Evening star., 1912-10-10
DETAILS TO BE GORGEOUS
Design Will Harmonize With Exist
ing Washington Architecture.
COMMISSION NOW IN CAPITAL
Herr Kettner Discusses Probable Ar.
rangement of Structure-Foreign
Decorators to Do Ornamenting,

With the arrival in Washington of an
iarchitectural commission from the Ger
man government. it became known today
that the new embassy building which Ger
many proposes to build here will cost
with its site. decorations and furnishings,
not much short of 81, 100000
| The reichstag has appropriated $500, 900
for the structure. and it is proposed to
send here from Berlin various decorators
to finish it. The site, on S street between
I'D and 23d streets which the German
government purchased about six years
ago, cost at that time $4,000 although
| 1t is said to have greatly increased in
value since then. So that with an ex-
penditure of $4,000 for the site and
building and an estimate of 100000 for
decorations and furnishings, Germany
will eventually have an embassy costing
nearly a million dollars which will be one
of the handsomest diplomatic buildings in
any capital of the world.
Style of the Building.
This addition to the various public and
private buildings now adorning the capi-
tai, the German commission said this
morning, will be designed to harmonize
with the existing architectural beauty of
/ Washington, the style of the building to
probably be on the order of the modified
colonial type widely exemplified here.
The commission now in Washington for
/ the purpose of studying the site, it's sur
| roundings, the architecture OF the capital
and it's environs, consists Of Herr kett-
ner, privy councillor and councillor Of the
foreign office at Berlin, and Prof Peter
Behrens, imperial German architect. The
party also included Herr Saran, councillor
dpD2rtmpnt
Berlin. who left yesterday for home, after
a study of engineering conditions in
/ Washington.
i Discusses Germany's Plan.
There has been some talk" Herr Kett-
ner said today, that the new embassy
would be designed as replica on small
scale of the imperial palace Sans Souci.
at Potsdam, but it has been decided to
design embassy which will be thor
oughly in keeping, architecturally, with
square feet in the plot at our disposal
and on 1t we shall probably erect a white
stone building. which, We hope. will be
real addition to the many beautiful
buildings in this capital.
| The new embassy will contain suf
| hcient rooms for the chancellerie. so that
| there Will be no necessity for breaking
the architectural design of the building
building. There will be q very large
drawing room, very large ballroom and,
| OF course, room in keeping with it's
Importance for study for the ambassa-
dor, in addition to the other rooms usual
| In such structure, combining, as it WILL
the idea of a residence with that Of the
oficial headquarters of Germany in
| America.
Project Not New One.
| Of ,11o
posal, being 800 feet on s street, We hope
to be able to produce design of en-
bassy and landscaping of gardens in
which the embassy Will set that will be
at least as handsome as anything in
Washington. The present project is not
a new one, inasmuch as Germany bought
| the site six years ago, but we have been
erecting buildings for ambassadors, min
| listers and consuls all over the world, and
it was not until this year that the WASH
inton project was reached in the appro-
priations by the reischstag, so that we
have only just gotten authority to go
| ahead"
Ever since the worlds fair at st.
| Louis" Prof. Behrens said, there has
been growing change in German art
ideas, and in Germany, nowadays, ar
lists bend all their efforts toward adapt
| ing the forms of beauty toward practical
uses. So that we do not expect to have
what might be called ornateness in the
design of the new embassy.
| Materials to Be Natural.
Wood will be used, as wood should be
used, in the form Of wood, and stone will !.
| be shown stone. In other words, in |
designing the building we do not expect |
to bring to the aid of wood any elements
that do not belong to it. We shall not
| try to assist wood assist stone. We
have the idea in Germany, nowadays, |
that they are complete in themselves, SO
that there will be no timing of wood or
painting Of stone.
There are many materials here in
America to work with highly suitable |
for our purposes None better could be |
| found anywhere. So We shall gather |
these materials here. But we shall send
| some German decorators over for the |
new embassy, and they will have much |
to do with ornamenting the building.
| 1T is impossible to tell at this time |
when the work on the building will BEGIN |