The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-09-16
HOME FOR THE SUPREME COURT.
A Proposition to Buy the Corcoran
Art Gallery for that Purpose.


Washington, Sept 15.-The Corcoran
art gallery will soon be changed into
temple of justice if the next congress will
agree to the plans prepared by Attorney
General Olney. The COrcOran art gallery
has always been the second point of in
terest to the tourist, the capitol alone
taking precedent as a show card of Wash
ington. This building will be vacated
next spring by the art gallery trustees,
and the art treasures of the
gallery will then be moved to the new
building which is now under construction
further down Seventeenth street, Every
one who has visited Washington remem-
bers this building standing on the corner
OF Seventeenth street and PENNSYLVANIA
avenue, with its huge bronze lions at the
door, and around the walls of which in
deep inches stand in bar relief heroic
statues of the greatest painters and
sculpJors of the early and middle ages.
The gallery overlooks the war, state and
navy departments; and while built of red
brick and brown stone, is one of the most
beautiful structures in the city.
1t is proposed to convert this art gal
lery into hall of Justice and give to the
supreme court of the United States per-
manent quarters it has never enjoyed in
the past. If congress will coincide in the
scheme the white house, the war, state
y
justice, the treasury department and the
supreme court will be focused almost
within two squares of each other, and
none more than 500 yards from the white
house Congress has repeatedly promised
the supreme court home, and the need
of ample headquarters for this
body has been conceded for a number
of years, yet no steps have been
taken TO give this great judicial tribunal
its proper environments. A scheme has
been on foot for some time to erect a
marble palace of justice northeast of the
capitol building in position correspond
ing TO the site now occupied by the new
congressional library. This could only
be done by an outlay of nearly million
OF dollars, and will not be as conveniently
located as the Corcoran art gallery. The
supreme court at present is crowded
into the old Senate chamber,
which waskoccupied the upper house
of congress in the early days of the gov
ernment. The chamber is small and the
justices themselves are cramped for room
The space around the inclosure, from
which attorneys argue their cases, will
not admit moretthan rs persons, no matter
how important the case on the docket
may be. The Corcorau art gallery is
well adapted for court purposes The
main features of the art gallery are three
large rooms on the first and second floors.
the one directly over the other.
The upper room at present used as the
main picture gallery would be USED as the
court room and its lofty ceilings. with
massive oak doors, would make it one of
the most impressive tribunal halls in the
world IL is an immense apartment con-
tanning hundreds of large canvasses. IL
could be arranged so as to not only give
ample space To massive supreme bench
but would also afford plenty of room for
any number of attorneys and leave space
enough for as many spectators as would
ordinarily attend the sessions of the
court.
The corresponding gallery below, used
as the statuary hall, could be arranged
into magnificent library for the supreme
court Adjoining these two main gal.
leries are any number of smaller apart
ments which would serve admirably as
Offices for clerks of the court and other
fuuctio1aries of this department OF the
government. At present the Offices of
the clerks of the supreme court
are scattered all over the
capitol building, while the library
is placed far up on one Of the up.
per floors out OF reach of the Justices and
can only be found after a labOrious climb
| There is, moreover. Mt present no consult
| ing rooms for the justices, and in fact
when taken into consideration that this
| court is the greatest tribunal on earth il
has the meanest quarters in the country.
The building can be purchaser from the
| Corcoran art gallery trustees for $500 900
| II II is not purchased by the government
/ u VIII be turned into hotel or else be
/ sacrlhced Tor more modern structure to
/ be used as fiat apartment house