Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-20
BY HARVEY WILEY CORBETT.

What state In this article Is not
necessarily applicable to the City Of
Washington, which Is not a highly in
dustrialtzed city at present and is not
likely to become such. While am in
complete sympathy with a height limit
for commercial buildings in the city Of
Washington, I do not believe 1t will
ever be possible to put that limit SUM-
GENTLY loW-Say five or six stories-to
give the city Of Washington the char
acter of European city, or to thereby
keep the commercial section in scale
and harmony with the Government
buildings.
Your present height limit SO far ex-
ceeds anything the Government Is llge-
ly to do that you already have dis
tinct contrast between the Government
work and the commercial work. Per-
| sonally do not object to this contrast,
as I think it. centers interest on The
| fine quality Of the Government work,
which has in recent years been so bcau-
| tifully maintained under the guidance
of the Commission of Fine Arts. But
! I do feel that 1t would be a mistake to
establish building law for the COM
mercial districts which would Jesuit in
flat-top buildings of boxlike character
except where broken by ugly tanks and
penthouses.
Paris Has Collect Limit.
Even in Paris, where the height limit
is only 60 feet on the facade, there is
provided above this height a mansard
roof which corresponds in principle
with our set-beck theory, designed to
| inclose these necessary mechanical fea-
| lures which have to be placed above
the last disable story level.
It therefore seems to me that 1t would
hf0hlV decirQhtQ a
necessary height regulation for the City
| of Washington to so study the problem
| that Set-backs above the vertical front
limit be permitted, thereby giving the
buildings an interesting skyline contour
and avoiding the packing-box accent
which until recent years was so dis
tressingly characteristic OF most Of our
American towns.
Some of the buildings we are adding
to our skyline in New York have more
| of beauty, Of grace, Of artistic perma-
hence than any architectural forms the
world has yet known. And New York,
however much or little 1t may now be a
cross section of America, is this country S
architectural laboratory and proving
ground. The architect has greater
opportunity and greater range Of OPP
portunity here than elsewhere.
Height May Be Necessary.
And here in New York, If anywhere
he need not resort to the old time styles
| for his design. There are instances
still where classical design has its place
no doubt, but we can only express the
America of today by giving expression
to the America of today. Height in
building rather than breadth on the
ground may not be as necessary in
every American city as in New York
though in many city across the CONT
nent it has become real necessity
but building high rather than wide is
expressive Of the America of our time
1t is more economical, for one thing
In terms of space inclosed it costs more
to spread out on the ground than il
does to build up into the air. Back OF
every change in architectural trends
since the beginning of history is always
the economic factor. It is for the archi-
tect of today to appreciate this and de-
sign accordingly. The real reason why
the ancientS didn't build high was be-
cause they couldn't. They didn't have
construction methods equal to it. They
tried to do it with the Tower of Babel
brought in imported labor from various
outlying nationS-and look what a jam
they got intol
Nor have these 9iy buildings in
Topsy. Far from it. They are our
America in concrete form and symbolic
Of the wealth, energy and enterprise
which are Transforming American cities
Here In New York the skyline they
make up first gives form to that domi-
nant individuality of America which the
vast throng of strangers ever arriving
from all parts of the world find ex-
pressed so amazingly In this mighty
metropolis.
Impressions Bewilder Stranger.
A bewildering lot Of impressions
strike the stranger arriving in New York
for the first time, but among these oul
architecture stands out wildly as 9
clear-cut sign Of American achievement
No week passes in which I do not
meet one or more architects from
abroad. To each the skyline Of thi:
great city is fairly staggering, no mat.
ter how familiar they had believed
themselves to be with 1t from having
studied it in their own architectural
publications or in ours. But they take
it in, and they place it in their owr
minds correctly as the product of oul
meet problems singular to this country
! and age.
The type of esthetic result which we
see in New York City does not arrive OF
itself automatically. There must bt
something fundamental to create 1t.
find two causes for the growing archi'
tectural beauty Of this great metropolis
First, the material urge that Is in III
humans for Identification OF our sur
roundings, perhaps the strongest IN