The Washington critic., 1886-08-10
THE VISITORS GUIDE.
Objects of Interest in and About the
National Capital.
THE GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS.
Parks, Squares, Statues, Gardens and
Other Points of Attraction.
THE WAY TO REACH THEM.

Washington is fast becoming the
most attractive city of the country. AS
the Capital Of the Nation It presents
more objects of interest to the visitor
than any other on the continent, and
brief directory of its prominent points
will be of service to the vast number OF
persons who annually resort to the po-
litical metropolis. For IL is estimated
that over three hundred thousand
strangers pay visit every year to this
city to behold the varied objects of in
terest which so thickly stud the his
toric "Ten Miles Square"
The system Of Numbering Houses.
Numbers are displayed over the entrances to
all houses, and the decimal system, as
| adopted in Philadelphia, Is used-one hun.
dred numbers being allotted TO each square
or block-commencing at First street west,
running west, First street east running
east, A street north, running north, and A
| street south, running south. The odd mum
bers are always on the right-hand side GO
ing from the Capitol, and the even numbers
on the left-hand side. The city is divided
| into four quarters or sections, northeast and
northwest, southeast and southwest, the
streets, streets being % DESIGNATED ,,t accordingly those
| those running east and west by the letters
of the alphabet, the dividing lines being
|
on line due north aud south from the Cap
itol and East Capitol street and a continue.
tion on the same west of the Capitol, run
| ming due east and west.
The Capitol.
This great building is the central point of the
original District, and Is the largest edihce
| in the country. Its centre marks the Me.
rdian of Washington. The middle portion,
Immediately under the dome, is the part
| first built. 1t was partially destroyed by the
British In 1874, but was completely restored
by 1sg7. It incloses the "crypt,-where the
| remains of Washington We're intended to be
placed, the Library, the Rotunda the old
Representatives Hall, now the Gallery of
| the Supreme Courtroom. The old Supreme
Court room, in the first story, Is now occu-
piod by the Law Branch of the Library
| The cornerstone of the Capitol extension
the north and south wings-was laid July 4,
1851, Daniel Webster delivering the oration
of the occasion from the balcony of the
House of Representatives and the north
wing the Senate Chamber. The rotunda is dis
tinguished for Its historic paintings, for the
famous bronze doors with their alto
reliefs and for Brumidi's frescoings. In the
Hall of Statuary are the natural pictures In
Potomac marble, representing faces of GER
freak OF nature. From the little rotunda,
| Immediately north of the great rotunda, the
staircase to the top of the dome begins its
winding way. From the top of the DOME or
as far as tho visitor can ascend, the view
Of the surrounding country Is magnificent.
The Capitol grounds, which formerly were
homely and formal in appearance have
been transformed into a beautiful
park and are now most exquisitely beauti.
full. The east base of the Capitol Is s0l6
The total height from east base to the top
of the temple covering the dome is 2ss feet;
the statue of the Goddess of Liberty, 1915
feet, making the total height to the crest of
the statue 3O.19 feet. This crest Is 800 feet
higher than the west gate of the grounds,
and 995 feet above low tide in the Potomac
tant lou NlnfN At NFEult
ington Monument, which Is immediately
west. The building Is 75i feet long BY 3sl
wide, and covers 3H acres. II is the finest
and largest public building in the world,
and In many respects the costliest and
handsomest. 1t is moreover the growth of
less than century-a fact which adds to
its beauty and interest. The original Capt.
tol, or centre building, Is an imitation,
though not a slavish one of the Maison
Carree at Nismes. The view from the west
portico at night, when the lamps are lit in
the public grounds and the lights of the city
illuminate the darkness is one of the most
beautiful and picturesque in the wor d and
Is well worth u journey OF thousand miles
The White House.
From the west balcony OF the capitol looking
down Pennsylvania avenue, the White
House Is seen rearing Its snowy-hucd walls
, above the dense mass of foliage that en-
, bowers It, like a gigantic Gala lily springing
up amid its enfolding green blades. Were
itnot for the partly Intervening Treasury
. building the view Of the White House from
| the Capitol would be full and complete. The
White House is the center of uptown" as
, II Is beautifully located, the view from the
; south windows covering the whole southern
front of the city, as the view from the north
l up Sixteenth street west exhibits the best
, part of the Northwest section to the gaze.
! The White House Is copy of the palace of
the Duke of Lenster at Dublin. with the
addition of a large porch on the north front,
which was added during Andrew Jackson's
r administration. The reservation in which
IL stands embraces nearly II acres. The
, main entrance is on the north, reached by
the Pennsylvania avenue cars. 1t is two
. stories high on the north, Is built of white
: tans on the first floor the famous Green,
g Red, Blue and East rooms, the State Dining
+ Room and the great conservatories. The
. Blue Room Is the Presidents official rocep-
tion room and the drawlng.room of the ladies
: of his family. The East Room, originally
. designed for banquet hall and so used as
late as 1887, and in the latter part of the
century used as a drying-room for clothes
by Mrs. President Adams, is the largest. and
most noted d room Sna in in the Il building 1t z?
J. open to visitors every day except sundays.
: Upstairs are the Cabinet room, the private
offices, the Presidents office, the, library
and the family apartments All these
rooms except the latter are open to visitors,
A by special permission, at suitable hours.
Lafayette Square.
Due north from the White House Is Lafayette
square the first public reservation in Wash
equestrian statue of Andrew jackson, by
0 Clark Mills, Many of its trees are old forest
o monarchs, hundreds of years old. 1t is in
part specimen of the old formal landscape
gardening so fashionable in England two
hundred years ago, a style that was I'M
ported into this country. Lafayette Square
y was; one hundred years ago, part sf grave
yard that enclosed the square north, on
which st, Johns Church Is built, and the
square east, on which arc situated the At
toney-General's office formerly the Freed
mans Bank, the Surgeon'General's Office
, and kiggs Bank (both In the building for
mery used as the United States Bank,
Commodore Decatur's house. corner Fif'
teenth ard a-half and IL streets, and the
old Club House, near which Philip Barton
Key was killed by Daniel l., Sickles, Mem
= her of Congress from New York. The last
bodies from this graveyard We're not re
moved until 1910.
St. Johns T.. II. Church.
St. Johns r. T.. Cnurcn, which has been often
called the state Church because more PteSi
70 dents have worshipped there than ut any
other, stands at the corner of II and six
teenth streets. II was built In 1916 and en-