Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-03-05
Construction of the American Uni
versity to Begin.
CEREMONY FIXED For NEXT TUESDAY
When Work Will Be Commenced
on the Hall of History.
PLANS CT THE BUILDING

After number Of disappointments
brought about through unexpected crcum-
stances, the American University will at
last he under way in less than a week
from now. The authorities reached this
decision within the last two or three days,
and so, next Tuesday. ground will be
broken for the first building of the uniyersi-
ty-the hall of history. Details of the
formal ceremony which will mark this, the
first step I'm actual building of the homes
Of the university, have not been fully de-
cided upon. but as. number of Invitations
have been sent out to prominent ministers
and laymen Of the country who live near
enough to be able to reach here. it is ex-
pected that the gathering will be a notable
ere. Among the gentlemen who may pos
s1bly be here are Bishop William Warren,
the bishop who presides next week at the
annual session of the Baltimore conference,
President John F. Goucher Of the women's
College Of Baltimore. and probably all of
the board of trustees, many of whom are
from other parts of the country.
Ceremonies Arranged.
The ceremony will take place at 2 o'clock
In the afternoon, and the program will
include an address or two and the lifting of
the spade of earth. For onvenience of
the invited guests and others of those
who expect to witness the ceremony coach
es will be provided, which will leave The
Office Of the university I'm the Lehman
building in time to arrive at the grounds.
Complete plans have not been decided upon
as TO the landscape of grounds and the
groupings of the buildings, but Vice Cham
cellor S. l.. Beiler IVES out at the Heights
today with one of the engineer officers of
the District office and decided upon the
site of the Hall of History. 1t will face
the east, and it is expected that the rest
of the group Of administration buildings
will be near it. Some details yet remain
upon the plans of the structure before 1t
will entirely be completed, but not enough
to prevent the work being actively pushed
from next Tuesday. The foundation story,
which will rise about eight feet above
ground, will be OF rock-faced granite. Par
ticular care has been placed upon the Sc
lection of material for this building, as
all the rest of the buildings will, to
large extent, conform to it. The archi-
lecture Is classic, and the building is TO
be OF two stories and basement.
Plans of the Building.
The ground plans indicate an ediGce
20 feet wide by 1I6 feet long. In the lower
story there are to be Offices, toilet and
cloak rooms, and temporarily a few rooms
which may be used for lecture purposes.
The building will run north and socth.
with the entrance through a large and
handsome portico in the east or front side
Entering through this portico the first
thing to strike the eye is to De a large en-
other side of corridor opposite this en-
trance hall there will be the museum and
library. The museum, however, will be
for historical purposes, though it is pos
sible that temporarily some of the other
collections of the university will be placed
within ii. Each of the two floors is to be
divided by broad corridors running the
entire length of the building, ten feet wide.
the other portion of the first floor w,l lie
occupied by a number of smaller rooms
arranged IN suites of three. having n pro-
fessors' room, semnaire room and lecture
room Directly over the museum and
library there has been planned an assembly
or auditorium room. This is to he nearly
square, having the dimensions of about
fifty by fifty feet. The rest Of the upper
story VIII be divided OF similarly 10 Tie
lower floor. In connsciiSn with the erec-
ton of the building 1T is expected that
the ground which will be used for the
administration buildings, of which History
Hall is one, will gradually he graded, so
that when the time comes for the erection
of the next building The grounds will be
in better shape.