Many of the public buildings are quite an ornament to the city. The Baltimore
Exchange, in Gay street is a magnificent building, and the largest in the city. Its cost
was about $600,000. It contains the Custom House, Baltimore Post Office, Merchants'
Bank, Exchange Reading Rooms, and sundry offices. The Athenaeum, on the comer of
Saratoga and St. Paul streets is a noble structure, erected for the accommodation of the
Historical Society of Maryland, the Baltimore Library, and the Mercantile Library Asso-
ciation. The Masonic Hall, in St. Paul street, is a beautiful building, erected by the
Masonic fraternity in 1913. The Oddfellows' Hall, and Temperance Hall, in Gay street,
and the Calvert Hall, at the S. E. corner of Baltimore and Calvert streets, and the Muse-
um, on the N. W. corner, are all handsome structures. Calvert Station, the new depot
of the Baltimore and Susquehanna Railroad is an imposing edifice. It stands in North
Calvert street and is 315 feet long, 120 teet wide, and supported by 42 granite columns.

The "Mechanics' Institute," over the Centre Market, is a magnificent structure. It
was erected by the members of the "Maryland Institute for the promotion of the Mechanic
Arts." The. building is 355 feet long, by 60 wide. The three story edifice fronting on
Baltimore street, contains the Library, Committee Rooms, Offices, &c. The main Hall,
which is devoted to exhibitions of American Industry, is 260 feet long. The cost of the
structure was about $60,000,

Many of the churches are beautiful specimens of architecture. The Roman Catholic
Cathedral is a magnificent building. It is in the form of a cross, and is entirely of hewn
granite. It is 190 feet long, and 177 feet broad at the arms of the cross, It is surmount-
ed by a beautiful dome 69 feet in diameter, and 95 feet in height, from the floor to the
centre of the arch. Its Organ is the largest in the United States. The other churches
most worthy of note are, the Unitarian Church, corner of Franklin and Charles streets, 108
feet long and 78 feet wide: Church of St. Alphonsus, corner of Saratoga and Park streets,
Gothic style; St. Pauls's Episcopal Church, corner of Saratoga and Charles streets; Grace
Episcopal Church, a beautiful gothic structure, on Monument stieet; the Charles Street
Methodist Church, corner of Charles and Fayette streets, and the Presbyterian Church,
on the corner of Franklin and Park streets.

Baltimore is celebrated, also for her beautiful Fountains, embowreed with trees, and
laid out in handsome walks. They are the Eastern Fountain, on Pratt street; the Calvert
street Spring, and the. Fountain, in Charles street. In 1309, the Fountain, in Calvert
street was erected; and in 1817 the city purchased and improved the Springs in Pratt
and Charles street, and placed a Fountain at the head of the Centre Market.