now necessarily exists, and have added
power and comprehension to the structure as an entirety; but the general
effect is grand and striking in the extreme. The building is two hundred
and fifty feet long, and one hundred and fifty feet wide. From the
base-course to the top of the pediment the height is ninety-seven feet,
and to the top of the dome, not yet erected, two hundred and twenty-five
feet. From the sidewalk to the top of the pediment measures eighty-two
feet; to the top of the dome two hundred and ten feet. When completed,
the building will be surmounted by a large dome, giving a general
resemblance to the main portion of the Capitol at Washington. The dome,
viewed from the rear, appears something heavy and cumbrous for the
general character of the structure which it crowns; but a front view,
from Chambers street, when the eye, in its upward sweep, takes in the
broad flight of steps, the grand columns, and the general robustness of
the main entrance, dissipates this idea, and attaches grace and integrity
to the whole. One of the most novel features of the dome will be the
arrangement of the tower, crowning its apex, into a light-house, which,
from its extreme power and height, it is supposed, will furnish guidance
to vessels as far out at sea as that afforded by any beacon on the
neighboring coast. This is the suggestion of the architect, Mr. Kellum,
but, whether or not it will be carried out in the execution of the
design, Mr. Tucker, the superintendent of the work, is unable to say.
The interior of the edifice is equally elaborate and complete, and
several of the apartments are now occupied by the County Clerk, the
Supreme Court, and as other offices. The portico and stoop, now being
completed, on Chambers street, will, it is said, be the finest piece of
work of the kind in America."

It was this building which furnished the Ring with their favorite pretext
for stealing the public money. The manner in which this was done has
been described in another chapter.

The Bible House is a massive structure of red brick, with brown stone
trimmings, and covers the block bounded by Third and Fourth avenues and
Eighth and Ninth streets. It covers three-quarters of an acre, its four
fronts measuring a total of 710 feet. It was completed in 1853, at a
cost, including the ground, of $303,000, and is to-day worth nearly
double that sum. It contains fifty stores and offices, which yield an
aggregate annual rent