Chap. 627.—An ACT to provide for the erection of a fire-proof
state HMbrary building, and also for the accommodation of the
court of appeals, the auditor of public accounts, second
auditor, treasurer, commissioner of agriculture, railroad com-
missioner, superintendent of public instruction, adjutant-gene-
ral, superintendent of public printing and attorney-general and
state laboratory.

Approved March 8, 1892.

Whereas the capital building is overloaded with a libra-
ry, making it necessary to rent rooms in the city for the
storage of books and public documents, and with archives
of incalculable value to Virginia, whose loss nothing could
replace; and

Whereas the said building may collapse from this ex-
traordinary weight and is in daily danger of destruction
by fire, which, when once under way could not be extin-
guished; and

Whereas the public wants have largely outgrown the
capacity of the said building to meet them, and a building
supplemental to the capitol is imperatively demanded by
the above circumstances; and

Whereas the act, chapter three hundred and fifty-three,
of March the tenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-four, di-
rects the proceeds of the sale of certain lands therein
described, and ordered to be invested “in bonds issued
under act of the fourteenth of February, eighteen hundred
and eighty-two, at their market value,” to be held to meet
the costs of a public building to be used as a library and
for public offices, and the proceeds of said sales now
amount to one hundred and seventy-three thousand and
nine hundred dollars in three per centum bonds, with in-
terest to the first day of July, eighteen hundred and
ninety-two, smounting to thirty-seven thousand two hun-
dred and twenty-eight dollars and fifty cents, and the act
of March fifth, eighteen hundred and ninety, chapter two
hundred and twenty-one, directs the sale of a lot of land
known as the state cattle-pens, situated in the county of
Henrico, and ordered the proceeds to be similarly invested
and dedicates them to similar use, and the sale under said
act has so far produced three hundred dollars in new three
per centum bonds, with interest to the first day of July,
eighteen hundred and ninety-two, amounting to eighteen
dollars, leaving the residue yet to be sold, and estimated
by f7perts to be worth not less than ten thousand dollars;
an

Whereas the building now occupied by the court of
appeals is estimated by experts to be worth not less than
six thousand dollars in cash; and, .

Whereas the rent of rooms and buildings outside of
the capitol necessary to accommodate certain officers of
the state now amounts to about three thousand dollars per
annum, which may be judiciously capitalized into a prin-
cipal sum of fifty thousand dollars; therefore,

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That P. W. McKinney, governor of Virginia; H. W. Flour-
noy, secretary of the commonwealth; Morton Marye, audi-
tor of public accounts; Frank G. Ruffin, second auditor,
and A. W. Harman, junior, treasurer, and their successors
in the offices they now respectively hold, be, and they are
hereby, created a board of building commissioners to rep-
resent and act for the state for the purposes hereinafter
set forth, and shall be known in law as the “The state
board of building commissioners,” of which the governor
shall be ex-officio the president; and in his absence, in-
ability or failure to act, a majority of the residue of the
said board shall elect a president pro tempore.

2. The said “The state board of building commis-
sioners ” shall proceed with all reasonable dispatch, under
contract or contracts with the lowest responsible bidder or
bidders, to cause to be erected upon the ground of the
capitol square a complete fire-proof building, according to
the plans and specifications to be submitted to and ap-
proved by said board: provided that the cost of said build-
ing shall not exceed the sum of two hundred thousand
dollars. The said board shal! select a professional archi-
tect, at a reasonable salary, to advise with them in all the
details of said building and to superintend its erection:
provided that when the said building or any part thereof
is let to contract the said board shall first require the con-
tractor or contractors to enter into bond with sufficient
penalty and with approved security, conditioned for the
faithful and efficient performance of the contract on the
part of said contractor or contractors.

3. It is the intention of the general assembly that said
buiJding shall be simple and imposing in design, and free
from meritricious ornamentations, so as to harmonize in
tone, outline and expression with the present capitol
building.

4. Said building shall contain sufficient accommoda-
tions for the state library, including historical paintings
and statuary, the supreme court of appeals, its offices and
library, the auditor of public accounts, the second audi-
tor, the treasurer, the commissioner of agriculture, the
railroad commissioner, the superintendent of public in-
struction, the adjutant-general, the attorney-general, and
the superintendent of public printing, and such other ac-
commodations as in the discretion of the said board may
be necessary.

5. In order to obtain the money needed for the pur-
poses of this act, the board of public works are hereby
authorized and empowered to sell the bonds purchased
under the act of assembly, chapter three hundred and
fifty-three, March tenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-
four, and to cover the same, principal and interest, into the
treasury of the commonwealth, and also to sell the bonds
which have accrued or may accrue from the sale of the
state cattle-pens, as directed by act of assembly, chapter
two hundred and twenty-one, March fifth, eighteen hun-
dred and ninety, and cover the same, principal and inter-
est, into the treasury of the commonwealth; and the said
state board of building commissioners are hereby author-
ized to collect the same from time to time, as may be
needed to pay for labor and materials to be expended on
the work, by drafts of the said board upon the auditor
of public accounts upon the treasurer of the common-
wealth. The said board is authorized to sell, after due
advertisement, on such terms as they may deem advisable,
the building now used by the supreme court of appeals of
Virginia for its sittings; said sale, however, not to be made
until the building hereby authorized to be erected is com-
pleted, and the said court provided with rooms therein, con-
venient and suitable for the transaction of its business,
and also to collect and apply to this fund, the debt due to
the commonwealth from Emory and Henry college, for
land sold said college. The said board is hereby author-
ized and directed to make a deed to said property when
the whole of the purchase money shall have been paid.

6. The said purchase money as it may be collected under
the terms of said sale, shall be deposited in the treasury
of the commonwealth, to be there held as a sum dedicated

to the purposes of this act; to be drawn out from time to

time to pay for labor and materials as needed, by drafts

of the said state building commissioners upon the auditor

of public accounts on the treasurer of the commonwealth.
7. This act shall be in force from its passage. ~