Evening star., 1931-12-13
BY John CL4CETT PROCTOR.

ally and visit other places-to see new
sights and cities and get new ideas Oh
course. where We confidently believe
washington to be the grandest place on
earth. it would really be big error to
conclude that it the acme OF perfection,
and that it was not sus ceptible to any i'm
provenent And SO It is with these outings OF
ours which bring us in contact with the rest
of the country and show us how the oeher
fellow does things, and how it looks after IT
Is done.
tn the writer the beauty OF municipal
architecture is especially attractive and there
were new ideas he would like to have brought
back TO the District Of Columbia. senior
high school at San Diego, Calf, would M
deed be q refreshing diversion to the prevail
ing stereotyped Colonial style. 1t covered
much ground, and the walls were entirely
hidden with vines. Its effect was unusually
beautiful
unique treatment for fire engine house
was also seen In this California city. 1t was
in section of very nice homes, and here
any objection to an engine house being built
in a residential section was artistically over
come The building was of the bungalow
type and in front flowers were growing In
pgofusion. The doors which opened to permit
the apparatus to leave and enter were entirely
concealed by flowers, and one would ever
have suspected the building to be an engine
house, so completely was ii camoufaged.
When the writer's attention was called to
this building he immediately thought Of the
engine house proposed not long ago for upper
Sixteenth street. and the kick the folks put
up to prevent its being put in their neighbor-
hood 1t occurred to him that photo
graph of the Pacific Coast building had been
shown these good people quite likely all objec-
ton would have been withdrawn.
At Santa Barbara a magnificent court
house of the Spanish Moorish design, consist
emily decorated within and without. This was
a new building and would attract attention
anywhere because of the pleasing effect pro-
duced by the architect. Our own court house,
OF course, is a very fine building, and of more
solid construction, and still the thought as to
what might be done further to beautify our
city was present, in viewing this temple Of
Far Western justice
A MUNICIPAL auditorium such as Wash
ington is very much in need Of seen
in San Antonio Tex. 1t, too. is Of the
Spanish Moorish style Of architecture, covers
six and one-half acres and seats $500 people
1t cost 81 200, 600 and was dedicated to the
World War heroes. building Of this capacity
and beauty would certainly fit In well with
Washington a convention city.
Of course, what attracted the writer's at
tention most in this last-named city was the
Alamo-the cradle of Texas independence
At least it might be so called II 1t is not, for
1t was here that the pioneers of the State oi
Texas received Of their most severe AND
Tragic DdpGlZlngS IN human pfOoQ
Originally called the San Antonio de Va.
lerio, the mission was transplanted from tbs
Rio Grande to near this spot in 1918, ane
about year SO later to its present location
when a new church was begun on May 8
I74+although the front of the Alamo Chape
bears date of l757. Apparently building a
that time did not progress very rapidly. ana
SO, In 1762, find it still under construction
After ALL however maybe this delay shoul.
not be criticized regarded as unusual. whsl
even today we find the Cathedral Of st. Johl
the Divine, in New York City, not completes
after being under construction for more year
than this, and if We were to look around OH
own city, no doubt we could find parable
case in the twentieth century
After 1765 the mission as such seems sud
denly to have declined and number of year
later the walled inclosure and the buildins
were occupied by the company Del Alan
de Parras, whence 1t derived its name til
Alamo.
AN early writer who viewed the locaff,
= as far back as 1s41, In speaking OF Il
building and its surroundings, tells us ths
the chapel itself measured rs feet long, 81 fe,
wide and 22h feet high, with walls of sol
masonry, four feet thick. "It was original