The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-01-18
CREAM OF THE SPECIALS
PLAN A SUPERB CITY.

| PLAN A SUPERB CITY. Make Washington the Most Beautiful l in the World.
 Walter wellman's Washington Special to Chicago Record-Herald. ... | To make this city the most beautifui l national capital in the world. not ex- 1 cepting Paris or Vienna, is the purpose Of plans made public today by the special committee. These plans were opened to inspection at the Corcoran Art Gallery | this afternoon. and attracted much at l tention from Senators and Representa- | tves and all who are interested in the once seen that the project Is on mag nihcent scale, and 1t is believed the en- | tire country will support Congress in l making appropriations from time to time | to carry it out, for every American feels pride in his capital city and its adorn- ment.
 | Probably no more competent commis- sion than that which makes these rec | concentrations has ever studied the broad subject of city improvement from an aesthetic standpoint It was com posed of Daniel H. Burnham of Chica- | go. Charles F. McKim of New York, | Frederick Law Olmstead of Boston and | Augustus St. Gaudens of New York They visited the principal cities of Europe and America, made an exhaustive study of which treats the whole federal territory | in this District of Columbia artistically and scientifically. It Is safe to say that | the result, though still wholly on paper, will greatly encourage the advocates of the beautifying of cities everywhere in | this country.
 l The central features of the project for l making Washington the most beautiful city in the world are:
 l To erect on three sides of the United States capitol public buildings of beauti- full architecture and imposing appear anco. thus giving the building which many architects have declared to be the noblest in the world a setting commeii- surate with it's dignity and importance. which 1t now sadly lacks.
 To remove the railway station from the government park or Mall, which now ex- tends west from the Capitol to the Wash ington monument; to beautify this park and to flank it with public edifices, thus | forming a great national plaza nearly mile and a half in length.
 To adorn the Washington monument by erecting beautiful terrace of marble ar it's base. thus adding vastly to the at- fractions of that unique and noble shaft
 To reclaim the Potomac flats lying west of the monument, thus extending the great park nearly mile farther and giving opportunity to place at its 1 westsrn end, upon the banks of the Po- tomac and in direct line with the Capi- | tol and the Washington monument. 1 suitable national memorial to Lincoln. l thus linking together in artistic struc- lures the two great names in American history To extend this great national park and l boulevard across the Potomac by means of the memorial bridge to Arlington Cem- etery.
 To connect the beautiful and extended 1 Mall by means of an embankmem or boulevard along the Potomac with the ! driveway which is to come down the picturesque Rock Creek Valley from the National Geological Park and the Rock
 
 And, finally, to erect around Lafayette Square, directly facing the White House, series of beautiful structures Of government or an artistic character.
 To carry out a great plan like this | will, of course, be the work of many years. But the commission hopes to have the project adopted, so that all future buildings and Improvements shall con form to the harmonious plan which they | have devised, so that in the end the re- suits may be such as to Ill every Ameri- | project the members or the commission say:
 | received the careful consideration Of the commission. In general terms their con l clusionS are:
 Il. That only public buildings should face the grounds of the Capitol
 '2 That new government departments may well be located so as to race LaIay- ette Square. | "3. Buildings or q seIni-pIouc char- | acter may be located south of the pres | ent Corcoran Art Gallery, fronting on the white lot and extending to the park limits. may properly be used by museum and other buildings containing collections in which the public generally Is interested. but not by department n3lidingsip perns,,- yania Avenue and the Mall should be occupied by the District Building, the hall of records; modern market, an | armory for the District militia ana struc- lures of like character.
 As to it's treatment of the Mall the | commission reports.
 .''The Mall, originally designed to form ] a parklike connection between the Clpl- tol and the White House, was laid out in such manner as 10 eniphhasi1e ,h ri, tn | city. The predominating ideas ln US treatment were dignity and beauty. The entire space was intended as grano setting for the two great buildings or the
 nation. The new plans aim to restore these relations and to carry to their log- ical conclusion these intentions
 'The commission proposes, by a sim
 ple devices of planting, to bring the
 monument into the Capitol vista so that the observer standing on the western terrace of the Capitol snali LOOK or, ox9a stda
 by four rows of elms, to the monument
 rising from a plain. Walks and drlVe-
 ways, shaded by the elhlS' give dccesS
 from east to west, while the streets con
 tnue on the surface level from north to
 south Behind these tres should stand
 the white marble buildings devoted to
 the scientific work of the government.
 'The distance from the Capitol to the
 monument is about one and one-half
 miles, and the reclamation of the eoto-
 mac flats has added nearly mile to this
 space, thus giving opportunity both for
 an extension of the treatment accorded
 to the Mall and also for new and great
 memorial to stand on the axis of the
 Capitol anI the monument, near the
 bank of the Potomac. Abraham Lincoln
 Is the one name in our national history
 that the world has agreed to couple with
 Washington's, and as no adequate memo
 rial of him exists at this capital the
 place and the opportunity would seem | to auraa in settinR apart this great site