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To Montgomery Cunningham Meigs
| Major General M. C. Meigs; Dear Sir; |
New York, 15th January 1875. |
I have received your favor of the 13th and thank you for your expression of interest in and kind consideration of the plan I have submitted to the Committees of Congress.
My duty has been with the grounds of the Capitol and I have avoided approaching the province of the architect further than was necessary to the presentation of the proposition of the terrace and stairways. As to the building [104]
View of West Front of U.S. Capitol from southwest showing existing condition with earth terraces (1875)
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View of West Front of U.S. Capitol from southwest showing terraces proposed by Olmsted (1875)
] proper, I obtained drawings from Mr Clark representing a plan which I assumed to have been provisionally adopted and to this my plans have been strictly accommodated. I stated to him as well as to Senator Morrill and to Senator Howe that, among the various propositions which (after forming my plans) I found under discussion in regard to the projection of the central porticos, I regarded that as the best by which they would be advanced the least, and that, as to the West portico, I thought that a reduction from the assumed projection of 40 feet beyond the line of the present wall would be better than any addition to it.
In regard to your inquiry whether the wide terrace which I propose will not dwarf and conceal the Capitol, I must ask you to consider the question with the perspective drawing before you. To gain the advantage of the terrace without serious disadvantage in that respect has been the chief problem of my design. I think that with the aid of Mr Clark and of my architectural assistant, Mr Wisedell, I have fairly solved it.
Before preparing the plan I experimented with a temporary staging and satisfied myself as to the line of elevation for the terrace at which the building would not suffer, assuming the terrace wall to be of marble and its parapet to be fully as open as that on the roof.
To place it low enough, an expedient was necessary that is not shown in the drawings exhibited though you may trace it on the plan of the grounds. It is that of dividing the terrace floor into two stages, the outer one being four feet below that against the walls of the Capitol. The top of the marble parapet is thus kept five feet below the lower course of marble of the building and it will be only on closely approaching it that any part of the building will be hidden.
I think that there is no point of view in which an observer can be expected to place himself (if my plan is adhered to) at which the Capitol will not appear more stately with the terrace than without.
Fred Law Olmsted.