Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-06-23
UNION STATION PLANS
THE DEPOT PROJECT CONSIDERED
ARcHITEcTURALLY.
Occasion Demands the Highest Glass
of Designing and Construc-
ton.

To the Editor OF ThesEvenIng Star:
The pictures published of the union depot
have beea OF a Romanesque or bastard
Gothic style. too prevalent in the later
architectures OF Washington. II II is to he
moved toward the Capitol its architecture
should respect the connection and tend
toward columna. or classical like the Capt.
toi and the Library.
For reasons OF facility, fad. our rail-
road and business architects rush to the
dividers. and circle all the portals and win
dow heads and make caves of the main en-
frances. Witness the Washington post
office. The fact Is that We have not many
classical architects left But they can be
produced IL the money compels them.
The effect OF an Italian or reutonic build
ing on the plaza of the Capitol would be to
alter by several centuries the congruity OF
the noble buildings already there. the
Capitol and the Library. There would then
seem TO be a medieval city buit long after
the Greeks and Romans had thrown up
their pOrticoes.
In modern construction the external as
pect of mass OF building does but little
control its interior accommodations. Mr.
Smithmeyer has said TO me that he regards
the old post office building. opposite the In
terror Department as the most admirable
adaptation OF effect to utility in the city.
There classical facing OF columns on shall
low porticoes hardly dlsturbs the square
area of the rooms within. while presenting
without the elegance OF Corinthian archi-
lecture, besides little affecting the interior
light. This building stands as light on the
ground as the Library OF Congress. while 1t
is a relative of the heavy Doric porticoes
across the way.
An aspect OF Grecian elegance has been
noticed by all scholars in the greater build
ings of Washington; such was the example
set by our better architects-Hallet La
trobe. Walter Mills. The enormous area
of Mr.. Mulletts State. War and Navy De
partment is to many disparaged by the
copious miniature pavilions cOlonnades.
The fact is that the later architects try
to do too much to multiply minor features
instead of preserving central features with
unity and simplicity. The human counte-
nance viii not be improved with a hundred
features. An instantaneous impression
economies a study of trivialities.
My purpose In this note is to attract,
through your conservative print. the atten-
ton of the eminent railroaders who will
build the union depot edifice. and who will
be in competition, in this instance, with the
government edifices
Subordination, instead OF difference.
should be their emulation. Yet they need
not undergo the expense of marble column
NATION. Form, instead OF material. should
be their model. Brick and terra Gotta will
both differentiate and conform their editice
to the adjacent fine temples of stones and
produce a kindred effect No better bricks
are made in America than here in the Dis
trict Of Columbia rich in tone. durable
clay. impervious to fire. They are cheap.
With columns and frieze or pediments OF
terra Gotta. they will vary in color and har-
monte in design with the other great build
ings on the Capitol square.
The old Baltimore and Ohio depot is an
example of Italian style. the present Penn
sylvania station is OF Flemish character,
especially the tower. The Flemish Town
Hall architecture was initiated by the gov
eminent architect. Potter. with pleasing
N he
Classical renaissance is the best alienation
from classical architecture. and this is the
manner of the Library of Congress. which
has its merit in its relief from upper-story-
ness. The ponderous renaissance buildings
on the style of the new Louvre press down.
ward upon the fabric and the mind. Super
fcial criticism gives no credit to the great
area of the pension office building. which
was intended by General Meigs to copy the
Farnese palace, but from necessities OF
room, roof, etc, threw up the eXtraneous
gables which our instincts compare to
barns This building, like the new printing
office, is a rich, rectangular mass, much
cheaper than stone. The frieze around the
pension office. which is in a yellow tint. is
almost the only pictorial feature of our
public structures, emitting one pcdiment OF
the Capitol finished near half century ago.
which, with the other in blank. gives our
Congress a one-eyed, or wall-eyed look.
The green goddess Of Freedom on the dome
looks over at the So 800 oil gold leaf on the
The unfinished frieZe around the rotunda OF
the Capitol. which has been declining in
good drawing since Brumidi died, is another
instance of the oblivion of Congress to their
own housekeeping
The architecture OF cares. or railroad
depots supplies the modern with opportu-
mites like ecclesiastical architecture in the
earlier centuries, but not many successful
designs of stations exist. The Grand Cen
trail, or Vanderbilt depot, in New York city.
once a handsome light renaissance edifice
of bright red brick. trimmed with white,
has been made like a Quaker hearse by
gray stucco and dreary attics. The Phfla-
delpnia station of the Pennsylvania railroad
seems to initiate some of the red depots Of
Great Britain, which resemble lowered aca-
dernic halls Chicago depots are more
prison or castle like. The Baltimore and
Ohio depot of Mount Royal, in Baltimore.
is creditabIe Italian. The Reading depot in
Philadelphia, although Ii covers a market
house is ore of the most stately and self
respecting of America stations. a facade of
columns upon basement and worthy TO be
the solar engines temple of Archimedes.
Here you are arrested and held by the sin
gle feature of a colonnade.
In England. particularly where street rail-
roads are little known, the railroad stations
are often public hotels. like Euston road.
Charing Cross. the Northwestern at Liver
pool and York and Glasgow stations. Cen
orally the hotel annex of the station Is man
aged by women.
Washington city is emphatcally a place
for short stopping. In New York the num-
Der of hotels inclosing the Vanderbilt de-
Dot is large and increasing. The sound OF
the trains and locomotives in the great de-
pot is less heard in those hotels. so near
BY than the street cars but the seventeen
year locust of a roarer is the elevated.
which gets on top of trestle and treats the
open air to a baby Jupiter's all-day teethlng
yell
English railroad hotels are connected with
the station platform rather than the car
house itself The Baltimore and Ohio rail-
road has purchased largely of ground from
C street a good ways north, and has 'front.'
age on street from New Jersey avenue to
LIST street of perhaps 300 to 1000 feet. As
an accessory corporation. a hotel here might
be considered among the officials OF tbs
road The Pennsylvania railroad allows It's
staff to participate In its detached enter
prises; it controls the dining cars and the
keystone Hotel. or restaurant company.
The conquerng policy for a national city
is to think first for the stranger. so that
he will come often. remembering his bene-
fits Dairy restaurants have not injured
hotels. What we miss most
here Is people.
The rectified site of the new union station
will make IL a lighted thoroughfare. Where r.