Evening star., 1900-12-15

acter or Hberally spaced plan, is only an
directly connected with itssreal cause and IS
not infrequently attributed to others"
After treating. the formal and informal
styles of treatment of ground about pupnc
buildings with keen precision, as well as
pleasant humor Mr.. kOlmsted took up L En-
fant's plan of the mall, and said:
Original Meaning Dasreearded.
'In the treatment of the mall-if I am
right in applying that name to the whole
stretch of public grounds extending west
from the Captol-a~great- opportunity was
thrown away through disregard of the large
meaning of the original plan. The mall was
not laid out by L Enfant on the main axis
of the Capitol without a reason, and 1t did
not happen to come there because the land
cheap, or for any such temporary
cause. 1t was laid out there because 1t
was meant to relate directly and visibly to
the Capitol. while it has been planned and
planted for the most part in utter disre-
gard of this primary purpose. Its detalls.
some good in themselves and some bad, m
stead of being subordinated to the consid-
erations that fixed it's position, have arro-
gated t" themselves the control of the de-
sign. The Botanic Garden, 1t Is trCe, has
a central vista upon the Capitol which is
good as far as it goes, although rather pet
ty when considered as the only recognition
of the relationship. But once across sd
street wander in sort of miscellaneous
loose grove with no more acknowledgment
of the relation of the place to the Capitol
tnan ii IL were IN Arlington. "A grove is d
pleasant place, and it is very agreeable to
drive among the trees on a gently curving
road dndeed, 1 should have many sins to
answer for If the contrary were true), but
the purpose of the mall was, and ought to
be, to emphasize, support and extend the
effect of the Capitol as the dominant fea
ture Of the city and the most important
building in the whole United States; to
strike chords in the magnificent chorus of
which the keynote is the great white dome,
and the pleasure Of the winding grove must
not be offered here in such a way as to in
terfere with this dominant purpose.
Looking from the terrace of the Capitol
what does one see beyond the little square
Of the Capitol grounds to carry it's theme to
a distance, to echo the note of it's magnifi-
cence and formality, to mark the extension
OF ltS axis IN such way as to proclaim
All this Is but an apanage of the national
Capitol? He sees dimly through the twigs
footpath in the Botanic Garden, and over
beyond it a little brown object a hairs
bredth out Of line-a water tank on the
pennsylvania railroad. Somewhere to the
left, as though spurnng any relationship
with the government of today. is the noble
smart OF the Washington monument"
No Straight Avenue.
when l speak of the Importance Of
treating the mall in such way as to relate
strongly and visibly to the Capitol do not
mean merely, or necessarily. that a straight
road should be slashed down the middle of
treatment to that of the minor diagonal
vistas such as Pennsylvania avenue. instead
or giving 1t broader and more important
aspect. AS for broader averue- Of the
same Ssy,t " enc whho has walked across
1t in summer will admit that Pennsylvania
avenue Suff1ceS. A different and more agree
able treatment would be sort Of COM
pound boulevard marked by several par
allel rows Of trees with several pavements
ana turf strips Such an avenue is that of
&c ha tar hon,
Pennsylvania avenue. by the introduction of
the trees, but its effect is really not very
different in kind. The suggestion of quite
another sort Of treatment is given by the
long walk at Windsor Castle tn its eX-
panse of open turf instead of pavement. One
does not realize the magnificent scale of this
perspective until the large size of the
trees is made out from the figures beneath
them From this and from the Tapis Vert
at Versailles, both vistas treated with a
simplicity and largeness of scale almost too
grand for the buildings on which they are
dependent. we may form a fair conception
Of a logical and consistent design for th,
mall On L'Enfants plan is the faint indi-
cation of some formal treatment of the
axis, and in the attached description he
states briefly that 1t is to be a grand ave-
nue.. 400 feet in breadth, bordered with
gardens ending in slope from the houses
on each side. No one will suppose that he
meant a roadway 400 feet wide, but. on
the contrary, someth hing recalling the Tapis
Vert at Versailles, but on a grander scale.
The axis of the Capitol should neither be
ignored by the use of a wiggling road and
confused informal planting. nor should 1t be
marked by a mere commonplace boulevard,
but by an mpressively broad and simple
space of turf with strong flanking masses
of foliage and architecture and shaded
driVeWayS.
Some Objections Noted.
'It has been objected that new buildings
should not be placed in the mall because
the public park area would thereby be
duced-an objection that arises from a mis-
conception. piece of ground may serve
any Of a great variety Of purposes and yet
be knkown a public park, but If it is to
serve its purpose, however complex, in an
effective manner, that purpose must be
clearly borne In mind in planning every
feature. A park may serve several
purposes at once, but one purpose
must be chosen as dominant and, II tnelr
requrments ever conflict, the others must
be sacrificed to it, or not one Of them will
be successfully realized, and the result will
be confused and scrappy. One of the pur-
poses which large public park can serve
Is to provide the citizens with a body of
rural scenery which will offer in its quiet
ness the greatest possible change from the
normal conditions of town life, from its
somewhat nervewearing pleasures, well
as from It's sordid cares. AS this purpose
can be served only in large park, and as
most other purposes can be served in parks
motif which should dominate the treatment
of a great city park. AT all events, when 1t
is the adopted motif it is worse than folly
to sacrifice it's successful attainment to
the occasional Introduction of some other
and conflicting motif, such, for instance, as
the display of large, beautiful and COM
manding architectural composition. Where
ever in public park the primary mo-
tif of providing this quiet rural scenery
seems to have been deliberately. wisely, and
thCughtfully chosen, l should steadfastly
oppose the introduction into it of any un
necessary building, though it were cham
pioned by every architect Of the institute,
because the enjoyment 1t might afford
would be of that civic sort from which it
was the purpose Of that park to afford a
change.
Here on the mall we have conditions en-
trely different. The purpose to which the
land was first set apart. and the purpose
which 1t can serve with more complete
artistic success than any other is not pri-
marily to rest the weary and give relief
from the strain of modern ltfe-that is the
part to be Played by the great Rock Creek
Park and. if you chose, by the park on The
reclaimed lands-but on the mall it is to
form a contributing part in the effect of
grandeur power and dignified magnificence
which should mark the seat of government
of :. great and intensely active people"