Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-24
TO Be CITY OF WHITE
IA Correspondent Compares
Washington With Rome.
STRUCTURES ARE OF MARBLE
Says There is Very Little Smoke to
Discolor.
TO RIVAL ANCIENT CAPITALS
Beautiful and Massive Business Build
ings Going Up About United States
Treasury-A Prophecy.


lures, because the construction of such
emphatically pays The conversion from
brick to marble on the Augustan scale has
not come and may not be coming, but in the
new great buildings of the capital, whether
private or public, the material dominates.
The local conditions are peculiarly favor
able to the employment of this material.
In spite of the constant agitation of the
Washingtonians for a better anti-smoke
law, there is very little smoke to trouble
the atmosphere. On a sunny day but
feather of smoke appears here and there
against sky of almost Italian blue. The
marble suffers little from the cause which
would make marble building in London
either a monument of extravaganza or Of
hope defeated.
A Scenic Success.
Scenicaly marble IS a success in WASH
ipgton, marble or Its substitute, white gran
lite. Its wilderness is emphasized by the
greenery of boscage of the parks and by
the blueness of the sky. At times the con-
trast is almost dazzling, as In the instance
of the new Agricultural Department build
ing, where the trees render a favor when
they
Tame the glazing white with green.
In the new development of the capital
two influences have been at work, that of
the government, which builds big because
the country pays the bills. and that Of bust
ness, which builds big because the require
ments of trade and commerce SO demand
The great public buildings include the two
immense and classic-fronted annexes for the
Senate and House. which flank the Capitol
on either side, and which when completed
WILL as seen from the treasury corner be as
two broad massive bars OF white in the per-
spective. The, new Agricultural Department
building, and the new National Museum
Qrn of "
Smithsonian's eccentric architecture even
more a grief to the judicious than it Us
now. The new municipal building, or. as We
should call it, the city hall, Is gradually
developing it's substance 1t, too, will be
classic in outline. 1t stands not far from
the treasury corner. around which the most
marked business development of the city is
progressing. Near the Capitol the white ia
cade of the union station draws near COM
petion, and part of the building, which will
contain thirty tracks when finished will
shortly be occupied by .the Baltimore and
Ohio The present wooden countritied de-
pot of the Baltimore and Ohio, whose tow
er always appears to wear an expression
of surprise at finding itself in city. will
be swept away in the improvement of the
approaches to the grand new terminus
which will serve all railroads entering
Washington, the Southern lines obtaining
access to it by a tunnel under Capitol Hill.
Drift Of Business.
The drift of business toward ~"the north
west" which is 1.-The best residential sec
ton of Washington, has been pronounced
SO long that the construction of many large
business buildings is but the response to
the demand. Washington, as we are we'll
aware, is not "a business city" 1t was long
ago said that it's two great industries were
letting rooms and working for the govern
ment, and the saying is true today so far
as its resident population is concerned.
Nevertheless the class of buildings now
under way suggests that Washington does
all the business to be expected of a city
of 300, 900 people which Is without big man
ufacturing plants, and expects more to
come. Such buildings as the new home OF
the Metropolitan Bank, as impressive as tall
marble pillars and a somewhat luxuriant
detail make 1t, and the great white
mass the Union Trust Company is rearing
on the site of the old Colonial HOTEL are
not built without reasonable assurance of
profitable occupancy anywhere. Treasury
corner Is undergoing great changes, and
man who had not seen 1t since 1887 might
be compelled to rely upon the treasury, the
White House and one or two old buildings
to tell where he was II he suddenly found
himself where Pennsylvania avenue makes
its short, sharp turn on Its way to George
town He would miss such to him familiar
landmarks as the Colonial he knew as
Wormley's, and the old style yellow brick
building which once housed the Bank OK
the United States.
If he bewildered, turned into G street
he would note that the old Foundry Church
had gone, too. Change Is the order OF
Of the day everywhere in the northwest,
not where great apartment houses tower.
Seldom has the writer seen a more surpr1s-
ed and confused man than one he encoun-
tered on kalorama avenue a few weeks
ago who was paying a flying visit to his
native Washington after an absence of
twenty-five years. Where this visitor stood
amid fine residences and viewed the city
spread out before him had been one OF
the rural haunts OF his boyhood.
Water Front.
Probably because 50 many more people
come into Washington from the north than
from the south, few of the average tourists
see and appreciate the great change which
has been worked on the river front by the
completion of the Speedway and the rapid
progress Of what was so long described on
the maps as the proposed Potomac Park"
The latter Is made up of reclaimed land,
by which the noisome flats famous as
malaria breeders, have been succeeded.
The Speedway is neither more nor less in
teresting than speedways generally, but it
has been accompanied by improvements by
which well-kept lawns border 1t, supplant-
ing ragged, spongy. unkempt waste.
pleasantly sinuous fOotpath accompa-
MES the Speedway. The parkway is bor
dered by statues Of wood staff left over
from the st. Louis exhibition. These are
fast falling into Equalization and are really
eyesores which kindly nature, by sun and
rain, will shortly remove If public taste does
not anticipate. While so much digging and
general finishing are in progress a good way
to obtain an idea of the scope Of the river
front improvements is to take one of the
electrics that run to Alexandria and Mount
Vernon and from the height Of the new
highway bridge survey the park as outlined
beneath. The impression thus obtained is
that the landscape gardeners and engineers
have solved rather difficult problem very
satisfactorily. They have wisely refrained
equally from creating artificial wilder
nlxya NJ, a
are winding ways, including a beautiful
boulevard that sweeps along a promontory
jutting into the river; there are pleasing
bits of boskage; there are basins in which
fountains will play.
Highway Bridge.
The mention Of the new highway bridge"
is reminder that one Of the most familiar