Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-14
PARK GROUP TO GET
REPORTS ON PLANS
FOR DEVELOPMENT
National Guard Armory and
Pan-American Building
to Be Considered.
MUNICIPAL CENTER ALSO
UP BEFORE COMMISSION
Improvement of Conduit Road
Likewise on Calendar of
Business for October.

mosaic of future development. in
GLIDING the proposed National Guard
Armory, the Municipal Center, the Pan
American Office Building and improve
ment of Conduit road from the District
line to Great Falls, will be laid before
ming Commission at its October meet
ing, to be held Friday and Saturday.
The commission will be asked by
Charles W. Eliot. I'd, director of plan
ming, to decide how parts of Conduit
road to be used as part of the road
mortal parkway Is to be planed to Separ-
ate truck and light traffic. Mr.. Eliot
said today that the Maryland Capital
Park and Planning Commission has
under consideration three alternative
plans for the solution of the problem.
One plan is to extend Massachusetts
avenue INTO Maryland so that it might
reach a point near Great Falls, another
is to have it curve northward into River
road. while third is to have it meet
the Geln Echo road near Minnehaha
Creek
Maj. Joseph D. Arthur, jr., District
Engineer for the War Department
for the Washington area, has referred
to the commission a proposed plan of
development and reports, prepared by
his predecessor, Maj. Brehom Somervell,
with several specific questions with ref
erence to the proposed park project
and the improvement of Conduit road,
which contemplates an enlarged bridge
across Cabin John Creek, to replace
the present rather narrow red structue.
Will Make Recommendations.
Mr. Eliot will present to the COM
mission a series of recommendations,
designed to have the park development
and the Conduit road improvement pro-
coed in harmony. The cooperation
of the Maryland National Capital Park
and Planning Commission will be neces-
sary TO the fulfillment of the program.
The main question at issue, Mr.. Eliot
explained concerns Conduit road as
part of the George Washington Memo
rial Parkway. It may be necessary to
have two lines of roadway in the present
Conduit road, one to be used in the
parkway exclusively for light trafic and
another further up the slope for heavy
trucking. Mr. Eliot pointed out that
between the Dalecarlia Reservoir and
Glen Echo the steep contour OF the
country makes road construction diff
cult.
The commission will have before it
again the proposed erection of a Ma
sonic memorial on the Dean tract at
Florida and Connecticut avenues. On
Friday morning 1t proposes to hold a
conference with the celebrated New
York City architect, Harvey Wiley Cor
bett, who will present studies for the
Masonic Temple. Mr.. Corbett Is the
architect for the Masonic memorial now
under construction at Alexandria, Va
Previously the commission rejected a
proposed design of the Masonic memo
rial here on the ground that it was too
much like the Lincoln Memorial.
Architect to Report.
A. L. Harris, municipal architect, will
inform the commission of further de-
tails with reference to the Municipal
Center.
A report on the Districts new Ma
tional Guard armory will be laid before
the commission by Maj. Donald A.
Dawson, Assistant Engineer Commits
sioner, who was chairman of the spe-
cial committee appointed by the District
government to inquire into this prob
lem. Serving with him on this COM
mittee we're Mr.. Harris and John W.
Oehmann, the District building inspec-
tor. Capt. E. N. Chisoln1, jr., the COM
missions engineer, and c. L. Wirth,
landscape architect, were invited to sit
in on some Of the sessions of the Ma
tional Guard Armory Committee. The
commission is interested in the proposed
location Of the National Guard armory
and general recommendation con-
corning it. The Dawson report Is being
held confidential.
Studies of the 81 900, 900 Pan-Ameri-
can Union ONCE Building, to be 10
Gated at Eighteenth and B streets, will
be presented to the commission by its
consulting architect, w. T. Partridge.
This program involves the realignment
of Virginia avenue to permit head-on
view of the Washington Monument,
making it the only thoroughfare in the
city where this is possible.
Will Study Purchase Act.
The commission will have before 1t
several questions revolving around the
Capper-Cramton park purchase act,
particularly the sections relating to the
establishment of self-sufficient units in
Virginia and Maryland for playground
purposes. The commission staff will
report on the extension of Rock Creek
Park into Maryland and the units for
land purchase that are involved
The highway improvement program
of H. D. Whitehurst, District co-ordi-
nator and chief engineer, will be
brought to the attention of the COM
mission by Mr.. Eliot. The Co-ordinat-
ing Committee, consisting of interested
Federal and District agencies, has
already placed its stamp of approval on
this program, but certain rearrange-
ments in the commission program will
be necessary because of 1t.
Capt. Chisolm and Mr.. Eliot will re-
port a number of highway changes,
sanctioned by the Co-ordinating Com
mittee. Capt. Chisolm is chairman of
that committee. The legislative pro-
gram will be passed upon, but informa-