Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-01
MT. VERNON DUPLICATED
FOR FRENCH EXPOSITION
Furnishings and Every Feature of Wash
ington's Mansion Constructed on
Seine for Colonial Fair.

II =
- Injured to surprises though they
are, look wonderingly these days
a to q strange building that is
lifting its noble white columns
In the BEAUTIFUL park Of Vincennes,
where Marie Antainette and her court
played while Paris seethed with
revolution.
This apparition in wood and stone
Is the new Mount Vernon, being repro
duced on the banks of the Seine exactly
as the original stands overlooking the
Vernon has been Ssnt overseas in duph-
cate as the main United States exhibit
at the International Colonial and Over
seas Exposition, in testimonial of
American friendship for the sister
republic across the waters.
This Mount Vernon de Paris is being
furnished and decorated as It was when
Gen. washington entertained the
Marquis de Lafayette. The work Is
Anne Madison Washington, the first
Presidents great-great-great neice.
And the echoes of that historic visit
Of Lafayette to Mount Vernon viii re-
vertebrate next July 4, when, climaxing
American week at the exposition, the
flriest theatrical talent in France win
enact the pageant Of his reception.
John Philip Sousa. "the March King"
has just completed the composition of a
march, THE LegionaireS," which will
be the musical contribution of the
United States to the exposition.
Congress has appropriated 100000 to
send France the Mount Vernon dupli-
cate as an impressive token of national
regard. Various American manufacturers
have participated The architect of the
reproduction Is Charles X. Bryant of
Richmond, Va, who has permission to
make blueprints of the shrine, a per-
mission otherwise dsnied by the Mount
Vernon Ladies' Association, owners of
the Washington estate.
In general charge of our activities at
the exposition are G. Bascom Slemp,
commissioner general, and Charles H.
Burke, commissioner, who, after their
appointment by President Hoover, have
opened offices at the American embassy
in Paris.
Territories to Have Exhibits.
In addition to Mount Vernon, Messrs.
Slemp and Burke have arranged for
exhibits from Alaska, Guam, Samoa,
Hawaii, the Philippines and the Virgin
Islands. Natives of these Territories
will bring to Paris their arts, their agri-
cultural and manufactured products,
and display them in the neighborhood
Of native exhibits from Iceland, NADIA
gaScar and Indo-C China, the Kongo and
virtually every land under the SUM-
Modern plumbing and electric wiring
are about the only new features In the
way OF necessary modern conveniences
which will be found in the Mount Ver-
non manor house at Paris. All of the
rooms on the first and second floors at
Mount Vernon win be reproduced with
their complete furnishings. Only the
attic will be unfinished. There viii be
the central hall with the main staircase,
the west parlor, Miss GUSTS music
room, the family dining room, the BAN
quet hall, Washington's room, Mrs.
Washington's sitting room, the library
and Lafayette's room.
Historically the reproduction Of the
bed room located on the second floor
Of the original mansion house, called
the Lafayette room, where the marquis
slept during an extended visit at Mount
Vernon in 1893. viii be Of greatest in
terest to the French. The furnishings
are being reproduced here in every de-
tail.
The rug In the west parlor at Mount
Vernon, woven by order of King Louis
XVI Of France and sent by him as q
present to Gen. Washington, is being
reproduced IN y stencil pattern. The
bronze key to the Bastille, which turned
the lock on the same King of France
Louis XVI, at the time of the French
Revolution, when he met his death on
the guillotine, hangs today in a glass
case in the central hall at Mount YER
non, q present years later to Washing
ton by Lafayette, then q general in the
French Republican Army. This key is
being duplicated and sent to Paris, to-
gether with other furnishings Of par
ticular French interest, including q
chair presented TO Martha Washington
by Lafayette, the original Of which is
now In Mrs. Washington'S sitting room
in the old mansion.
American Building Methods Used.
The contract for the erection of the
American buildings in Paris was award
ed on October 10. On October % the
first shipment to France of ITO, 900 feet
Of special millwork and lumber, to-
gether with other materials occupying
1000 cubic feet of hold space, was
loaded on fast ocean freighter and
sent to France.
To speed up the construction work
in France and to make matters easier
for French labor, unfamiliar with Amer
lean building methods, each piece of
lumber was numbered to correspond
with numbers in the architectural de-
tailed blueprintS especially prepared
for the building of the structures over
seas.
Thus the construction of another
Mount Vernon abroad near the banks
of the Seine will be typically modern
American in methods employed, and
the construction job in itself should
constitute an educational example of
our speedy building construction prac-
tees, which are so unlike the European
and foreign colonial erection methods.