St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1908-03-21
RE BUILD In GRANITE
NATIONAL TREASURY BUILDING
TO HAVE NEW FRONT.
Sandstone Originally Used in Its Con.
stFuetIon Has Not Stood the Test
Of Time and Must Be
Replaced,


The treasury at Washington ia to
come dowa. Within few weeks the
demolition will be begun, and the his.
foEic edifice-as. of 1t, that is to ray,
that stood before the civil war-will
@e reduced to a wreck, the entire front.
Including the 80 great Ionic pillars up
holding the roof of the Fifteenth street
facade, being torn away.
For this purpose congress has an.
propriated 100000. The contract has
been awarded to a New York firm,
and Quarrying has already been begun
at Milford, N. H., for granite which is
20 take the place of the sandstone of
the present structure.
This sandstone which was brought
from Acquia creek, in Virginia, in
lS4O, is poor stuff, and shows a dispo-
sition to dfsintegrate. Large chunks
of the portico have been falling from
time to time, narrowly missing peo-
pies heads, and it was finally decided
that the whole facade, pillars and all,
would have to be removed and re-
placed with stronger material.
It viii be understood that the treas
Try as it stood in the '40s and early
Dos, was a long building, fronting on
Fifteenth street and of no great depth,
which to-day forms the middle Sec
ton of the east side of the huge rec
tangular structure occupied by the
financial department of the govern
nent
As originally erected it was a copy
If the Temple of Pallas Minerva at
Athens, and its site was chosen by
that irascible and obstinate old gen.
tleman. Andrew Jackson. Congress
left the matter to him, and one day,
as it is related, he walked over from
the White House, thrust his cane into
the ground, and said:
This is the best place for the build
ing. Put it here!"
Now, the intention had always been
that Pennsylvania avenue should run
In a straight and undertaking line. In
| fact. it had always done SO up to that
time. extending directly from the CAPT.
toll past the front door of the White
House, which in those days was on
the south front of the presidents
dwelling, and not on the north as at
present. But the building of the treas,
ury in this badly chosen spot broke
| the avenue in two, so that it loses
! itself for a couple of blocks in a man.
ner puzzling to the stranger in Wash.
ington.
Which reminds one to say that Wis
ttors at the national capital are much
impressed, not unnaturally, by the in
formation, conveyed to them by pro
fessional guides, that the gigantic pill
lars which uphold the roofs of the por
ticos on the north, south and west
sides of the treasury, are monoliths
| the largest in the world, each of them
being hewn out of a single block OF
granite.
They are further astonished when
told that these pillars were brought
all the way from Dix Island, near
Rockford, in Maine, being put aboard
sailing vessels, landed at Georgetown
and hauled to the building site by
teams of Is oxen.
The treasury as it stands to-day is
a building of granite only fol-
the old and original sandstone struc
ture which, as already explained
forms the middle section of it's easi
side. 1t is now intended to remove
the entire front of this ancient edifice
Alphabetically speaking, there will
be no alterations; it is simply mat
ter of substituting one material fol
another. However, incidental to the
operation, the sandstone pillars, which
are composed Of series of superposed
4 cylin irical sections, will be replaced
by granite monoliths.