Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-09-08

vista at one end, and with the treas
ury Department and White House at
the other. Between this avenue and
the public garden of I.Enfant's plan,
the Mall, is a triangle containing at
this time between 20 and 80 acres of
lands not owned by the Government,
which when the process Of transform
ing it began furnished an entirely I'M
worthy setting and environment for
one side of Pennsylvania avenue. This
space is clearly devoted in the very
nature of things to public purposes, to
the sites of public buildings with park
approaches and surroundings.
The law has already placed within
this area the Capitals Municipal
Building and the Nations Post Office
Department. Sites which the Govern
ment already owns have been reserved
for the Department Of Justice and
Labor Department buildings. Ar
engagements have just been completed
for beginning work within a couple
of months on the new Internal Reeve
nue. Building, which is to occupy the
area between Tenth and Twelfth, b
and Little Is streets. Condemnation
proceedings have been instituted to
acquire the area between Twelfth and
Thirteenth street, B and c streets
as site on which to erect the Fed
eral Archives Building, for which Con
gress has made the initial appropr!a-
ton Other sites have been designated
for future expansion of the District
Building and the Post Office Depart
ment. The latter site is adjacent to
the land proposed TO be acquired for
the Commerce Building and the Inter
nal Revenue Building and would
complete Government ownership OF
the South side of Pennsylvania ave-
n
Three Squares Condemned.
Years ago three blocks in the tri-
angle were condemned and bought by
the Government specifically as the
sites of new buildings for three de-
nartments, but the new structures
contemplated were never erected.
Obviously the wise and economical
method of handling the situation was
to condemn the whole triangle at once,
that the public buildings TO be placed
in it might with their approaches and
greensward environment be located IN
nroper relation to one another and TO
the Mall on one side and the broad
Avenue on the other. Congress, now
ever, having acquired only 1fac'
ton of the land attacked the prob
lem piecemeal, increasing by eacn CON
demnation the price to be paid Tor the
remainder and constantly strengthen
ing the impulse of narrow, short
sighted economists to abandon the
campaign for the redemption and
adorrment of Pennsylvania avenue
and to confiscate the peoples park OF
the Mall as free sites for public build
ingS.
The consideration of the Center
Market site for the new Commerce
Building comes at q most opportune
time, when various departments and
commissions are wrestling with the
problem of relocating the market cen.
ter, due to the taking OF the farmers
market site as part of the land on
which the Internal Revenue Build
ing is to be built. The City Plan
| ming Commission has decided that the
! two areas west Of the Center Mar
! ket, between c and E. Ninth and
| Tenth streets, now privately owned
property and occupied by the whole
sale market must be condemned for
public use. 50 as to eXpel the whole
! sale dealers in order that this I'M
| slightly area can be cleaned up at the
same time rs the farmers market, to
which it bears 81 close relationship.
| The city planners have also decided
What eventually, perhaps in three to
| five years, the Center Market itself
must be removed, to effect a wholesale
| cleanup OF the entire present mar
| ket area, in conformity with plans for
| the widening and Identification of B
| STREET. skirtlng the Mall, as provided
for in the Arlington Memorial Bridge
act, B street being the main approach
| TO the new bridge from the Capitol
| and destined to be a great boulevard
for in, lEessive corteges to the Nation
al Cemetery.
Three Developments Co-ordinated.
! BY giving the Center Market site
to the Department of Commerce
| Building now three extremely impor-
! tam developments can be carried out
as a unit and properly co-ordinated-
| Gl the effective grouping Of new Fed
| ecal buildings in the triangle between
! Pennsylvania avenue and the Mall;
| (2) IN efficient and economic grouping
| of dle three parts of the food market
system retail, wholesale and farmers),
| and go q general cleanup and beauti-
| fica.ion of the area facing the. Mall
| carried along with the development of
! s street.
| These three great aims for the fl-
ture Of Washington can be carried
out more effectively, more economical
! ly, more efficiently in this way at this
time than through a false economy
program of waiting three or five years
| longer t. clean out the entire market
area, which the city planners say
must eventually be done any way.
| Congress- has in the public building
! act reCOnga niZed the extreme need of