Evening star., 1927-05-12
SEEK HEIGHT LIMIT
'0 OND.G. BUILDINGS
City Planners Adopt Plea to
Il Preserve lmpressiveness
Il of Public Structures.

s~< ~----
= with parting plea to Washington
go keep down building heights In or
der to preserve the impressiveness OF
.the Capitol dome and other public
buildings, the nineteenth National
conference on City Planning ended
It's three-day. session at Wardman
Park Hotel last night.
- The 800 or more advocates of well
PLANNED and we'll zoned cities will
spend the next few days inspecting
recent community developments in
Baltimore and Philadelphia before dis
banding and going back to the four
rorners of America to put into prac-
4ice the ideas they gained from each
ether during the conference.
r. The admon!tion to Congress and the
municipal authorities not to let tan
structures dwarf the lmpressiVeness
fgf public buildings here was incor-
norated in a general resolution adopted
last night, calling upon communities
1hroughout the country to restrict ex-
sessive heights wherever they would
iJrove a detriment to the orderly devel-
opment Of city.
Congress Urged TO ACT.
ABe it further resolved" the reso-
lution read, THAT such limitations are
especially necessary in the National
Gapital, where the dignity and i'm
sressiveness of public buildings may
be injured unless appropriate stand
ards for the development of private
property are set and maintained. Hav-
ing in the mind the Importance of
maintaining the dominance OF such
national structures as the Capitol
dome and the Washington Monument,
the conference urges Congress and
the municipal authorities to limit
strictly the height of buildings In the
National Capital"
The plans of Mussolini for the re-
construction of Rome were unfolded
to the city planners last night with
graphic lantern slides by Henry
Burchell. secretary Of the Italy
American Society, who assured his
audience of experts that Italy
premier has no intention of ruthlessly
overturning the ancient city. but, on
the contrary, is merely striving to
sclve its present-da planning prob
.ems with the least possible disturb
ance in the old part Of the city.
/. Other Resolutions Adopted.
sSAmong other resolutions adopted by
the conference at it's final session
Were:
IAN expression of appreciation to the
Committee of One Hundred and other
heal organizations for the hospitality
SHOWN to the delegates while in Wash
ington.
IAN Endorsement of the standard
frafIic code of the Hoover highway
safety conference.
ssCreation OF a committee to consider
fzte advisability of urging a Federal
0ansus every five years instead of at
f0-year intervals. The committee also
wfIl consider whether it would be pos
a1ole for small communities within an
enumeration district to get more de.
tissled information on its population
Ihen census Is being taken by pay
issg the Census Bureau for the addi.
t1enal work involved.
Il Different Opinions Held.
There was some difference Of opin-
ion among the delegates as to the
wisdom of recommending a fiye-year
CAnsus, but all agreed there could be
nd harm in having committee con-
sHer the matter during the coming
wear.
4 President John Nolen laid before
thu conference score of invitations
ffem cities throughout the country
eager to obtain the 1928 meeting of
the conference, but this question was
left TO the board of directors to decide
later.
The following were elected to the
board Of directors for the ensuing
year: John Nolen, Cambridge, Mass;
Edward NJ. Bassett, New York; Col.
s. p. Wetherill. Philadelphia; Fred
Reed, Oakland, Calf; b. H. Saunders,
Paterson. j.; John NJ. Glenn, New
Yprk, and Herbert Jones, Kansas
City.
4. Gives MussOlini Credit.
in his illustrated lecture Mr..
Bairchell declared the idea OF replan-
ming Rome was not original with Mus.
sdhni, having been talked of by vari-
0us rulers from time to time as far
back as 1917. The present Italian
statesman deserves the credit, how
ever. for taking hold of the work, he
said.
'Students of art and architecture
throughout the world need have no
fear that Mussolini will sacrifice any
or the historic remains of the "Eter-
nal City" in attempting to meet
tome's present congestion, both of
traffic and population, the lecturer
said
Horace w. PeasIee, local architect.
aroused interest at the afternoon ses.
sion yesterday by his outline of how
the architecture of private buildings
IN Washington is being improved
through voluntary cooperation be-
tween builders and an unofficial jury
or architects, which meets weekly to
go over the plans of proposed struc-
lures and makes suggestions to the
developers. This system of co-opera-
ton was conceived by the Washington
Chapter, American Institute of Archi-
tects, and has produced admirable re-
suits, Mr.. Peaslee said. He urged the
delegates to consider adopting the
plan in their cities.
pined0 Reaches Charleston