Building Without Mortar (2)

Robert C. Fisher & Co. secured the major contract to handle the exterior stonework (both construction and carving) for Morgan’s Library. In this letter, the firm’s president reported on his excursion to Knoxville, Tennessee, to source marble for the project. He called attention to the challenges inherent in McKim’s request to set the stone blocks without mortar: “This will be the only building ever built in modern time[s] as the ancients built and will require, as was required of them, the utmost accuracy and nicety known in mechanics.”