Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-11-21
Trees on the Avenue.

To the Editor of The Evening Star:
1t is to be hoped that the Commissioners
will think twice before proceeding to plant
trees on Pennsylvania avenue. To make a
success of them as an ornament they must
have a considerable soil reposure and
should be planted in double rows with grass
plat between. Trees growing out of brick
or asphalt never were and never will be or
namental, and the traffic on the avenue is
not going to allow of sufficient grass plat
to give trees healthy growth. and if un-
healthy and scraggy ones We have had
enough already. A second and more i'm
portant consideration is that ii is q great
mistake to think that because trees are or
namental il a park or along rural avenues
that therefore they are to be planted every
where. There is element Of ruSticity IN
the planting of trees in front of or about
hne buildings or along well-built business
thoroughfares, whose architecture Is built
to be seen and not to be covered up by
foliage. 1t may be regarded as happy ac-
cident that with the indiscriminate planting
of trees which the city has INDUCED in such
noble buildings as the treasury or even the
Capitol can really be seen at all in their
architectural completeness. That the plant
ing of trees in our narrower residence ave-
nues is not excessive and leading to I'M
healthy atmospheric conditions at certain
seasons may well be questioned. With the
avenue in its present nondescript condition,
INTELLECTUALLY, the planting of screen of
trees to hide the meanneSS of its buildings
might be eXcusable; but this would be, L
trust, only for a temporary purpose. 1t
would be hardly worth while to go to the
large expense and inconvenience of tearing
up the paVementS to put in trees, which it
is to be hoped would ere they were well
grown have to be taken away to reveal the
noble facades and colonnades of the govern
ment and other fine buildings which sooner
or later are to give our avenue its worthy
dignity and beauty. If shade is what is
wanted, let ii be provided as in the Italian
cities and in the Rue Rivoli in Paris, by
lofty arcades in the front of the buildings
a continuous covered walk on both Sides
extending the whole length of the avenue
like the famous thoroughfares just men
toned, or like the Palais Royal in Paris
would make the avenue one of the most de-
llghtful promenadeS in the world. Finally,
let the Commissioners remember that there
are many other ornaments suitable for
large cities besides trees, and that when
trees are put out of place they are a him
ORANGE to true beauty. Nowhere in the
misplaced ornamentation than in Wash
lngton. The placing of the civic groups of
the Lafayette monument in severe granite
ana bronze against a mass Of foliage Gre
ating an endless confusion of lines. has de-
prived that noble work of much of the
beauty 1t would possess when alone outlined
against the clear sky on one of the fine
open spaces before the treasury or the War
State and Navy buildings
, Inc proper ornamentation of a great civic
thoroughfare like our avenue should be its
magnificent architecture on either side and
tne groups of monumental statuary OF ma
tional and historic interest which should he
erected in It's open spaces Trees II any-
Where, would be admissible only in a dou.
ple row. shading the cable car tracks. and
green grass plat in the middle of the
utoau thoroughfare. This would resemble
me pan or the famous Inter den Linden
OF berlin and the Commonwealth avenue of
BOSTON. But with all our fine park spaces
ana many other beautifully shaded streets
we could very well dispense with trees al
together on the avenue, especially as tbay
would be In the way of parades and the
sIand professions to which the avenue will
always be devoted II