As shown in the table of dimensions which follows, the monument, almost exactly, is built to the dimensions of the Baldwin Report,[4] which was influenced by the Greenough model. Height, above ground 220 ft. Sides of monument, at ground level 30 ft. Sides of monument, at base of apex 15 ft. Height of apex 12 ft. Minimum wall thickness, at base 6 ft. Diameter of circular interior, at base 18 ft. Height of masonry elements: 78 main courses, each with height of 2 ft., 8 in. 5 courses in apex, each with height of 1 ft., 8 in. Height of capstone 3 ft., 6 in. [4] Measurements given above have been taken from: _Baldwin Report_ (1825)--Loammi Baldwin; _Plans and Sections of the Obelisk on Bunker’s Hill_ (1843)--Solomon Willard; _History of the Battle of Bunker’s (Breed’s) Hill_ (1875)--George E. Ellis. Data from old records do not always check modern measurements. For example, a modern reference gives the height of the monument as 221 feet. [Illustration: Bunker Hill Monument under construction in 1837 Reproduced from a hitherto unpublished drawing in the Boston Athenæum] [Illustration: Bunker Hill Monument as proposed Reproduced from an 1834 certificate of membership of the Bunker Hill Monument Association in the Boston Athenæum] [Illustration: Section of Bunker Hill Monument Reproduced from Solomon Willard, _Plans and Sections of the Obelisk on Bunker’s Hill_ (Boston, 1843), Plate V] As described in the Baldwin Report, the circular winding staircase is composed of granite steps, starting with a width of about four feet and narrowing as the ascent is made. Baldwin called for “places of repose” (landings) at intervals. Modern architects call the part around which a circular staircase winds, the “newel.” Baldwin’s newel is a hallow wall, 10 feet in diameter at the base, about two feet thick. Thus, the monument was designed by an engineer, not an architect. Baldwin violated a common rule for the proportions of ancient Egyptian obelisks, that the pyramidion should be as high as the base is wide, which is one reason why the Washington Monument is so beautiful. One regrets that architect Willard, who picked up where Baldwin left off, did not see fit to modify the Baldwin lines. There seems never to have been any question as to the monument’s material: granite, the native New England stone. Although we admire the Bunker Hill Monument for its somber strength, it cannot be called a structure of beauty, as is the lighter-tinted and finer-textured marble Washington Monument, with its sharper apex.