The Naval Academy was founded in 1845 when George Bancroft was Secretary of the Navy, and was then located where it is to-day, at Annapolis, Maryland. Some buildings connected with the military post attached to old Fort Severn were pressed into service, and from time to time other buildings were added to them. The old fort stands on the point at the mouth of the Severn river. It is a curious little round structure, having immensely thick walls and a protected entrance from the land side. In recent years a one-story wooden structure has been built on top of the old walls, and the fort now does duty as the gymnasium of the academy. Formerly the water almost washed its base, but from time to time land has been reclaimed from the river, and the structure now stands some distance inside the sea wall. Under the proposed scheme for remodeling the academy, more land will be reclaimed by extending the sea wall on the bay side out to the Port Wardens line and the fort will be thrown still further back. It is proposed to restore this little historic relic to its original appearance, and to mount upon it the old guns, in which condition it will form an interesting feature of the parade ground, and will present a striking contrast to the proposed new practice battery on the point.
From time to time the Government has acquired more land about the old reservation. One of the most important of these acquisitions was the purchase of the grounds with the mansion of the colonial governors of Maryland. The old building still exists and is used as the library of the academy. It has, however, been sadly transformed during the last hundred years. It has been shorn of its wings, in which were the slaves' quarters, the old porch has been removed from the front and replaced by one not in character with the building, and a heavy new roof has been added, which almost entirely robs the exterior of its former beauty. One roof was burned off. There seems to be no record of the time of this occurrence, but the writer, upon making an examination, found the remains of three roofs, one of which had been very much damaged by fire. The successive roofs have been built one over the other, and it is therefore hardly to be wondered at that the last one looks heavy. The proposed scheme for rebuilding contemplates the restoration of this interesting and historic relic to its original condition, and utilizing it as a residence of the commander of the place, who is known officially as the superintendent. Those who have read Richard Carvel will doubtless remember several references to this old building. When restored it will add greatly to the beauty and interest of the place.
With the exception of the governors' house, and the old fort, there are no buildings of any interest or beauty on the grounds. All are old, poorly built, and many of them are much out of repair. Some have recently been condemned as unsafe, and several have been torn down for this reason. It seems to have been the policy of the Government to build here in the poorest way, and to place the buildings wherever there was a vacant place, with absolutely no regard to the convenient and economical working of the institution. Thus, the armory, which now has one side shored to keep it from falling out, is in a most inconvenient place, almost as far from the parade ground as the limits of the yard will admit, and much time and labor are lost daily in marching and hauling guns by devious paths back and forth between it and the parade ground whenever there is a drill. The recitation buildings seem to have been located by chance, and the boat house, a part of which was condemned as unsafe within five years after it was built, is in a most inconvenient position with regard to the cadets' quarters.
In the scheme for rebuilding, it has been the endeavor to place every building in the location best adapted to it—where it will fit in most advantageously for the routine work of the institution, and most harmoniously from the artistic standpoint.
The flimsy character of the old buildings was amusingly illustrated in a story which Admiral Matthews (chairman of the committee which recommended the proposed scheme for rebuilding) told of an experience of his when a boy at the academy. One night when he and some comrades were studying in their rooms in one of the old buildings, they suddenly heard a rumbling sound, the lights were extinguished, there was a rush of cold air, then a terrible crash. One side of the building had fallen out, leaving the rooms open on the side toward the water. Fortunately the floor beams did not rest on this wall, or the admiral would probably not have been alive to tell the story. As it was, the young men found themselves sitting on a shelf in the open air. Recently one of the buildings of this same row was found to be split in two from top to bottom. The two halves seemed to be only held together by the weight of the roof, and it was necessary to rig up great spars and tie the building together with ropes before it could be taken down. In spite of the flimsy character and unsightly appearance of many of the buildings of the academy, the place is attractive, and can hardly fail to produce an agreeable impression upon the visitor. The grounds are always in the most immaculate order. The well-kept walks, fine trees, smooth lawns and beautiful outlook over the bay, all combine to make a most attractive picture and to indicate how beautiful it can be made when all its natural beauties are brought out and the blemishes removed.
The Government owns three pieces of property, comprising several hundred acres, which are more or less disconnected, but which are set apart for the purpose of the academy. The principal one of these, and where it is proposed to place all the new structures, adjoins the town of Annapolis and occupies the point which is formed by the southern bank of the Severn river, where the latter meets Chesapeake Bay. It has a frontage on the bay of about 1200 feet, and a frontage on the river of about 2400 feet. These two water-fronts form an acute angle, so that the property is wider at one end than it is at the other. This would not be so if the sea wall along the river followed the true line of the stream, for the channel of the river makes almost a right angle with the Port Wardens line along the bay side. In the scheme for rebuilding, it is intended to reclaim some part of the flats on the south side of the river by building a great pier, upon which will stand the power house, storage warehouse and steam engineering building, and to dredge out the rest of the shallow area so as to form a basin for the practice boats of the academy; the basin to be partially enclosed by piers following the true line of the river; this will square out the property and bring it almost to the form of a rectangular quadrilateral, having a breadth of 1284 feet, and a length of about 2500 feet. The basin will have a length of 1083 feet and a width of 580 feet. It is proposed to build a fine new sea wall of massive masonry along all this waterfront and around the basin.
The academy has two main entrances which stand at the head of two of the streets of the town. Another street at right angles to these runs along the wall. When one enters he faces towards the Severn river. At present the view of the river, which is very pretty here, is obstructed by a row of unsightly coal sheds and wooden buildings which line the water-front. It is proposed to remove all these and to open up a charming view of the river, with the basin in the foreground, the latter enclosed with massive sea walls of granite, its entrance flanked by stone beacons standing at the ends of the two piers which partially separate it from the river; and the shipping along the quays will produce a striking and characteristic effect. On the southerly side of the basin advantage has been taken of the natural lay of the land to broaden out the quay into a sort of semi-circular place suggestive of an amphitheatre, with concentric rows of broad steps on the banks, which represent the difference in grade between the made land of the quay and the solid ground of the campus. This place will have a length of 415 feet and a width of 250 feet. It is intended for use at out-of-door exercises. The band stand is placed at the center of the side toward the basin. A great multitude could be accommodated on the steps or gradients of the amphitheatre. The fine old trees now on the campus are to be preserved, the lawns extended toward the river, and the parade ground greatly increased by moving the sea wall on the bay side out to the Port Wardens line.
When the proposed plan is carried out the buildings will be in three main groups, one on each of the three sides of the campus, on the other side of which is the basin with its shipping. The cadets' quarters will be on the right hand side as one enters from the town, the academic buildings on the left, and the officers' houses, as at present, on a line parallel to and just inside the wall which encloses the academy grounds on the side towards the town. The cadets' quarters will stand between the campus and the parade ground. It will be flanked on one side by the boat-house and on the other side by the armory. The main floors of these two latter buildings will be at the level of the parade ground, which, being of made land, is lower than the campus. The cadets' quarters will stand on the higher level, and the difference in grade between the campus on one side and the parade grounds on the other will be made up by a stone terrace about 18 ft. high on the side towards the parade ground, so that the quarters will appear to stand on a terrace when viewed from the parade ground or from the bay.
The boat-house and armory are to be connected with the cadets' quarters by covered ways. The northwesterly end of the boat-house abuts upon the basin, and the main longitudinal axis of the building and the basin coincide.
The academic building at the other side of the campus faces the cadets' quarters; the main axes of both these buildings coincide. They will be connected by a broad avenue of trees. The academic building is flanked on one side by the physics and chemistry building, and on the other side by the steam engineering building. The latter, with the power house and general storage warehouse, form a group which will stand on the reclaimed land at the northwesterly end of the basin. The power house, which is the central building of the three, will face the boat-house at the other end of the basin. Their longitudinal axes coincide with that of the basin.
This general plan, that is to say, the grouping of the buildings, and arrangement of the grounds, and the treatment of the water-front, was prepared by a commission appointed by Secretary Herbert, pursuant to a resolution adopted by the Board of Visitors to the Naval Academy of 1895, requesting the Secretary to appoint a commission "to examine and report upon the condition of the grounds and buildings and the sanitary condition of said Academy." The following extract is from the report of the Board of Visitors:
"The Board feels that the Naval Academy should be an institution second to none of its kind in the world; that it should meet every modern requirement as an institution of learning, not only as to the instruction given, but as to the conveniences and accommodation offered officers, instructors, and cadets. It feels that the present buildings are insufficient and inadequate for the purposes to which they are assigned, and that a reconstruction of buildings, grounds, and sanitation, upon the most approved modern architectural and sanitary lines, will not only be an incalculable benefit to the naval service, but a progressive step which will meet the approval of the whole country."
A commission was appointed by the Secretary of the Navy, July 5th, 1895, and consisted of Admiral (then Commodore) E.O. Matthews; Captain P.H. Cooper, U.S.N. (then superintendent of the Naval Academy); Lieutenant-Commander E.H.C. Leutze, U.S.N.; Lieutenant-Commander A. Ross, U.S.N.; W.R. DuBose, surgeon, U.S.N.; and W.P. Potter, Lieutenant, U.S.N., recorder.
An extract from the report of this commission reads as follows:
"The Board met at this place on July 16th, 1895, and made a careful inspection of the buildings, grounds and sewerage system. After examining into the needs of the service for which the buildings were erected and the present arrangement and conditions, we find the present buildings are, with few exceptions, in very bad condition and not warranting the expense of the extensive repairs that would be needed to render them safe and serviceable, which repairs would only be temporary, and even then they are so misplaced as to be very inconvenient; others, though now in fairly good condition, will soon begin to require unending repairs, and are so misplaced as to interfere with any proper general plan.
"Owing to the extensive flats surrounding the water-front, which are either exposed at low water or very near the surface, a proper sewerage system is almost if not quite impossible under the present conditions, and the Board, looking to the permanent needs of a great and growing nation, is of the opinion that in the interest of true economy and efficiency, a plan should be adopted for the erection of substantial fireproof buildings of indestructible material, properly arranged and situated, to be convenient, healthful, and thoroughly adapted to the requirements of an institution that is to last for all time.
"Before the erection of the new structures can be commenced the Board deem it of prime importance to install a permanent sanitary sewerage system and to prepare the grounds. This can only be accomplished by raising existing ground along the water-front and filling in in other places. For that purpose, and at the same time securing sufficient depth of water-front for the handling of boats and vessels used in instruction, dredging should be commenced and a suitable sea wall built."
When the board was appointed it was directed by the Secretary of the Navy that its report be accompanied by a map of the buildings and grounds as now constituted, and also a map of the buildings and grounds as they will appear under the system to be proposed by the board.
A great deal of time, study and care were given to the preparation of this latter map or general plan. The commission met many times on the grounds and carefully considered the needs of the institution and the proper location of the new buildings. Mr. Ernest Flagg, architect, of New York, was invited to assist in the preparation of a plan which should embody the ideas of the board, and his plan was submitted with their report.
The reasons which governed in the preparation of this plan were briefly these:
The area of the grounds was thought to be too restricted. To overcome this and at the same time to deepen the water along the sea walls, it was proposed to reclaim flats which lay under water on two sides, and to obtain the necessary filling by dredging out a part of the area for a basin. By thus raising the general level and deepening the water, the difficulties in the way of the installation of a proper sewer system would also be overcome. In placing the buildings it was thought that as the institution was chiefly for the benefit of the cadets, the cadets' quarters ought to occupy the best and most commanding location on the grounds, that is to say, the site of the present superintendent's residence. There were also other weighty reasons for the selection of this location for the quarters, the most important of which was its proximity to the parade ground, which is admirably located inside the sea wall on the bay side. By placing the boat-house to the northeast of the cadets' quarters, and the armory to the southwest of it, all three of these buildings would be located in the most advantageous positions with respect to the grounds and with respect to themselves. The armory would be contiguous to the parade ground, the boat-house to the basin, and the quarters within convenient reach of each. To still further facilitate communication between these three buildings, it was determined to connect them by covered ways. It is generally necessary that the cadet should change his clothes preparatory to duties on land or water, it is therefore desirable that the quarters should be within reasonable reach of the boat-house and armory. The plan adopted accomplishes this purpose admirably.
The officers' houses were thought to be well located in their present position, and that when the cadets' quarters are placed on one side and the academic building on the other side of the square upon which they face, no more convenient location could be desired.
The old governors' mansion, which it was desired to preserve both for historical and artistic reasons, seemed to be admirably located for a residence for the superintendent, standing, as it does, at the head of the row of officers' houses. It was thought best to attach the library to the academic building, so that it should be within easy reach from the class-rooms of the various departments. It was placed to the west of and adjoining the academic building, from which it is separated by enclosed courts. The physics and chemistry departments, and the department of steam engineering, each requires separate buildings; these were placed one at either side of the academic building. It was also thought desirable that the steam engineering building should be closely connected with the power house, so that power can be easily transmitted to it, and so that the apparatus of the power house itself might be used for illustration and instruction.
This disposition of the buildings not only has the advantage of bringing every building into the place most convenient for it, but also of placing them where they will produce a fine artistic effect and not interfere with the natural beauties of the place.
Although the report of the Matthews commission was presented January 16th, 1896, no action was taken by the Department until 1898. When the report was made Secretary Herbert thought that, in the then condition of the national finances. Congress would not be likely to enter upon an undertaking of such magnitude as that suggested by the Matthews board. In 1898 the recitation building was found to be unsafe, the Department concluded that something would have to be done, and Congress was asked to make an appropriation to commence the work in accordance with what was known as the "Matthews plan." Although the sum asked for was stricken out in committee, the House, upon motion of Mr. Mudd of Maryland, agreed to an amendment appropriating $1,000,000 to be applied to the erection of the boat-house, the armory, the power house and a part of the sea wall; $500,000 of this sum was not to be available until the following year. At the next session the secretary was asked for a further sum to commence work on the other buildings, and although committee again failed to include any part of the amount asked for in the bill reported to the House, Mr. Mudd again secured by amendment the appropriation of $720,000 for the work already authorized; $220,000 of this amount was rendered necessary by the determination to make all the buildings of granite instead of brick and limestone as originally contemplated. The plans had been prepared by Mr. Flagg in accordance with the Matthews report. Bids for the work were advertised for and contracts for it were finally made with P.J. Carlin & Co., of Brooklyn, N.Y. The work was commenced March 28th, 1899, and has been in progress ever since. It is expected that the buildings now under erection will be completed in about a year. The Department has asked the present Congress for upwards of $2,000,000 to continue the work upon other buildings of the plan.