5, 2J( cubic fix-t, bciug an average of 1, 487 cubic liet per week. Jiefore this marble was adoj)led, it was tested by a commission ap)ointed for the purpose, and their report is hereto annexed. in coriformitv to the proviso contained in the first section ff the art of Congress approved August iJl, 1852, I appoint(ul Mr. John C.Harkness as measurer of all the work and materials of the ext(Mision of the Ca)itf)l, and Mr. Cornelius. Jiieobs receiver of materials f()r the north wing, and Mr. Willi;ini J.Smith on the south wing; all of whoui were duly sworn into oiliee. All the work done, and materials fnrnished by contract, have since been measured by Mr. Harkness, and no further payments were madev until the measurement was reported to this office, in conformity to tb- aforesaid act of Congress.
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