Evening star., 1925-01-25

j'accord with the opinion expressed by
| various members of the House COM
| mittee, that while the buildings
should be of economical construction
and good practical workshops, that
the park plan of 1901 should be car
| RED out. in the matter of locating
these public buildings, subject to such
notifications as changed conditions
| since the report was made may re-
Quire.
! Want Harmonious Grouping
| The Public Buildings Commission
! realizes the necessity of grouping the
| buildings for executive purposes har-
moniously and appropriately about
| the White House in accordance with
| the aforementioned plan as modi-
! fed. This would probably involve
| the construction of several depart
! mental buildings south of Pennsyl-
vanfa avenue and east of Fifteenth
| street on land owner by the Govern
ment. Others would be grouped in
a corresponding and balanced posi-
| tion west of Seventeenth street and
| south of New York avenue, thus Civ
| ing perfect balance of architectural
| design around the White House as
| the center of the executive group.
The legislative group, including the
| proposed Supreme Court building,
| would in the same way, in accord
! ance with the 1901 park plan, sur
| round the Capitol on four sides.
| The semi official or memorial group.
as exemplified by the New National
Museum, would line the Mall fronting
on street, in accordance with the
| 1901 plan.
| The type of buildings would in all
! cases be appropriate to the site and
| the purpose for which constructed. d.
| The monumental buildings would be
! placed in the most prominent settin G
| and for the most important activities 8
such as the Department of State and
| the Department of Justice.
Memorial Bridges status.
! Among the Eemi- governmental
| buildings would be the proposed new
National Museum Of Art to be erected
east of the new National Museum,
/ facing on the Mall south of B street.
Also in this class would be the pro-
posed armory building. which is likely
| to be located near 18th street, south
| of 3 street.
The Importance of the Arlington
! Memorial Bridge, on which the House
committee is expected to take favor
| able action tomorrow, in connection
| with the public building program, is
| at once apparent This is to be the
first great step in development of the
| Mall, Lieut.. Col. Clarence o. Sheriff.,
| engineer officer in charge of public
buildings and grounds and executive
officer Of the public buildings com
| mission, told the House committee.
AS an essential part of the bridge
construction the opening up of B
street, straight from the Lincoln Me
mortal to the Capitol is contemplated.
The widening and appropriate paving
| of this street and its development as
great avenue along which the Gov
! ernment buildings would be fronted on
the north and south. appealed to the
| ina agination of the House committee.
especially those who have for years at
every meeting looked at the great
picture on the wall of their commit
tee room showing this park plan of
! 1901, which they had about given up
| hopes of ever seeing carried out.
Might Relieve Trafic.
| Aside from the Identification OF the
| Mall, and the establishment of a great
vista of governmental buildings the
House committee is interested IN this
proposed development because 1t
promises a very desirable way in
which to relieve the alarming traffic
situation. 1t was emphasized that a
I
Capitol would be thus diverted from
the congested corners along Pennsyl-
vania avenue and especially at -Four =
| teenth and Fifteenth streets. The
drive down a greater B street would
be more inviting and traffic would be
| diverted across the Arlington Me-
mortal Bridge or north.
The Public Buildings Commission
has advised Congress that the most
! w &c ha
of a new building for the Bureau OF
! Internal Revenue of the Treasury
| Department. This important unit OF
| the Government, handling valuable
papers and records representing bill
! lions of dollars, is occupying 636, ,000
square feet of floor space in nine diff
ferent buildings, scattered over an
area of one and one-half square
miles.
However, the most alarming fea-
ture of the housing situation of the
bureau Is the fact that 70.3 per cent
of it's space is in the temporary non
freproof buildings. While the most
elaborate precautions are taken tc
guard against fire in these structures
there is no doubt that should a fire
get a good start in one of them, thai
building, or possibly an entire group
would almost certainly be destroyed
The loss to the Government in such
an event would be appalling. The
erection Of a building for this bureau
would Immediately result in increased
speed in the handling of tax returns
greatly decreased cost of opera
ton and greater all-around eff
fl.ciency.
/ General Accounting once.
| Probably the second building to b,
decided upon will be for the genera
accounting Office which is suffering
greatly by reason of having its vari
Gus divisions scattered over the city
| This office is now occupying 20 diff
ferent buildings spread out over {
considerable area. AS in the case OF
the Bureau of Internal Revenue
many of it's priceless records are
stored in buildings where the fire
hazard Is an ever-present menace
| The Controller General estimates that
a saving of s250,000 per annum would
| result should his Office be housed in
a. single building. Aside from the
actual saving in money, 1T is very
lsvidept that this activity would