Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-06
Commission Gives Approval
to Agriculture Department
Expansion Plan.
FIVE-ST0RY STRUCTURE
OF MARBLE CALLED FOR
Will Connect Existing Wings OF
Main 0ffices-To Mark First
Step in $5O,oOO,OOO Project.

The first new building in the Fed.
eral Government $50,000,000 pro-
gram for Washington will be started
this Summer as result of the action
of the Public Buildings Commission
today in giving final approval to plans
for expansion of the Department OF
Agriculture quarters on the south side
of the Mall.
The plans sanctioned call for five
story marble structure connecting the
two existing wings Of the main De-
partment of Agriculture Building on
the north side of 3 street southwest
and two wings of a proposed extensible
building for the same department on
the south side of 3 street southwest.
In announcing approval Of the plans
today, Senator Smoot, chairman of
the commission, said work might be
under way in about a month on this
enlargement of the accommodations of
the Agriculture Department, but the
supervising architects office of the
Treasury estimated it would take over
two or three months to finish the
details and get actual construction
work under way.
The significance Of today's meeting,
however, is that it cleared the way
for an early beginning on the building
program, designed to get thousands of
Government employees out Of tenn
porary war structures and widely
scattered rented quarters.
Senator Smoot announced at the
same time that he has called another
meeting of the commission for June
16, to tackle the broad question of
how the various other buildings that
are to go in the Mall-Pennsylvania
avenue triangle should be designed.
Style Still Big Issue.
The big issue to be taken up at the
meeting 10 days hence is whether the
new buildings for the Departments OF
Justice, Commerce, Labor, Internal
Revenue, Archives and a number OF
other smaller governmental agencies
should be modelled after the Louvre
plan in France, with a continuous
facade along Pennsylvania avenue
broken only by archways over the
streets that will run through the tri-
angle, or whether the commission
should adhere to the layout it ap-
proved last year for buildings entirely
separate in appearance.
AS soon as the commission settles
the question of the general treatm
will be cleared for an early start on
the foundation Of the Internal Reve-
nue. Building.
Within the past month the commits
sion called to Washington a group OF
prominent architects to study the
whole problem and submit a report.
Senator Smoot said he would enter
the meeting on June 16 with an open
mind as to the value of the Louvre
plan as compared with the commits.
sion's original layout for the triangle.
1t is believed likely the commission
will endeavor to settle the question
at that time so that work may go
forward with other portions of the
program.
Asked today about the recommen.
dation that the Department of Justice
Building be placed on the Center Mar.
ket site, Senator Smoot said a new 10.
cation for that building has not been
definitely fixed, but that it would be
in the vicinity of where the market
now stands. Justice originally was
slated for the south side of Pennsyl-
vania avenue between Fourteenth
and Fifteenth streets, but the latest
suggestion is to leave that square
free for the development of a wide
plaza at the western end of the tri-
angle.
OF the two Department of Agricul.
ture projects approved today, the Mrst
to get under way will be the central
portion of the existing marble build
ing lying between B street south
west and the Mall, just east Of Four.
teenth street.
Facade to Be of Marble.
When this building was erected
or nGfr 1nA -
two wings with space left open for
the part that is to go up now. The
new portion will have a marble facade
to correspond to the existing wings
and will be five stories high. 1t will
have q 175-foot frontage on the Mall
and a depth of $50 feet toward b
street. 1t will cost $2.OOO,0OO.
The new extensible building for the
Department Of Agriculture on the
south side of B street. south
west will cover several squares
complete, but present plans call
for the erection of only two wings,
running north and south between Il
and C streets southwest. near Thir.
teenth street. Square 264, on which
these first two wings are to be built,
is now in process Of condemnation,
When the time comes to enlarge this
structure, the plans call for four
wings extending westward toward
Fourteenth street and four wingS
running east from the two wings to
be built at this time.
The new building on the south side
of 3 street will be six stories high.
The numerous activities of the De-
partment of Agriculture are housed
at the present time in widely scat
tered places, and this initial step -
the Government building program viii