Evening star., 1925-12-06
By WILL J.. KENNEDY


City one of the biggest imp. .oVC-
! meuts is projected. Ii viii Hot only
/ provide an appropriate Setting tor tht
! capitol Building and proper accom-
: Imodations Tor the supreme Court and
,or members Of the National House OF
/ Representatives hut viii also size al
! visitors TO the Capital an icSp.rtn.
! hrst glimpse of the Capitol Building.
| where the laws are made. and clean
, up IN unsishtly section OF the. City ct
! NashlngioE, south to the Potomac
! River
] In this proposed development are
| the following features:
/ 90 Extension Of lhe capitol
Grounds, forming a park plaza to
Union Station
! 90 Proposed building for the Su-
| prene Court OF de United states.
facing the Capitoi Grounds. Just
| across East Capitol street from The
4 Library OF Congress.
! 90 Erection Of Il new House Office
building within the squares buund-
! ed by b and { Stree,S. New JerSol
ana Delaware avenues southwest, 50
! mat each member of The House may
! nave suite OF two Offices This is
IA SrooO,oo0 or SS,00o,00o propositions
| ca Relocation OF the National
! Botanic Garden on land south of its
I
] Nania and Maryland avenues Just
west of the Capitol Grounds, 10 be
offended along the old James Greek
lanai 10 the Potomac River, south of
the Capitol
'') Erection of a great modern con
| SerVatory for a botanical display which
| would be visited by tourists to the
capitol, facing Maryland avenue from
! First street
lbI TDaleIn,,,o 80. -.
| system Of the District the entire seq.
| uon south of the Capitol between New
Jersey and Delaware avenues and
lanai street through To the Potomac
River.
One of Most Important.
! The extension of the CapitoI grounds
| is one of the most important public
! development projects in the National
dpltai within the memory of the old
esl men in public life. The plans were
| prepared under the direction of FL
uott woods. late architect of the Capi-
to'' who with Representative Joseph
u. oannon' composed the commission
on ehiafslnS the Capitol grounds. II
- hoped by friends and admirers uf
ncle Joe" Cannon that this ire
| hleAaous Improvement NAV soon be
Nairled through during his lifetime IS
troWnlng achievement of his un-
eqla!ed length Of public service.
SrlenE. TINS is a great parkway de-
Telopment between the Capitol and
| l. mon Station and the Washington
! City Post Office ON the nor,b tlybich
| mas oeen contemplated ever since the
mon Station was built. and to eX-
tehd this parkway on the south of
| tHe oapitoI through TO the conyerc
ence or the Anacostia and Potomac
RIVERS. The scope of this proposal
! can be seen from the fact that the pro
| posed parkway on the south of the
! Capitoi would include more than 90
squares Of property.
| Most OF the land required for this I
| extension north Of the Capitol is al.
ready in Government ownership and
| the whole of it is authorized.
! With the Capitol building az the
| very center OF national life men high
| IN public life have for years mar1-ejed
that Congress did not long since pro
! Vide for proper Identification of the
| surroundings of the structure. This
sentiment has been shared by the
hundreds of thousands of visitors
| from every State in the Union who
come TO Washington annually and
VINO are disappointed in their first
view of the Capitol from Union Sta.
| tlon because of the incongruitv of
the vista TO The building 1t was to
meet this criticism and to provide a
comprehensive scheme of uniform de
! velopment that can be carried out
NOT Immediately, but eventually. and
which Will harmontze and link in with
general plans Of the public buildings
/ and grounds committees and of the
Flne Arts Commission for the Ma
tional Capital that the late Elliott
Woods presented his plans to Con-
gress
Alternative designs for this i'm
provement are shown in charts and
artists drawings in the Office of
David Lynn, who succeeded Mr..
! "oods as architect OF the Capitol.
Proposed Boulevards.
One set of plans contemplate making
! Delaware avenue northeast as a new
| axis of parkway development between
the Cnlon Station and the Capitol,
| making Delaware avenue a wide bou.
| levard. This plan shows a sroup of
public buildings in d semicircle facing
| Union Station. It provides for the
removal of street cars from the vista
of the Capitol from Union Station bv
providing sunken garden effect be
tween c and D streets with the street
| cars ctrcling a fountain there and go
Ing through a tunnel to the Capitol
| grounds. Delaware avenue would be
raised from d street TO the Capitol.
This, however, is not the plan of
development most favored The more
popular plan is for using North Capi-
tol and South Capitol streets as the
axis, because it is feared that the de-
velopment of the Delaware avenue
axis alone might have a tendency 10
| subordinate the Capitol Building to
| the Union Station. BY using North
and South Capitol streets, which are
he 49, -fh
! the Capitol, and which are the real
| cardinal points of the compass axis.
! magnificent boulevard from the his
toric Potomac River to the Soldiers
| Home can be developed. This boule-
ward would be welcomes by those who
wished to make short cut from the
river speedway to the Soldiers Home
and Rock Creek Park.
| This proposed park development
would have a width of about 1900
| feet at the Capitol and would fan out
| to about $500 feet at its greatest
| width to the north. On the south of
| the Capitol. however, II would widen
| out to more than 1000 feet by the
time it reached Washington Barracks.
Home for Supreme Court.
For many years it has been felt
that the Supreme Court of the United
States should have a building of its
own. and the land facing the Capitol
grounds between First and Second
| street and East Capitol street and
Maryland avenue has long been looked
upon as the proper site for such a
| structure. This Is the square on
| which now are the Congressional
| Apartment House and the historic
| structure at the Maryland avenue cor
ner, now occupied by the National
| woman's Party. and which at one
| time was used as the Capitol