The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-15

program in memory of St- Gauoene wili be one of it's features. Organized in the spring of 1857 by number or enthusiastic young. New York arcni- tects. the institute named as its on-i tects: To organize and unite in fellow. ahip the architects of the United States of America. and to combine their ef-l forts so as to promote the artistic scientific, and. practical efficiency or the profession. :.
 That the organization has fulfilled the promises incorporated in the speci~i fed, objects can be seen from the many evidences of it's influence In move ments for the public good. The move ment for the systematic improvewept. of the cities of the country originated in the American Institute of Arehi- tects. when 1t had committee report on the Improvement of Washington. When the remoieling of the White House and the extension of the Capi- ltoI were first discussed and the fact became known that such changes as suggested would mar the beauty of those edifces, 1t was this organiza- ton that successfully ipterfered. " prevented an improper location Of the Horticultural Building in Washington,i and so saved The Mall from perma- nent disfiguration. and the city from
 
 The establishment of the American Academy in Rome, a postgraduates school of architecture, painting,s scufp- ture and music, exists partly because of the earnest work of institute. The movement s to establish post graduate school of Fine Arts in Wash ington owes its origin to this same progressive body. Achievement in ar- chitecture is to be rewarded In the future by this institute. the award 70 be in the form of a gold medal. Last wear the first award was made. the medal being given to Sir Aston Webb. the noted English architect
 So careful has the association been that its membership be up to the high est mark of efficiency, that when 1t had first perfected it's organization and looked to increasing the membership. it found, after canyasslng the coun- try only twelve architects whom 1t deemed advisable to invite to join the charter members. This same degree of carefulness has been preserved and the present list of 500 members Is a roll of the leaders In their branch of art, and is a list of names that have become more than country-wide In their fame.
 For the first few years of it's exist ence the institute was retarded in its growth by the civil war, and, the mem- bers being called to sterner duties, the meetings were discontinued until 1884. For the quarter century following the close of tha war, the progress was slow. much Slower than the aspirations of it's promoters had planned for, but the spirit of the order, and the purity of the motives. possibly permeated so- cIety further than the more tangible efforts could have done. As early as 1874 the Institute began urging the government to employ the best talent in its work.
 In 1890 the Adams bill for the im- provement Of government architecture was submitted to Congress at the in- stigation of the Institute. Three years later the .Tarnsey bill was passed, but left the discharge Of its recommends tions for the Improvement of architec- ture at the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury. Secretary Carlisle refused to put 1t in effect, but when Secretary Gage came into ofiiee the Institute found in him an able ally, and since then sufficient number of buildings has been erected to prove the worth of its ideas, and show its value to the community.
 Chapters were established by the Institute in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston, Cincinnati, Baltimore and San Francisco by 1881, and in Washington City, Indianapolis. Central New York and Michigan in the next seven years. There are now twenty eight chapters representing a wide area of the country. The New York spirit that led to the formation of the American Institute of Architects found a kindred spirit in 1884 when another organization came. like young Locflin- var, out of the West, and stood with the older order for like Improvements in the same art. This younger organ ization came to the Cincinnati meet ing of the older one in 1889 and by common constnt the two were marged in one, the Western Association of Architects accepting the name and charter of the older one.
 The various chapters of the Institute have been called into conference time and again in their respective cities when the municipal authorities have been looking toward improvements in building laws, or the erection of new buildings, or the perfection of new sults to those cities. A higher plane of architecture will ultimately be reached by the nation when all the commonwealths have followed the ex- amples of Illinois, California and New Jersey and have enacted laws that H. cense or regulate the practice of archi- lecture, and the Institute will be found foremost in the efforts to have such laws enacted.
 Notable conventions have been held by the Institute in the fifty-one years of It's life. The Cincinnati one of 1889 was notable because 1t marked the consolidation of the two associations, the Eastern and Western. The one in Washington ten years ago was nota- ble because a new constitution and by laws were adopted. changes being made that required that the conven- tIons be composed of duly elected del- egates: and because at that time the famous Octagon House was leased for the use of the Institute. The Pitts burg convention of 1899 was note- worthy from the fact that the chief trend of the papers read was toward emphasizing the fine arts side of archi- lecture when with few exceptions, the papers had hitherto been devoted to discussions of methods of practice and construction.
 The convention of 1900 is a part of the civic history of the country. It was then that a park commission the first formally constituted commission of it's kind in this country. was ap- of other cities. Nine papers were read at this meeting on the development of Washington. The Government had these printed with elaborate iIlustra- tions and so inaugurated a movement for city betterment and city-building that spread to all parts of the coun- try, The garden idea receivel im- petus at this meeting from papers read on the gardens of France. Italy. Eng