Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-07-02

face south on the Mall If the present
project is approved, its front on line
with the south front OF the National
| Museum: a line corresponding with that
upon which the completed Department
of Agriculture faces on the south side
of the Mall opposite.
| To obtain designs for the Dulid1nss'
three separate competitions were inau-
kurated by the Treasury Department
and held simultaneously. Sixty or the
| leading architects of the United states
were invited to submit plans, twenty
for each building: fifty-seven sets of six
or seven drawings each were actually
sent in-Some three hundred ana Sixty
odd drawings.
| The twenty best sets cost their authors
probably $1,000 apiece and the rest on an
average of $500. The drawings them
selves therefore represented an expendi-
ture of nearly $4,000. This expenditure
| falls upon the architects and Is not
borne by the government.
Three Juries of Architects.
| Three separate juries of architects were
chosen and assembled for the enormous
task Of winnowing out this mass of ma
terial and rendering decisions acceptable
to the officials Of the department and
| the public and to justify themselves,
even to the unsuccessful competitors.
Within Q week Of the submission of the
plans three kilograms were dispatched
by Secretary MacVeagh announcing to
| the winning architects the jury's decision.
The design of the building for the De-
partment of Justice was awarded to Dom
Barber. the Department of Commerce and
Labor to York & Sawyer. the Department
of State to Arnold W. Drummer, all of
New York city.
These three architects were then called
| together by the Secretary OF the Treasury
and given instructions to develop their in
n iv-fd hryfl Ct yI-it %
departments for which they are intended,
having constantly in view at the same
! time the reconciliation OF the designs to
| each other and the harmony Of the group
as whole.
Development of Group.
The group was then drawn for the first
| time. in which the three buildings were
placed side by side upon their relative
grades. their relation to the Treasury,
the Monument. the Municipal building,
and their surroundings studied, and the
buildings themselves modified at each
step to conform closely to each other.
In exterior design the three buildings
are similar in character. each employing
| columns three stories in height set upon
, a Widowed wall and architectural base
ment." This wall is one story high in
the case Of the end buildings and two
stories high in the central one. thus
correcting the dip or the ground and rails
ing the three colonnades to the same
level.
While ornamental in appearance. the
buildings are of the utmost simplicity and
no fancied needs of 'archi: ectural express
SION have been allowed to interfere with
the practical requirements of lighting and
arrangement.
From Pennsylvania avenue, on the
north. the principal feature of tine front
will be the entrance portico of the De-
partment of Justice; from the Monument
grounds or the Mall that of the State
Department
The building of Commerce and Labor.
forming the connecting link, is simple
rectangle. its lines being unbroken by
any dominating feature Its main en-
trance is on 18th street, but it's entrances
for employees are from the sidewalk OF
14th street on level with the car lines.
Internal Requirements.
At the same time each architect was
rearranging and reassigning the areas
of his plans. working out in detail the
requirements of the department to be
provided for and planning to meet not
only the needs of the moment, but the
probable necessities of the next ten