The American Bible House, a plain six-story brick, with cellar and vaults, was completed in 1853, at a cost, including ground, of $303,000. It covers three-fourths of an acre, forming a front on four streets, of 710 feet. The fronts on Fourth avenue and Astor place are divided into five sections each. The principal entrance on Fourth avenue is decorated with four round columns with Corinthian capitals and moulded bases, resting upon paneled and moulded pedestals, and semicircular arches are placed between the columns to form the heads of doors, and all surmounted with a heavy cornice and segment pediments. The boilers are placed in the area in the centre of the building, so inclosed as not likely to endanger the operatives in case of accident. Fifty stores and offices are rented in the building, mostly to benevolent societies, bringing an income of nearly $40,000, and making the Bible House the principal centre of benevolent and reformatory movements for the city and State. The Society was organized in 1816, since which its receipts have considerably exceeded $5,000,000. It has printed the Scriptures in twenty-nine dialects, assisted in publishing and circulating many of the one hundred and eighty-five versions issued by the British and Foreign Bible Society, and has three times canvassed the entire United States, supplying hundreds of thousands of destitute families with the Word of God. The Society employs about five hundred hands, and carries on every branch of its vast business in its own building. The Bible House is visited annually by thousands of strangers, and can scarcely cease to be an object of profoundest interest.