May 25, 1844, a joint resolution (No. 514) was introduced into the House of Representatives, accompanied by a report submitted by Mr. Pratt from the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, which provided "that the Washington Monument Society, in the City of Washington, be, and they are hereby, authorized to occupy that part of reservation _No._ 2, bounded by the Canal, B, Seventh and Twelfth streets, south, for the purpose of erecting thereon a monument to Washington, under the direction of the President of the United States, according to the _design proposed by the Committee on Public Buildings_, and to _aid_ the said Society in _completing the same_, and for defraying the expense of enclosing the grounds, laying out walks and planting trees, the Committee on Public Buildings is hereby authorized and required to cause to be laid into lots and to sell at auction or otherwise, on condition that three-story brick, granite or marble buildings be erected thereon within five years from the day of sale, the piece of vacant ground bounded by the circular road, New Jersey avenue and B and First streets, north, and the piece of ground bounded by the circular road, Delaware avenue, B and F streets, south; also twenty-seven lots between the circular road and Third street, on Pennsylvania avenue, and twenty-seven lots between the circular road and Third street, on Maryland avenue, northwest, or so much as shall be necessary to complete the same. The same to be designated as 'Monument Square.'" The report stated, the proposed park would contain about fifty-two acres, which it was designed "to fence in and lay out in drives, walks, and trees, and to erect thereon a _National Monument_ in the center thereof." The position would command a view of all the public buildings, particularly from the Monument, "which is to be one hundred and fifty feet high," and "devoted to the public as a place of resort where busts, statues, and paintings of all the great men connected with the history of our country may be seen." The site is nearly opposite to the "Patent and Post Office buildings, or center of the city, and but a square or two south of the _great_ thoroughfare of the city, the Pennsylvania avenue, which, in point of magnitude and of easy approach to our citizens, there is no ground in the District, or in any other country, which could vie with it as a public square of beauty and recreation."