Comparative bids for the granite work, of the wings, in the rear of the Patent Office Building, and their results from estimated quantities to test the bids [graphic] / signed, Robt. Mills.

Format:

Image

Author/Creator:

Mills, Robert, 1781-1855.

Contributor:

Berry, Peter.

Easby, William, 1791-1854.

Walter, Thomas Ustick, 1804-1887.

Visual Materials Collection (Athenaeum of Philadelphia)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Public buildings--District of Columbia--Washington.

Washington (D.C.).

Patent Office Building (Washington, D.C.)--Alterations & additions. East & West Wings--1849.

National Portrait Gallery (Washington, D.C.).

Local Subjects:

Washington (D.C.).

Patent Office Building (Washington, D.C.)--Alterations & additions. East & West Wings--1849.

National Portrait Gallery (Washington, D.C.).

Physical Description:

1 drawing : ink on paper ; 45.5 x 59 cm.

Contained In:

Walter, Thomas Ustick. Architectural drawings collection.

Place of Publication:

1849.

Notes:

This item, which might also be called a chart or broadside, has been treated as an architectural drawing, as this data is often given with thegraphic images, and forms part of the contract of the project.

Gallagher (1935) p. 60, states that Mills was given charge of public building on July 6, 1836. Gallagher, p.57 gives the title as "Architect and Engineer for the Government", with the appointment by President Andrew Jackson. Gallagher outlines the criticisms of Mills work, as particularly related to the Treasury and similarly to the Patent Building. One of the criticisms concerned the "perishable" nature of the building material selected. It appears that Mills wanted to use granite, but at least in the case of the Treasury Building, the Congress opted for a cheaper freestone from Maine, which by 1909 was crumbling and replaced with granit. Thomas Ustick Walter, later Mills successor, was one of the critics, and this document on the bids for granite for the Patent Office Building, may have been part of Mills evidence to the young architect, as to his choice & method of choice of materials.

Alexander in the Macmillan encyclopedia of architects (1982), v. 3, p. 207, gives Mills Washington title as "Architect of the Public Buildings", abolished in 1842. Alexander states that Mills was appointed in June 1849 to enlarge the Patent Office by constructing the east and west wings, but was dismissed in July 1851, and the work taken over by Thomas Ustick Walter. Alexander's list of Mills Works notes that the Patent Office Building is now the National Portrait Gallery.

This document appears to include several sections: [1] Tariff of prices of the granite work to the wings of the Patent Office Building. [2] Bids [in feet] from the City of Washington, including Sumwalt & Green, Wilkens & Cassidy, W.G. Emery, G. Green, N. Aikers, W. Cleary, C.& N. Green., Gault & Bros., T. Berry [& Co.], and P. Berry [3] Bids [in feet] from New York and Massachusetts, including E. Larned, T. Mulligan, and E.L. Stoddard, Jr. [4] Bids [in work] for the granite work of the Patent Office wings [including all the names above] [5] General results of the bids for the granite work of the Patent Office wings, founded on estimated quantities of the work [including all the names above] [6] I will agree to furnish & set the granite at the Patent Office Build'g. at the annexed tariff of prices. Signd. Peter Berry, May 11, 1849.

The overall sheet appears to be signed "This statement was received in the Office of the Comr. of Public Buildings in April 1851, Signed Wm. Easby, Com., Pub. Buil'dg." Section [6] givens the accepted bid, signed by Peter Berry. Section [5] is "Signed, Robt. Mills, Superintendent of the Patent Office Building, City of Washington, May 12th, 1849. A note at the bottom of the sheet reads: The above is correct exhibit of the several bids for the granite work in the wings of the Patent Office Building ... signed, Robt. Mills, Superintendent of the Patent Office Building, May 12th, 1849. The overall sheet appears to be "Signed, Robt. Mills, June 1849."

Forms part of: Walter, Thomas Ustick. Architectural drawings collection.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Gift of Isabel Becker,

Cited in:

Laverty, v.1, p.151, MLS*003/001