Evening star., 1909-07-10
NEW PLAN FOR CONSERVING
BEAUTY OF THE CAPITAL
Mai Judson Drafting Bill Which Will Give Com
missioners Supervision Over Archi-
lecture of Buildings.

To insure. aS far as possible. the beauty
OF the Washington Of the future. EnSl-
ueer Commissioner William .IudsGn Is
working on the draft OF hill which VIII
give the District board of commissioners
roasona nIc supervision ever the arcpi-
lecture Of buildings erected in the various
parts Of the city,
Uniformly good architecture over all inc
city Is the object at which the Engineer
commissioner is aiming. and he hopes TO
provide :: method whereby the 'omnlls-
sionerS can prevent the erection OF mon
strositieS by private owners
since any city he recently SAID. rs
for the mcst part an aggregation oil slIuc-
lures privately planned and erected. do
got see how we can be sure that the
great Washington of the future will rise
10 desired plane of beauty unless some
procedure shall be adopted that will limit
the power of a private owner to offend
the taste of his fellow citizens, lessen the
value OF his neighbor's property, detract
from the beauty of his own city and lncl-
dentally insict financial loss upon NM
self"
Mai Judson. who has devoted many
hours TO "a study of the problem which
Nitally affects the future of the nation 5
capital. does not contemplate general
regulation regarding the kind of archltec-
ture to be carried out in the District. The
idea is To divide the city into small dis
iricts and let the people OF each section
determine what restrictions they desire
to have placed on structures TO be erect
ed in that vicinity i'll the future.
As an example of what might lie done,
Massachusetts avenue from Dupont Circle
To Visions avenue was recently cited
by Mai. JudsOn as a likely place for the
introduction OF the new plan. The resi-
dents and. owners of property along that
street might get together. he said. and
decide that they wanted no stores or
apartment houses on the tEoroughfare
.,S,I hot ~. hnrGEE ShnI1l6 r.
or to the roadway than thirty feet, or
they might want other restrictions which
they regard as a protect t'on TO the street
as q high-class residential thoTou2hfare.
As the building regulations are at pres
sut huge apartment hotel, several
stores and saloons or Other structures of
similar character that would he regarded
as out-of-place on the residential portion
of Massachusetts avenue might be built.
II is generally recognized tnat the result
would he detrimental to the real estate
values in the ncighborhood, as well as a
detraction from its beauties.
KEYNOTE of Plan.
The keynote Of the plan proposed 10y
Mai. Judson is to have the restrictions
in the small districts voluntary on the
part OF the owners Of property affected.
The tentative draft of a bill, which he
has already prepared provides for the
establishment OF building restrictions
over small districts only when it is de-
sired by 81 per cent OF the owners Of
the property affected Just what action
will be taken regarding the other II per
cent who oppose Is problem which the
Engineer Commissioner is now consider
ing. II has been proposed to enforce
tie restrictions against the minority and
Jet them appeal 10 the Court Of Claims
Tor damages and prove what amount
they are entitled Ia recover. As an al
tentative. IL has been suggested that
the restrictions he enforced only against
those who desire il This plan is not re-
Garded so favorably the other. but
considerations OF expense are said To in
,iicate that it will lie more practicable ut
the introduction OF the general plan.
The plan OF establishing separate build
ing regulations for small districts is eN-
Iccted To have d beneficial effect in tile