Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-02-22
To the Editor OF The Star:

Within a short time the bill All
thoriZing the expenditure of $50
100000 for public buildings in the
National Capital will be a law 4
transportation bill of $500 900 for
the completion of the Plaza between
the Union Station and the Capitol
has just passed the Senate. Con
sress has already authorized the ex
tension and improvement of 3 street
between the Capitol and the Mall
ana II Is proposed 10 acquire that
triangular stretch from Sixth street
TO Fifteenth street and from Penn
sylvanla avenue to h street and de-
velop II in a scheme. Of public build
ings. Representative Bovlan has inst
introduced bill to acquire what he
mildly calls the .'eyesores'' between
the Capitol and Third street.
This is certainly good news for one
10 whom. IL must be confessed. Wash
ington architecturally has been pro-
found disappointment. The critical
thing seems to me now TO have this
vast scheme of reconstruction placed
in the hands of thoroughly compe-
tent. experienced and far-seeing' men
Washington has many beautiful
residential districts both close in to
the city and in the suburbs. but il
should be kept in mind that residen-
tial districts do not alone constitute
a city beautiful. The pulsa ting heart
of the city. the business sections
must be in harmony. otherwise there
is a Earring and unreal effect. an
uneasy feeling of ill-digested. culture
and the beauty of one section throws
the ugliness of the other into
stronger contrast. This is largely the
trouble with Washington. The idea
of a residential city has become so
exaggerated that il seems 10 have
overtopped other considerations. with
the result that the downtown sec
lions of the city are positively mean.
use the word mean advisedly. he
cause the impression one. especially
a stranger. receives is that of dspro-
portion and pettiness.
In the National Capital of the great
est Nation in the world, the Nation
that Is going to lead the world of to-
morrow IN knowledge. culture and
spirituality, there is complete absence
of that breadth, grandeur and dig
nifty which characterize the capitals
of the Old World. Two thoughts are
here One is that having amassed
most Of the riches of the world, having
performed gigantic architectonic and
engineering featS at which the world
stands in awe, having brought 10 our
shores highly paid musicians and sing
ers and having accumulated, mostly
In private hands. many of the worlds
treasures in art, our education in
these things is complete and the
rest of the world is to learn from us
rather than we from them. The result
Is apparent. This rich pabulum lies
heavy upon us in an undigested mass.
At least one outlet for this pent-up
source of energy and expression lies
In the enriching architecturally of our
National Capital. The other thought
Is that It may be deemed unfair TO
compare Washington. a city of COM
paratively recent institution and
growth. with the age-old capitals Of
continental Europe. But a little
thought will indicate that Washing
ton has had advantages in this re-
spect which no European capital
possessed. The latter was city first
and a capital afterward, and, in the
evolution of the capital city. diSad-
Vantages and incrustations. many of
them commercial in character, were
not easily overcome. But Washing
ton started free and unhampered. 1t
was conceived. planned and erected as
the seat of Government. to be the
coming, and. above all. the grouping
Of those buildings which it came into
existence to accommodate, have been
Ill conceived and i'll developed. The
most wonderful architectural oppor
tunfty in the world, Athens and Rome
Notwithstanding, was thrown TO the
winds, with the result that measured
by conception and purpose Washing
ton today Is not a capital city but
mediocre town. Spaciousness is the
only key to architectural and civic
dignity and grandeur, but it must
be well conceived.
The forum. the public square, the
plaza, has been lost to America, and
where 1t has been given it has been
given grudgingly, as in the case of
Madison and Union Squares and Fifth
Avenue Plaza in New York. To have
seen the Place de la Concorde and the
Place Vendome in Paris. or the vast
intersection of Parliament Square or
the Mall and St. James and Green
Parks in front of Buckingham Palace
in London, and then come to the City
of Washington in hope and expectancy,
is to suffer violent shock and revul-
sion. Stand at the corner of Four
teenth street and New York avenue,
or at Fifteenth street and Pennsyl-
vania avenue, close ones eyes on
haunting European memories, open
them on the realities of Washington
and the moral is complete.
The main streets of this city are
characteristic of an America that has
been, rather than of an America that
is to be. Two and three story struc-
lures devoid Of all architectural merit
line the principal thorouShfares. and