Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1908-09-30
CO/HN

When the three great museums of
the Greater New York are completed
in the years to come there will be
given to the country and the world
groups of art palaces the like of which
the. world has never before seen.
They will represent an expenditure of
$5O,OOO,000 exclusive of the priceless
collections which will find shelter
within the spacious walls of the insti-
tut1ons. The Metropolitan Museum of
Art. will be the largest building de-
voted to art in the world; the COM
pleted museum of natural history will
'overshadOw the British museum, and
the Brooklyn Institute museum is
planned along the same magnificent
lines. In the case of the last named
the eastern wing, recently finished,
completes an entire front of the struc-
ture, including the corner towers In
the case of the Natural History
museum the great outer wall has
finally turned the southwestern corner
and is being carried some distance
northward. The new wing is the first
OF the great side walls of the building.
Tho Fifth avenue facade of the Met
ropolitan museum is being carried this
year nearly a block northward from
the main entrance. The new wing is
particularly interesting, since it is the
first wall to be built besides the en-
trance, on the outer line of the build
Ing. The museum will ultimately in
close the great hollow rectangle,
whose longest dimensions will parallel
Fifth avenue. The main buildings of
the museum today, those in red brick,
Will il time be completely inclosed.
The outer walls will be of light gray
stone. The cost of this building when
completed, it is estimated, will be
s22,OOO,O0O. Sir Caspar Purdon Clarke
said recently that he believed the
great museum would be completed in
ten years, when it will certainly be the
chief architectural feature of the city.
Some idea of the proportions of this
building may be had from the state
ment that the present Fifth avenue
facade, nearly two blocks in length, is
less than one-fourth the length of the
completed eastern front.
The new wing is built of a some
what lighter stone than the main en-
trance. The same alignment is main
tanned. 1t is two floors in height, with
a basement. One of the features of
the new addition is spacious lecture
hall opening from this wing into the
inner courtyard. The need of such
hall has been felt for years. The walls
of the new wing on the inner. courts
are of white brick, and the greater
part of the roof is of grass. The in
terror is designed with the same eff
feet of lofty spaciousness so charac-
teristic of the older halls of the
museum.
The management of the museum
has long been embarrassed for room,
and the new wing will be quickly
taken up. The second floor, according
to the present plans, will be devoted
to Robert Fulton and Hendrick Hud-
son and their times. The display of
these collections will have a peculiar
timeliness in view of the approaching
Hudson anniversary. 1t is probable
that the He1chel collection, the prop
erty of Mr. j. Pierpont Morgan, will
also be, allotted space in this wing
Although the new wing, as seen from
the street, appears to be practically
complete, it is not expected that it
will be regularly thrown open to the
public for some months.
The Natural History museum will be
carried step nearer completion this
year by the opening of the south wing
of the west facade and by a new ap-
proach to the central power house and
tower. The museum, it is perhaps not
generally realized, will ultimately
considerably exceed in size the
British museum. 1t is now nearly 20
years since the first hall was built,
one Of the interior wings, which is
now almost completely hidden Since
then the entire south facade has been
completed. an avenue block in
length.