Evening star., 1917-10-18
COLONIAL ARCHITECTURE
FAVORED FOR EASTERN
James W. Berry Terms Style Of Cen
trail High School "Annheuser-
Busch Gothic"

Assuming that The Star reported the
| recent remarks of the municipal archi-
| tect before the Takoma Park Parent
Teachers Association with its usual
accuracy, I ask the privilege of stating
| that the recent criticism Of the exterior
appearance Of the new Central High
School by the Eastern Alumni Assocfa-
tion was not based at all on the ground
that the Central should have been CO.
lonial merely. but that. as 1t stands. II
Is an unfortunate hodge-podge. which
does not follow consistently. so reputa-
BILE architects inform me. any one style
or period.
The statement attributed to Mr.. Ash
ford, that colonial architecture for pub
lie buildings in Washington Is map
propriate. is. I submit, so surprising
and so very far from the actual facts
that its absurdity is quite apparen!
from its mere repetition. Mr.. Ashford
must have been misunderstood, or else
was the victim of slip OF the tongue.
| Granting that the colonial buildings OF
Washington all date prior to 1880 and
may be counted on the fingers OF
hand-more's the pity. OF the really
creditable buildings in Washington
and there are none too many-it Is
quite likely that a majority do date
back to the time Mr.. Ashford seems to
ridicule. Merely to mention the Cap
itol, the White House. the patent ONCE
and the old city hall. now being re-
stored. is enough to show that the best
examples of colonial and classic in
fuence were produced at that time IN
which American architects were really
doing their finest. most sincere ana
most effective work.
Colonial Style Favored.
What the Eastern alumni sought to
do. and did accomplish, was to secure
from our membership expressions of
| individual opinion, in the nature or a
! referendum, as to whether majority
wished the new Eastern 10 follow. on
| the one hand, the exterior appearance
| of the new Central: or, on the other
hand, to follow the lines laid down In
4 the Recommendations of the Fine Arts
| Commission. which favor either the Co
! Ionfal or the modified classic, adapted
\ for modern conditions. the neeus ol d
| school and the sum of money In hand.
| OF the numerous replies about > per
cent are non-committal per cent In
| favor of pure gothic. which is quite
different proposition from the cen
| trail style and about Sc per cent in
! favor of modified colonial or classic in
| view of the plans for the development
of Washington. the prevailing style or
| our best buildings. the site of the new
| school in siXteen-acre site surround
4
| of the fact that the new Eastern VIII
not be more than two or three stories
| in height in place of the five stories
of Central.
| These answers have come from alum
nj representing more than twenty
| classes and from residents of this cit.
no less than from out of town grad
yates from as far away as California
Panama and somewhere in France.
Our object was not to agitate the mat
ter at all in a spirit of rivalry to Cen
trail, for. our stand is that the New
lCentral in appearance is distinctly un
worthy of the traditions of that fin'
school We sincerely regret that th
ladies' and gentlemen of the Centra
faculty are thus condemned to work II
such an inartistic structure, and W.
think it is pity that future genera
tions of Central pupils should be denie'
the inspiration that comes from
structure to which they might poin
with satisfaction instead of chagrin.