Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-01-14

| As their work is to re-
| ~ ~ wise the assessment re-
| Gently completed, they
can perform their duty while seated comfort
ably in the Office provided for their use in the
District building They have the plat OF every
square in the city. as well maps of all the
property in the county, and in addition all the
| data which the old board collected. There are
also on file all the com plaints flied by property
owners with their predecessors which they pro-
| pose to take ~ and consider in due order
| There are over 5000 o. these complain 3,
and il ANYBODY wants to give the
board information as the value Viii,
| those interested believe should be placed on anv
piece OF property they would be pleased to re-
! celve 1t either by word of mouth or in writing.
| Preferably the latter a. more likely to receive
attention when the particular piece of prop
| erty comes to be considered. As vet the board
have not struck the gait which will enable
them to finish tho work bv the LIST of June, the
extreme limit of time allowed by law. They
have been at work about q month and their
| daily average OF squares gone over is consider
ably below that which is required to finish up
! in the time allotted. However, they expect
soon to make more rapid progress. Their as
sessr1ent is final and the tax bills sent out next
November will be based on the valuations made
| by them.
FOREST GLEN PROPERTY SOLD.
| M At1" OetH hIitcu III HE STAR tue QOtel
property at Forest Glen has been sold. The
building will no longer be used for hotel pur-
poses, a. the owner, Prof. Csssiday of
Norfolk. Va, intends to locate there the academy
| Tor young ladies which he has conducted with
SO much success in Norfolk There are to be
| some extensive Improvements. 80 it is said, to
| the building, rs well to the grounds, be-
| fore the scholars are transferred to his new
| school house. The purchase includes some
| fifteen acres of land occupying the picturesque
situation, which has always been admired
| The remainder of the ninety-five acres which
was purchased by the company some five
or six Years ago is subdyded into building lots
| A few houses have been erected and it lS ex-
| pected that when the talked of electric railroad
Is built to connect with the Rock Creek rail-
| road that there will DO q renewed interest IN
his property. The price paid for the hotel
building and the surrounding land was S32 500.
| The entire tract OF ninety-iive acres was pur-
| chased some six years ago for Sll5 per acre.
THE FASHION IN HOUSES
| 1t is a familiar fact to those who have given
the subject of domestic architecture the slight
est attention that there il fashion in architect
ural forms. just as there is in the cut Of a coat
or the shape of a bonnet. Just now houses that
| pretend to be anything or III other words tina.
| ann to be the vogue are either fashioned in the
| forms peculiar to the Romanesque style or
present the quaint conceits of the colonial style
Ut perhaps tuey SHOW tuat strange jumbo or n
| number of orders of architecture that is called,
| for want Of a better name, the COMPOSITE Al.
| any rate whatever happens to be the rage Mt the
| time is the STYLE which the average man elects
| to have when he contenl rlates the erection of u
| house. The point of interest, however,
| in this connection is one that has not been
! generally noted, and that ia the fac,
| that it makes but little difference what house
| is going to cost, it must be in the stvle. The
elegant house costing perhaps 100000 is re-
| peated In all its essential details in house
| costing only $4,000 There ia the brown stone
the carved pillars, the towers. the tiled roof
| the hardwood e,.iblie in the from. Of the
| one and in the other is found the same general
! features with such differences in the mate rial
| used and the workmanship employed ~ the
| available funds make necessary. The same
| principle holds good in the interior. The house
| OF moderate cost has all the modern electrical
devices which are supposed to contribute to
ease Of living. Fit il the style to have
white and gold parior that is what the occu-
! pant of a cheap house has. He ha, tiled fire.
places, and grille over the glass in his front
| door and a platform staircase, and il he so
| desires he has a central hall where he can hang
the family portraits and introduce the other
features Of baronial hall 1t is quite evident
| that in this city at least the man OF moderate
means does not need to build castle to enjoy
| what Is known as ''all modern convenences''-
! or be in the swim.
THE NEW ENTRANCE TO RESIDENCES.
| Since the fashion has recently been set OF
having the main entrance to a residence
through the back yard or, to put it more
elegantly, through the court yard in the rear of
the house, there has been considerable curiosity
expressed a5 to how this fad will be applied TO
small houses. 1t Is ridiculous to suppose tina.
only the fortunate owners Of corner lots will
desire to adopt this style. Therefore the
problem OF introducing this new fashion will be
complicated by the necessity of adapting it to
houses In the middle of row. For example
n man desiring to erect two or three
story house ut cost OF not over five
or six thousand dollars concludes that he
wants one OF these new entrances
Az such house is not apt to be more than
twenty feet wide. perhaps not moro than
eighteen feet, taking the space required for a
| driveway from the lower story would necessa-
riiy oDllge an economy in the details. A drive
| way Wide enough to permit the passage of an
| ordinary carriage ought not to be much less
than six feet wide. Allowing space for hall
way there would remain not a great width for
the furnace room or dining room and kitchen,
which. as rule. occupy the basement story of
house OF this character.
The space devoted to these domestic DEPART
ments would perhaps appear at first to be
slightly cramped but an Offset the occupant
could have the proud satisfaction OF knowing
that his home was in style. There could be an
entrance from the side of this driveway into.
| for example. the central hsli of the house. No
doubt number of ways Of adapting this en-
| trance to houses of moderate size will occur to
| the ingenious architects who will be called on
| to wrestle with this problem. 1t is possible
| that the driveway will be introduced, and not
| give it the width necessary SO that it could be
used for carriages, on the superstition that there
will be but few visitors who will insist on max
| ing calls in q carriage.
THE GAS OFFICE ADDITION.
Plans have been prepared by Jas. G. Hill for
| an addition to the Office Of the Washington Gas
Light Company. The property adjoining and
to the north of the building will be the site of
! the new structure. 1t will have frontage Of
Is feet on 10th street and will be two stories in
height to correspond with that Of the present
building. The new part will be connected with
| the present office by openings into the hallway.
which extends from the entrance to the rear of
the new part. The front room on the first
floor will be the Office Of President Mclean.
Still further back will be the Office Of Mr.. Bailey
the secretary. These officials now occupy
| cramped and unsuitable rooms in the rear Of
| the large counting room. The second story of
the new building will be occupied by portion
| of the clerical force.
IMPROVING CHURCH EDIFICE.
The suggestion recently made in this column
as to the anachronism of two-story church edi-
| fees or some other motive has led the pood