Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-11-30
Project Will Require Exten-
sive Area, Fine Arts Commits
sion Says in Report.
TEMPORARY BUILDINGS
IN MALL ARE CRITICIZED
Six Projects Listed as Launched
by Congress Here Since Groups
Last Statement.

ing here is "a matter reasonably certain
to develop in the future, whether under
the Smithsonian Institution or through
private initiative. and to require an ex
tensive area for its accommodation, 4"
the Fine Arts Commission said today in
its report. which covers the period
from January l, 1926, to June 80, 1929
The report. which is the commissions
eleventh, was prepared by H. P. Caem-
merer, the executive secretary, under
the direction Of Charles Moore, the
chairman.
Despite the fact that 80 years ago
Congress granted charter to build
q National Conservatory of Music, no
steps have been taken to complete this
organization, the report pointed out,
and hence 1T was the Judgment of this
commission that no site should be al
lotted in advance of assurance that
fund sufficient for the erection of the
proposed building was in sight"
One of the highlights of the report is
the sharp cricitism of temporary struc-
lures in the Mall area, which are de-
clared responsible for a depressing air
Of slovenliness," and equally severe
condemnation of the placing of two
concrete buildings in Potomac Park and
of the automobile parking situation in
that whole area.
Development Portrayed.
The report, which is well illustrated
to portray the development of the fine
arts In Washington and other parts of
the Nation, as we'll as areas abroad.
concerning which the commission has
been called into consultation, recalls
that since the previous report was rem
dered Congress has entered upon these
six projects of major importance to
the National Capital: The purchase and
development with monumental buildings
in the triangle south of Pennsylvania
avenue between the Capitol and the
Treasury Department; the highway con-
Meeting the City of Washington with
Mount Vernon; the improvement of the
area between the Capitol and the Union
Station and the systematic development
Of the Mall; the location and beginning
OF separate building for the Supreme
Court of the United States; the creation
Of a civic center for the District Of Co.
lumbia and the location of an arboretum
and botanic garden of the first class
THE commission looks forward to the
not distant time when the L'Enfant
plan from the Capitol to the Anacostia
River and park shall be utilized for the
impressive settings for public and semi
public buildings Of dignity and beauty"
says the report. The opportunity is
waiting"
relative to the placing of the new
Supreme Court Building, the report
says: "It was piece of that good for
tune not uncommon in the development
of the National Capital that when the
time arrived for the removal Of the
Supreme Court from the Capitol. the
Chief Justice was William H. Taft, as
Secretary of War one of the stanchest
and most influential hackers of the plan
Of 1901 during its storm and stress
period, and afterward, as President of
the United States, was chairman of the
commission that located and constructed
the Lincoln Memorial"
Controlling Forces.
Touching the triangle development
plan, the report says: The two con-
trolling forces were Congress and the
Secretary of the Treasury. In Congress
the agencies we're the Public Buildings
Commission, the committee on public
buildings and grounds and the joint
committee on the Library. From the
beginning these agencies have worked.
each within its own jurisdiction, in COM
plete harmony, looking only to the end
to be attained. The Secretary Of the
Treasury, on his part, has created an
organization calculated to bring about
q result at once practical and esthetic."
During the course of the report a
frame for the Lincoln Memorial Is dis
cussed, whereby the American Phar-
maceutical Association and the Pan
American Union are proposing to erect
imposing structures, in harmony with
the Pan-American Union headquarters,
the National Academy of Sciences and
the Lincoln Memorial itself.
1.-The pylons at the Lincoln Memorial
end of the bridge are to be replaced
by sculpture, with the aim Of avoiding
possible conflict with the memorial it
SELF" the report points out with refer
ence to Arlington Memorial Bridge.
THE treatment of Columbia Island
has been restudied with the view of
maintaining strong traverse support
to the composition and at the same
time providing for connections with
the projected parkway leading up 10
Great Falls, the Virginia approaches and
the Mount Vernon Highway.
Incidentally the conventionalized
American buffalo heads on the keystones
and eagles on the spandrels of the
arches have been worked over until
satisfactory results were obtained. Va
rious seemingly minor, but really vital.
features of the design have occupied
much time and thought, and have beer
adjusted to the satisfaction of both the
architects and the commission"
Comment on Parking.
Parking of automobiles in the city's
parks evoked this comment in the COM
missions report: The disastrous Ell
fects brought forward by the so-called
temporary structures in producing de-
pressing air of slovenlineSs is exempli-
fed in the case Of the Mall buildings
The spaces at the back are receptacles
for trash; the entire Mall Park dnclud
ing the Smithsonian grounds) area has
become an open-air garage; in the De-
partment of Agriculture square automo-
biles are parked on the grass; even the
Presidents Park Tor the Ellipse) is given
over to all-day parking, with the re-
suit that these spacious park spaces
designed for the satisfaction of all the
people OF the country are monopolizeC
by a comparatively few persons, l9 out
of 20 of whom live in the District OF
Columbia.
Even more serious results followed
the location Of the two concrete build
ings in Potomac Park. There the SIM
plicity and good taste of the design fol
structures designated as Temporary art
calculated to prolong the life of these
buildings. A large area OF Potomac
Park is fenced off for automobile park
ing, thereby nutilating the design o.
the landscape setting of the Lincoln
Memorial. Still more disturbing is the
overflow of parked motors along the
drive leading to the very steps of the
memorial itself"
Turning its attention to the Nava
Hospital buildings, the report says
THE chief concern for the future is the
treatment Of the frontage along B street
west of Twenty-third street (perhap'
by a terrace) so as to complete thu
frame of the Lincoln Memorial and a
the same time to obtain the larges
possible area for the Naval Hospita
and the Public Health Service adjoin
ing"