The Washington herald., 1908-05-31

Washington has wonderful potentiall-
ties artward," said n visiting arcbitect
losu week to a Washington Herald report
er. The government and public build
lhgs are stately. and the great residences
are unexcelled anywhere In the world.
Indeed, many of them might be termed
rare gems Of architecture; but the houses
or the people the rank and file. are shod-
dy In the extreme, dreadfuly monotonous
and constitute what has well been called
dismal architecture, particularly the new
ones.
have driven all over the city" he
continued. 'and have seen hundreds Of
new houses going up. evidences Of thrift
and prosperity. true, but nevertheless and
notwithstanding blots upon the face Of
your fair city. The idea seems TO be to
get design for one house and then to
multiply II indefinitely - rows Of ten.
Twelve and twenty exactly alike. so MANY
yards cut OF one roll. But stay. there ,s
a variant. 1 had almost forgotten n
Every third or fourth house has a candle
snuHer tower upon il. 1 suppose that
snuner Is placed upon every few bouses
% Ilu poor man going home late nj
hight can guide himself to his own domi-
cie rs being under the third or fourth
snlircr froGa the corner.
sueh Architecture Appalling.
But seriously, such architecture is an
palling, and II is only a question Of fine
"hen tho city, spite Of its really beautiful
features, VIII be called despicablv ugly
on account OF the great preponderance Of
tnis sort Of building. II there is n slight
grace - street. why. then. these houses
'ie L-erely stepped TO it. so that you see
s<ties of steps In the roof corners.
Philadelphia has been utterly spoiled
% the same class Of buildings. and Balti-
more has been made irretrievably ugly nv
thaJ Identical process. II Is time that
Washington should wake up and take
some means Of making her speculative
builders realize that that scr; OF thing is
not wanted here %
appreciate the advantages Of having
many houses alike as far as plan ana ar
Tangement are concerned. bus surely vour
ATcnltects are not so voii Of ideas as 10
De utterly unable TO design a block OF
HouSes so that there i5 some get up and
snap 20 H. some architecture II they
""h1 70 see how II can be Gone. let them
Bo 10 the West There the architects de-
there
Is some character and individuality 10
each block. In Chicago you will see ot-
tractive rows of houses without that an
palllnE similarity and boxy monotonous
eHeet, ~ Minneapolis IN Denver in Kan
9"S ClIy' and St Louis. But Of them all
d olocN OF houses that I saw in Duluth
Mihh.' seems 20 me the epitome of clev
'rness IN managing the row problem.
dock Looks Like Grand Building.
On the brow Of hin. n beautiful loca-
uon In the first place there Is a long row
oI houses almost identically alike In plan
ana arrangement. not overexpensive IN
construction. but constituting a unit IN
oes'Sni that Is. the entire front was de-
signed as a block and the units only d.
Niced internally. Il might be a huge no.
tel or other institution. for there are no
apparent divisions externally. and 81 would
puzzle one 20 know where one mans
mouse begins and the other terminates. II
- " peaulllW building, one of the first
u'lnss lhat visitor sees ard one that he
remembers for a long time There 70 q
steep grade 10 It. and yet though tbare is
tHe olherenre Of an entire story from, end
10 end IN height. one would never susnoct
thal there was any difference in the from
sFaue- what surprises me is that its ar
GnItect IT, W. Fitzpatrick. IS now IN
washington. but I suppose his practice
% IN more important lines than houses.
Inc suggestion may be out OF order
oat II would seem 10 me that II would
pay the architects here II they would
6fatuitously add a little touch Of style
ana scheme 20 an entire block OF houses !
ven though the parslmOnious speculative
DulieeI would only pay them for plans OF |
houses. Those buildings are credited 80 |
the architects anyway. and people arc M, |
iaole 10 inquire into the financial ar
ransements. but will merely blame such |
ana such an architect for such a par-
ucuiariy monotonous row OF houses