Evening star., 1927-04-24


ing recent years has sadly degenerat-
ed into cheap boarding houses and
ramshackle Chinese laundries, gypsy
joints and rummage shops. is about to
be reclaimed as a model municipal
center.
This will be the contribution Of the
taxpayers of the District of Columbia
toward the stupendous plans Of Con-
gress for a marvellous transformation
Of the Capital with the south side of
PENNSYLVANIA avenue embellished with
new Federal buildings. The projected
new municipal group between Third
and Sixth streets. judiciary Square
and Pennsylvania avenue is planned
to start and give character to the inn
proVement of the north side of this
historic avenue by private capital.
1t was 135 years ago that the Com
n1issionerS ordered a start to be made
on this great Main street of the Ma
...o1-=, which occupied the place of
honor on Maj. L'Enfant's plan for the
Capital City. During more than CEN
tury it has been the parade ground of
the United States. Along its mile
length between the Capitol and the
White House have passed at recurrent
intervals the inaugural professions of
the Nations Chief Executives. Here
also have passed the units of the
United States military forces on their
way to war and in celebration of
restoration of peace. Here have been
paid the fitting tributes at the funeral
corteges of heroes, patriots, statesmen
and Presidents. 1t has echoed the
measured tread at the funerals of
Zachary Taylor, Abraham Lincoln and
James A. Garfield, of Admiral George
Dewey, of the Unknown Hero and
others too numerous to mention here.
Juncture Marks Sites.
The site urged for the new muni-
cipal group is at the juncture of
three important oulevards-Pennsyl-
Vania avenue, B street. which is to
cut across Pennsylvania avenue at
Third street and be developed as the
official route for corteges from the
Capitol to the last resting place of
the Nations heroic dead on Arling-
tons grassy hillside, and the new
avenue from Union Station which is
to cut into Pennsylvania avenue at
Third street.
Third street is the old Mades' Hotel,
founded in 184S, in which Gen. John
A. Sutter. on whose property gold
was first discovered in California, died
in 1880. This property will become
part of the Mall, which is to be
cleaned up as the great central garden
of the L'Enfant plan.
On the northwest corner Of Third
street is the old Vendome Hotel, which
IS to give way for the new municipal
group. This was originally known
as Gadsby's Hotel. in which resided
Vice Presidents Hannibal Hamlin and
Henry wilson.
At the northwest corner of John
Marshall Place, on either side of
which the new municipal buildings
would be grouped, the Ford automo-
bile warehouse now occupies the site
that is expected to be used for a,
police building. Here prior to 1865
was a select boarding house conducted
by Mrs. Elizabeth Peyton. 1t was
here that Harriet Martineau stayed
during her visit to the Capital about
which she has recorded that her
Nleasantest evenings We're those when
Clay, Calhoun, Webster, Justice Story
and the aged Chief Justice John Mar
shall would ''repose themselves by our
nreside."
Across Pennsylvania avenue on the
southwest corner of Four-and-a- Half
street is the six-story Colonization
home Of the Georgetown University
Law School from 1870 to 1873. This
square also win be absorbed into the
Mall development and the extension
of 3 street.
National Hotel Fame.
The National Hotel on the northeast
corner of Sixth street was built in
1927 by the Calvert estate, and en-.
3oyed it's greatest prestige during the
decade Of 1910 to 1850, when eminent
statesmen, including Sam Houston of
Texas, Webster and Clay resided
there. Clay died there on June %,
1852, and his room was occupied for
many years by Alexander III. Stephens.
The Benedict, formerly the Atlantic
Hotel, on the northwest corner of
Sixth street, occupies the site of
Washington's first bookstore. erected
in 1901 by William Duane, editor of a
Jeffersonian paper.
In the four squares north OF Penn
aylvania avenue between Third and
Sixth streets, running up to Louisiana
avenue and Indiana avenue which
converge on the south side OF Ju.
dietary Square, the elite Of Washington
formerly lived, here were the palatial
homes of some of the greatest states.
men of their day and generation and
here the parIors even of boarding
houses were salons of culture.
The third oldest of the Government
buildings, the venerable City Hall,
now occupied as the District Court.
house, probably the most simply
classical OF all our public buildings,
was the original municipal building
until 1871, and so it is most fitting
that the area on both sides of John
Marshall place, which is the vista
from the Courthouse to the Mall
should be occupied by the new munici.
pal group. The plan is to widen John
Marshall place and adorn it with a
strip of park down the center of the
street.
Fashionable G Street.
G street, which cuts horizontally
across the area selected for the mu.
ntcipal group, was until about 1870
the most fashionable residential sec.
tion, and as the center of fashion
ahifted northwest toward what was
then wild outlands, this locality re
Ynained a quiet back.water, little dis
t0rbed by modern growth. Most OF
she old houses Of historic associations
are still standing.
No. 31s Indiana avenue was the
home of Chief Justice Taney, who ii
hest remembered in history for his de
eision in the famous Dred Scott case
He died here in 1864. No. 324 Indiana
avenue was the last home of Rear
Admiral Fighting Bob" Evans, more
recently occupied by his daughter.
The old-fashioned dwelling on the
northwest corner Of c and Third
streets was built in 1849 for David 4
Hall. a distinguished lawyer anc
l. -.
he was associated in many lega
battles. Mr.. Halls first wife was Z
daughter of Charles Bulflnch. one O
the architects of the Capitol. Thi;
house was recently occupied IS {
temporary home for eX.Union soldiers
and sailors under the Board OF Chari
ties