Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-12-03
Features of the Federal Capital as
Developed.
BETFERMENTS NOW CONTEMPLATED
A City Worthy the Nation
Being Evolved,
THE DIVISION OF COST

devised by Major L'Enfant as applied at
Washington, possessed symmetry in very
high degree. it had to recognize for practical
purposes the natural conditions of topog-
graphy.
Two highly important points were fixed at
the beginning, and wisely were they
chosen that there can never be any occa-
sion for regret. The most conspicuous OF
these was the site chosen for the great
building that we call the Capitol. A rather
curious coincidence seems to have anthem
ITCHY 1t is recorded that an English gen.
tleman. whose name was Pope, about the
wear 1860, acquired estate, including
what is now Capitol Hill, and it pleased
his fancy, his name being what 1t was, TO
call his estate Rome, and to sign hlmSelI
pope of Rome" A little stream nearby
was DESIGNATED the "Tiber.' while the exact
spot where the Capitol stanus luTay " al
christened by him "Capitoline Hill. All
this was nearly a hundred and n1sH years
before the arrival of Congress, just nun
dred years ago.
The other chief point orlglnaiiy hAeu as
an important focus was the White house,
with its symmetrically disposed environs.
The distance between these two poln!sI
each of which was chosen for topograpniGIasi
reasons-is about a mile ana nal ~,
Through the dense underground OF the
swami land that interviewed was biazed out
what is now Pennsylvania avenue WASH
ington's finest thoroughfare, one OF the
worlds great streets
Broad Projects.
Where large projects are concerned that
involve future generations. there is nothlns
that SO certainly wins the esteem OF poster
ity as broad plans that consider future
needs Some things in the way of reserva-
tons of ground for additional public build
ings might have been done In the early
DAYS that were overlooked. But no fatal
mistakes were made; and Washington has
suffered more in those regards from the
shortsightednesS of men like James ~.
Polk and his contemporaries than from any
negligence or error ON the part OF the men
who first staked out the new city IN the
woods and swamps. 1t is no part or our IN
tention in this article to present. IN detail,
either the historical development OF WASH
ington as city or TO set rorth IL, present
appointments, embellishments and attrac-
tions 1t has become the Mecca of all good
Americans. and the just OBJECT OF their
pride. 1T represents great beauty, at very
reasonable cost, in it's monuments or archl.
lecture and it's ever-increasing treasures OF
statuary and art. 1t grows more attractive
every year in its parks, gardens, shady
streets and open spaces and In the deilsht-
full exhibition it presents of American taste
and progress in domestic architecture.
The Capitol.
The Capitol building continues to hold it's
pre-eminence by far the noblest and
statelest structure in the western hemls-
phere, if not in the entire world 1t has
been built picemeal, yet with constant gain
rather than loss of symmetry and dignity.
As we now celebrate hundred years of its
OCCUPANCY 1t is agreeable to remember that
the two little detached wings of very mod
est size shown in one of our illustrations
(Which answered early in the century, the
one on the right for the House OF Repre-
seutatives and the one on the left for the
Senate still exist, the old Virginia sand
stone of their walls being covered with
white paint to match the Massachusetts
marble of which the vast wings now occu-
pied by Congress were afterward built. The
plans were by Stephen Hallett, a famous
student of the more famous architect.
Nash, who developed them from sketches
and designs by DR.. Thornton, then In charge
of the patent Office. Our Illustration, TO
which reference has just been made, shows
the Capitol, not as it was in 1900, but as it
was in 1911 When Congress took possess
sion only the northern of these two wings
the one now occupied by the Supreme Court
was ready. The other wing, designed for
the House of Representatives, was finished
in 1911; and wooden passageWay was
built to connect the two across the space
that forms the basement of what Is now
the rotunda.
The total cost of the building has
been about S15,0O0,0O0. The latest impor-
tant improvement has been the conStruc-
ton of a great monumental staircase as
the main approach on the west side, with
successive terraces Of white marble. The
bul4ulng has a growing wealth of art in its
statues of public men, it's paintings in illus
tration of American history or scenery, and
many other accessories of an architectural,
artistic and historical character.
1t is pleasant to feel that this great build
ing in itself enshrines the entire history of
the federal district. and that it has been
Fna ell, nlor fr.rv firoa 70
rather than to demolish and supersede.
Our more usual American plan is to tear
down the old and build anew.
The White Houxe.
The Executive Mansion, commonly known
as the White House. is another building, in
use for a full century, that is to be kept
and added to without detriment to it's
charms, but with enhancement of its beau
ty as we'll as its utility. 1t was an admir-
able piece of architecture of the Georgian
or colonial type. and eminently creditable
to the men of Washington's day. 1t has
happily escaped the ruthless hand Of sue
ceeding periods of monstrously bad taste in
American architecture, and now we have
come back again to the point where we are
able to appreciate it's quiet dignity and
charm. Much talk of its enlargement has
now resulted In definite steps an appropria-
ton having been made by Congress. More
space for the Presidents executive otnces,
as We'll as Tor mis- private uses, Is 1mpera-
tisely needed. AS a part of the program
for the celebration on December IL, Col.
Theodore A. Bingham Of the Unit ed States
army engineers, who Is the officer In charge
Of public buildings and grounds In the Uis-
trict of Columbia, will give brief address
on the history of the Executive Mansion,
and will also exhibit a model and drawings
as authorized by Congress, Of the proposed
enlargement.
The Mall and Memorial Bridge,
Two important public improvements have
had much discussion apropos of the CEN
tenary of the District of Columbia, one
being so-called centennial avenue, to pass
through the broad, park-like grounds known
as the mall, in which are situated the
Smithsonian Institution, the National Mu-
scum and the Department of Agriculture,
and to connect the Capitol with the great
Washington monument and the Potomac
bank. This plan awaits the report that
Congress has asked Gen. John NJ. Wilson,
chief of engineers of the United States
army, to make to it this month on the
proper treatment of the mall as a whole
1t is expected that the work will be car
ried out as soon as the final details OF the
project are settled. The other proposal is
that of a noble memorial bridge across the
Potomac. Certainly, if the District had not
been shorn of its thirty-four square miles
nf hnFar