The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-08-08
JUSTICE MCLELL AN PRESENTS SUPREME COURT
 SIDE OF THE CAPITOL EXTENSION CONTROVERSY

foremost architects of the country were consulted. To the very greatest Of them all was assigned the designing of the additions. The White House is of two stories. McKim, Meade & White made the wings only one story in height. The ends were thereby met. The nec- essary room was afforded. The archi- tectural integrity, dominance and beauty of the original building were preserved. At first there was an ig- norant howl in certain newspapers But that blew over. Now it is recog- nized on all sides that the plan was a most happy one, and not only perpetu- ates the individuality of the original structure. but gives beauty to the whole.
 Such tere the reasons and such some of the examples which support our conclusion that the ends universally desired in the enlargement of the capi- tol could only be accomplished by giv- ing a height of two stories to the new wings. I will now recur' to profess sional opinion on the subject
 As this whole matter has been re- solved by MT. Smiths friends into Il question of the relative merits of his and MT Lockwood's plans, 1t must nec- essarily involve a weighing of their opinions, Lockwood's for the two- story idea. Opinions on professional subjects are considered more or less valuable depending upon the experts qualification.
 A man may have been educated to the medical profession and set himself up as a doctor, but if he has never had any practice his opinion Is of less value than that of a doctor who has had large practice And so in greater de- gree the opinion of man who sets himself up as a doctor. but who has had no medical education and has had no practice would be discounted, in deed would be excluded altogether. Now I understand that MT. Lockwood was educated to the profession of arch- itecture and trained in its practice. He has high reputation as an architect, has practiced the profession for a number of years, and score of hand some buildings in Montgomery and | elsewhere bear testimony to his profes- | sional learning and talent. l am not advised that Mir. Smith was educated or trained to the profession of archi- lecture My information is that he was educated for the profession of 6iTl engineering, and that until within three or four years his activities have been addressed to the construction of railroad bridges and the like and to the superintendence of the construction of railway stations and the like de- signed by other men. Since he took up" architecture I am not advised that his practice has been very extensive. | So far as I know. the only example of his architecture in Montgomery. or elsewhere for that matter. Is The Montgomery Advertiser building, and it would require an incredible credulity | to find in that building any evidence of architectural learning or talent So ! that the judges very naturally gave more weight to MT. Lockwoods opinion l favoring two-story wings than to MT Smiths opposing view.
 MiIburn's Opinion.
 The architect before the copmission whose opinion on this particular mat | ter was entitled to the greatest consid- era tion on account of his greater ex- perience was MT. Milburn of South Carolina. He has designed a great many public edilces. Tn ecapitols of Florida and of South Carolina have been remodeled on plans made by him and his plans for the enlargement oi the capitol of North Carolina have been adopted. His opinion was most decid- ed that the ends we all had in view could only be met by wings of two sto- ries. He accordingly submitted draw l ings for wings of that character. An engraving from a picture of the capi- tol as 1t would appear when his plan | IS exeCutcus udS DCOh III JONi | paper. It shows a very beautiful en- | semble of wings and main building with the latter imposingly dominating the whole, a picture far more attrac' tive and satisfying than a similar pie | ture of the Smith three-story scheme MT Lockwoods scheme as shown by z like picture accompanying this article
 will be equally beautiful and in som' greater degrec maintain the dominance l nS ha InildinRs and
 have seen. Is superior il interior ar
 rangement. Moreover, Mr. MilburnI
 plan contemplates the ultimate remov
 al of the Confederate monument 10 thu
 front of the capitol That abstractl,
 might be well enough. that Is. thu monument might well enough havt
 been placed at first in front of the cap itol. But the noble women of tn,
 State with untiring energy and zeal
 and loyalty to the heroes of the los
 cause had bu lded this lofty and grace ful column where 1t stands, and thu
 revered hands of the chieftain of th Confederacy had laid its corner stone
 and we felt that 1t would be in the na
 ture of a sacrilege to now disturb 1t
 It's removal is not proposed by MT Lockwood
 We know nothing of the professiona
 standing or capacity of the other com peting architects except from thei plans, and as their plans were not ac ceptable we felt under TO constrain
 to accept opinions indicated by them.
 Some Unbiased Opinions.
 Since the adoption by us of the two
 story plan of MT. Lockwood, the un
 biased opinion of three of the leading
 architects of this country have beer
 separately taken on the question
 whether the architectural result de
 sired by all and set forth in the pro
 gram of the competition could be bes
 attained by two-story or by three
 story wings. I say unbiased opinion because neither of the gentlemen re
 ferred to knew at the time that eithe
 plan had been adopted or that the per
 son who submitted the problem favor
 ed either scheme over the other. Il
 each case too the opinion was arrive at and expressed after study of tn photographs of the present capitol. an | drawing of 1t with wings of two sto rIes. and other drawings with wing of three stories. so that the opinio given in each instance was deliberat and studied, and not off-hand or per ] functory. The architects referred [ ! are Mfr. Sawyer of the firm of York . csz-.w..~. OI aHA Nk,.