Evening star., 1938-07-03
MELLON GALLERY
FOURTH FINISHED
ON ANNIVERSARY
/ ''.'SS'"'
Foundations and Retaining
] Walls of Huge Building
/ Now Completed.
CARLOADS OF MARBLE
! ARE ARRIVING ATYARDS
Steel Is Being Fabricated at
Plant-Work Due to End
by Summer of 1910.

With about 400 workmen on tn,
Job, foundations and retaining wall
Of the huge National Gallery of Art
9ift Of the late Andrew w. Mellon
were completed yesterday on the frs
anniversary of breaking ground for tn,
&l5,000.000 edifice.
Carloads of specially quarried ligh
pink Tennessee marble are arriving
at the Fourtenth Street Pennsylvania
Railroad yards. and are being un
loaded there, to begin work on tn.
marble exterior soon.
Steel Is being fabricated at a stee
plant for the superstructure which
will rise this summer above the mair
gallery floor. The construction pro.
gram is geared to finish the building
which Is to be the most beautiful
and. one of the largest art galleries
in the world. by the summer of 1910
Progress on the site, between Con-
stitution avenue, Madison drive and
Fourth and Seventh streets NV, is
indicated clearly on the adjacent air
view photo released last night by the
A. w. Mellon Educational and Chari.
table Trust.
Fits Into Program.
Located in the Mall opposite the
eastern end of the famous Federal
Triangle of monumental Government
buildings, the gallery. which. true to
to Mr.. Melons modesty, does not
bear his name, is rising on a site
selected to fit into the long term
program of Identification OF the Ma
tional Capital. Already it is apparent
how the tremendous proportions of
the gallery harmonic with the gran
deur of the Mall, which is based on
the 1901 version of the designs drawn
up in 1871 by L'Enfant and approved
by George Washington.
The gallery thus becomes an out
standing feature of the Mall connect
ing the Capitol, the Washington Mon
ument and Lincoln Memorial great
parkway which is wider and half a
mile longer than the Champs-Elysees
in Paris.
The gallery now is about fourth
completed. All the foundations and
retaining walls are finished and in
addition, the concrete walls of the
so-called west quadrant" of the
building have been poured up to the
level of the main gallery floor This
is evident in the photograph at the
Fourth street end of the building.
Faced with Marble.
These walls, like all the exterior
of the gallery, will be faced with
marble. More men still are at work
in the quarries preparing further ship
ments. This marble is unusually hard
and moisture resistant with light
rejecting surface. To obtain the
necessary 315,000 cubic feet needed
Tor the exterior, more than 1000. GOO
cubic feet Of this stone is. being quar-
ried.
The finished foundations stand on
more than 1000 concrete piles. This
type Of solid construction was decided
on because the rock level at the site
lies about $50 feet below the street
grade. More than $4,000 yards of
concrete have been poured already
and there are 1929 feet of concrete
piling in the foundations.
In dimensions the gallery will rank
with the largest in the world-Witil
such famous treasure houses of art
as the Louvre in Paris, the National
Gallery in London, the Metropolitan
In New York and the Uffizi in Florence.
Magnificent Rotunda.
The length is 784 feet from outer
wall to outer wall, and 842 feet from
moat wall to moat wall. The width
is 305 feet from wall to wall, and 1863
feet from moat to moat. The central
rotunda is typical of the magnificent
inner proportions 1t will be 100 feet
from wall to wall, and 100 feet from
the floor to the inside OF the dome.
These tremendous proportions, it
was explained by the Mellon trust,
are necessary because the intent and
purpose of the gift to the Nation was
to provide a building large enough
to permit the accumulation of master
pieces through the years to come, in
suring to the people of the United
States a heritage of art second to
hone
: The classic dignity and spacious
grandeur of the gallery will make it
one of the most beautiful buildings
In the world No expense is being
spared to make it a fitting home for
the Mellon collection to be exhibited
to the American people.
This collection was described .by
President Roosevelt in submitting the
gift to Congress as "one of the finest
and most valuable collections in exist
ence, containing only objects of the
highest standard Of quality" The
Mellon collection, valued at more than
10000, 900, will be augmented by
other collections, which, it is ex-
pected. will be given to the Nation
from time to time.
The Mellon collection, in range,
covers all the important schools of
Western European painting. Among
the Italian works are masterpieces
by Raphael, Perugino, Botticelli, Fra
Angelica, Titan, Cimabue, Masaccio.
The Flemish school is represented by
such master as Jan van Eyck, Rogier
van der Weyden, Memling, Van Dyck
and RubenS.
In the Dutch school there are REM
brandt. Frans Halls, Vermeer, Hob
bema and others. Spanish paintings
include Fl Greco, Goya, Velasquez,
while the German and French paint
ings include such names as Holbein,
Durer, Lancret and Chardin. The
British school is represented by
Gainsborough, Reynolds, Turner, Con-
stable and others.
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