In accordance with your instructions we forward herewith a study for the general arrangement of your buildings and grounds.

As the school is of scarcely less importance than the college, we have thought it desirable to plan the entrance in such a way that each department of the institution may be easily approached from the principal gateway.

The chapel (which has a direct access for the public from the main entrance) and the dining halls of both school and college are located in the intermediate space between the college and the school buildings, with which they are proposed to be connected by an arcade. An artistic grouping may thus, it is hoped, be secured, and the chapel will seem to belong to neither department exclusively.

The principal college building is proposed to have a westerly frontage, chiefly because this arrangement allows of a comparatively large space being set apart as a lawn and ornamental ground, entirely distinct from the section devoted to the use of the school.

South of the chapel a terraced garden is proposed, of moderate dimensions, as indicated on the plan; this is suggested by the present formation of the ground, and its semi-architectural character is depended on to assist in bringing the different elements of the composition into one harmonious whole.

The arrangement proposed for the offices and subordinate buildings will be clearly seen on reference to the design.

[96]

Plan for Campus of the Columbia Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, 1866

It is very desirable that, in the general scheme to be adopted by your institution, provision should be made for the residences of the faculty and of the president.

It will, we think, be impossible to provide for these necessary features of a liberally conceived general design, within the exact dimension of your present lot; but if two hundred feet of ground to the west can be procured, a sufficient although by no means over-spacious arrangement can be made that will include sites for six residences.

It is evident that in the development of an institution for the deaf and dumb which is to be national in its character & sphere of operations, considerable expenditures must be involved in the erection of the appropriate structures; and as it would be very poor economy to spare expense for necessary ground while undertaking considerable outlays for necessary buildings, we have no hesitation in pressing on your attention the serious importance of adding to your site, at this time, at least the two hundred feet indicated in our design.

There seems, moreover, beyond the mere question of convenience, [97] another reason why, in your institution, a liberal appropriation of space should be set apart for ornamental ground in the vicinity of the college buildings; the inmates of your establishment being unable to hear or speak, any agreeable sensation or delicate perception must depend on the development of other faculties.

In a well-regulated garden the senses of sight and smell are gratified in a most complete and innocent way, and there seems, indeed, to be no reason why the studies of horticulture, botany, ornamental gardening, and rural architecture should not be pursued to great advantage by your students if proper facilities are offered at the outset, and due importance is attached to that influential automatic education which depends entirely on an habitual daily contemplation of good examples.

The general plan for the buildings is a preliminary one; it embraces what has been already done, and shows how the idea can be developed in future so as to harmonize fully with our conceptions in reference to the general treatment of the design as a whole.

A road, twenty-two feet wide, is shown in addition to the two hundred feet proposed to be taken.

This, as you see, is a matter open for consideration. It will, however, if practicable, make the plan more complete, as it will furnish a private entrance to the houses on that side of the property.

Hoping that the results of our study may be in accordance with your views, we remain, dear sir, very respectfully,