Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-02-05
H. H. MARKHAM.

WASHINGTON, D. c., February 8, 1886.
Los angeles Board Of Trade, A. M La,erence,
Secretary:
Your favor of the 18th ult., together with
your memorial, duly at hand. l shall be |
pleased heartily to cooperate with your |
| representative Colonel H. II. Markham, in |
the obtaining OF the. appropriations ."
| your labors and afford you the public build |
| ings to which your position and Importance
| as a people entities you. Y -
Very truly yours,
| JAS. A. LoUTTIT.
THE BILL PASSED.
AS indicated in the letters above,
the Representatives of California
took an active interest in obtaining
for Los Angeles what it needed, and
on the 25th of February, 1886, Col.
Markham wrote that the Committee
on Appropriations had acted favor
ably On the bill and shortly alter
ward word was received that the
bill had passed allowing Los Angeles
$3.50, 900 for a government building.
Congress then adjourned and the mat
ter rested until January 20, 1887, when
Il telegram was received from Col.
Markham, stating that President
|
$3.50, 900.
The next move on the part of the
Government was to advertise for
ground on which to locate the build
ing. The Board of Trade took an
active part in endeavoring to secure
ground favorably located on as easy
terms as possible. Sc eral pro
positions were received and sent to
Washington, and finally word was
received that Lots II, Is and
, l9 of block G, of the Rivera
and Visnola tract on Main
street l42 4x140 it,. between Fourth
, and Fifth streets had been selected
and ON May Goth last, United States
District Attorney j. Marion Brooks
was instructed to search the title OF
the property This he did on July
9TH, forwarded the result OF his in
vestigation to Washington, at the
same time notifying the Secre
tary of the Treasury that
the refusal of the property
only extended twenty-five days long
er. The price to be paid for this prop
erty was $50, 900, OF which the citizens
subscribed $21 500, and the United
States $500. The proposition was
finally accepted, and from the $3.50
600 appropriation the price OF the
land was paid, leaving balance of
$12l 500 for the building. AS soon a
it was defnately settled that the
building was to go on the lot selected :,
the Postmaster was instructed to for
ward to the supervising architect
at Washing on totiles of the lots,
sewers connecting Herewith, and
such other details as would enable
him to draw the plans for buildii &
to cost the amount remaining in the
fund. These were forwarded to
Washington and the architect went
to work on the basis that there was
but $l2l 900 to spend onthe construc-
ton of the building.
WORK STOPPED.
On the 10th of December last the
Board OF Trade forwarded to Hon. c..
S. Fairchild, Secretary of the Treas
ury, resolutions stating that it pro-
posed to memorialze Congress asking
for an increased appropriation of
$l7S, 800, in order that building cost
ing $500, ,000 might be erected here
following reply received;
TREASURY DEPARTMENT,
d OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY,
II WAsnINGToN, ID. c. Dee. 23. 1888
. Mr.. 4. VI. Laurence, Secretary Board OF
j Trade, Los .1nqeleS CGi:
II DEAR SIR-Iour letter of the 10th inst +,
t enclosing resolutions Of the Board of Trade
: in reference to increasing the appropriation
i for the Government building at Los Ange-
! les, Cal, is at hand and is hereby acknowl-
t edged.
III response have to say, that the sketch
, plans for the building on the basis of $I2l,-
: 500 have already been approved, and the
Y supervising architect hss commenced the
r working drawings, but considering that the
money available is really not sufficient to
erect building that will accommodate all
the public officers located in your city, /
shall consent TO delay the iurther progress
OF the building until your honorable body
has had an opportunity to be heard before
Congress in refersn nee to additional appro-
priatiGn.
o 1t snould not be forgotten, that in peti-
. tioning for additional money, the bill
should be so amended to reduce the fire
limit from forty to twenty feet.
S The building as now contemplated is OF
!. would be bad policy on the part of the gov
. ernment, as you correctly state, to erect a
bu lding that would be entirely inadequate
s to its needs in four or five years.
| Respectfully yours,
(Slgned) {. 5. FAIRCHILD, Secretary.
TIE SKETCH.
1t will be observed that the letter
; Of Secretary Fairchild refers to the
"Sketch plans" which had already
} been prepared. The HERALD pre-
, sents to-day a cut of the propo, ed
! ! building which it will be observed is
of a very handsome design. The de-
!, sign contempates three story and
! basement structure fronting on Main
e street and on Ozier Lane or Winston
/. street and covers all of the lot pur-
chased, except 40 feet on the east, the
s space required by the fire limit. The
: lower portion of the building will be
q q occupied by the Postofice the
entrance to which is ON the Main
street front nearest to Fifth street.
The hallway and stairs leading to the
offices in the upper stories is on the
Winston street side. A close inspec-
ton OF the above building shows that
: it is intended to be a solid structure,
and il completed an ornament to the
city. If the present Congress decides
to increase the appropriation, this
plan will be replaced by another much
! more handsome and commodious and
this will occupy at least twenty feet
more space each way. The action of
i Congress is therefore anxiously
5 awaited by all the citizens Of Los An
, geles.