Here At The North Stands As Yet The Old Secretary Of State's
Office.
This is to come down, and the Secretary of State is to be
located in the new building, which will be added to the Treasury.
This edifice will probably strike strangers more forcibly than any
other in the town, both from its position and from its own
character.
It Stands with its side to Pennsylvania Avenue, but the
avenue here, has turned round, and runs due north and south, having
taken a twist, so as to make way for the Treasury and for the
President's house, through both of which it must run had it been
carried straight on throughout. These public offices stand with
their side to the street, and the whole length is ornamented with an
exterior row of Ionic columns raised high above the footway. This
is perhaps the prettiest thing in the city, and when the front to
the north has been completed, the effect will be still better. The
granite monoliths which have been used, and which are to be used, in
this building are very massive. As one enters by the steps to the
south there are two flat stones, one on each side of the ascent, the
surface of each of which is about twenty feet by eighteen. The
columns are, I think, all monoliths. Of those which are still to be
erected, and which now lie about in the neighboring streets, I
measured one or two - one which was still in the rough I found to be
thirty-two feet long by five feet broad, and four and a half deep.
These granite blocks have been brought to Washington from the State
of Maine.
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