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house built of the same material and depending on the same coating of paint for its life and existence the present day, was built from a plan taken from an English house of that day, in no way suitable, then or now, for the purpose for which it was intended. The Navy, State and War Department buildings, finished, unsightly plain two story buildings, totally devoid of all architectural design of beauty; Post Office builiding, patent office building, treasury building, all started, none finished. The best of her private buildings were small indifferent looking, plain two story buildings, devoid of all ornament or finish, - nothing to admire in her architecture.

Such was Washington City, the capital of our nation, within the last forty years. How changed she is today! The city that at that period of time was a disgrace to the nation, so far as architecture of her public and private buildings were concerned, and was called in derision by Europeans "The city of magnificent distances", - she today is recognized by all Europeans who visit her, the handsomest city in the world, and is justly the pride of the American people,