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10
proved and adopted by the Commissioners charged with the
erection of the building.
The designs contemplate a building of great be auty of
style and proportions, and of imposing magnificence, com-
bined with durability and ample accommodations for the
present and growing wants of the city.
It is designed to cover the square bounded by Holliday,
Fayette, North and Lexington streets, and is two hundred
and thirty-one feet by one hundred and fifty feet from Holli-
day to North streets. The designs contemplate a building
three stories high, with interior courts, a central and spacious
Rotunda, with dome 234 feet high, with a large number of
conveniently arranged apartments, adapted to every present
and anticipated wants, with stairways and corridors appro-
priate and in full proportion to the interior arrangements.
The outer walls are designed to be faced with well selected
and durable white marble, skillfully wrought, while iron
trusses and groins of masonry support the floors, and will
give great firmness and durability, as well as much security
against fire.
The Committee are free to say that if the financial condi-
tion of the city justified the expenditure, the buildin g con-
templated is appropriate, and such as is required by the
wants of a city of increasing numbers and wealth.
But when we consider the magnitude of the city debt, and
the consequent burthens of taxations weighing down the in-
dustry of our people and paralyzing their energies, and that,
too, when great financial troubles are impending and the
substance of our people is wasting away and values changing,
however gratifying it might be to our feelings and our city
pride to have such a hall, we are admonished that this is not
the time to embark in such expensive enterprise.
The existing corporate debt of Baltimore city gathered from
information obtained from the City Comptroller, appears to
be as follows:
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