Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-03
BY BEN McKELWAY.


The future beauty Of the American
Capital depends to a large extent upon
the artistic success OF the Avenue
triangle development. While plans
for the treatment Of this great area
are only partially made and already
have undergone a number Of changes
and revisions, enough about them has
become known to enable even the lay.
man to understand the heavy RESPONSE.
bility which rests upon those who must
carry them out. The completion of
scheme Of such enormous proper.
tons cannot be mediocre. The Ameri
can people. after many years, are be.
ginning to take a real and personal
interest In the growth of their Capital
They are demanding something great.
The result, in the present case, can be
only one of two things-S150, 600. 900
worth of beauty, or $50, O00, 900
worth of ugliness. That amount of
ugliness would last long time.
No one rightly can express doubt
about the number or the strength OF
the barriers which have been thrown
up to protect the beauty Of the Capt..
tai. In the Avenue Triangle program,
particularly, precautions aplenty have
been taken to safeguard the sacred
area against encroachment of wild
and woolly architecture and the weird
dreams Of cubists and cuckoos. The
question now arising. and already
outlined in vague rumbllngs heard by
those with their ears to the ground,
Ia whether in erecting all these bar.
riers to keep out the bad things, the
responsibility has not been divided
between so many agencies that IL any
Of them creep in the fault will be
everybody's in general and nobody's
in particular.
+ \
Some writer's already are expressing
the doubt, often expressed before. as
to whether a democracy can ever
hope to achieve a really beautiful
Capital. Not only are there many
cooks. but they are hired and fired at
intervals. A program Is adopted with
loud cheers and flag waving by one
administration, and before II Is well
started another administration comes
upon the scene prepared to tear II
into fragments and put through
something better. Congress. with a
tight grip on the Nations purse
strings. also has a well devolped
penchant for debating exactly how
the Nations money shall be spent, and
there are almost as many differences
Of opinion in Congress as there are
Congressman. Art. although bound
by a number Of well established rules
remains largely a matter Of opinion.
What pleases one group Of individuals
Is immensely displeasing to another
group. When one architect designs a
Government building with a mansard
roof. another architect 10 heard loudly
. Inn tNN unk -
sard designed his roof to meet a con.
dition brought about by a French
zoning regulation, and that mansard
roofs now on government buildings
are as useless and out of date as
mustache cups at breakfast, and Just
as ludicrouS, from the standpoint of
modern requirements.
Critics OF things in Washington al
ready are viewing with alarm the
Governments building program. Not
one OF them, as far as can be learned.
falls to point to two examples. One
Is the Lincoln Memorial. usually al
luded to in the sense that It repre-.
sents the Triumph Of Right over
Wrong. The other Is the State, War
and Navy Building. scornfully pointed
out as the Triumph Of Wrong over
Right. The consensus among the
doubters seems to be that by merest
accident some beautiful buildings have
been erected in Washington, Blu;
chances are that the city will develop
hodge.podge, owing to the untimely
death of L'Enfant.
Il 4 Il
Those who are interested In the de.
velopment Of Washington from an
architectural standpoint, with refer.
ence particularly to the triangle, may