Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-06-14
Warning to Commissioners
on Light Display Is Given
in Memorandum.
SCENES AT PORTALS
SCORED AS SQUALID
Advertising on River Is Branded
as Objectionable Invasion of
Public Rights.


tol dome and the Washington Monu-
ment tip on Washington's skyline should
be maintained as against any private
lighting visible over wide areas of the
city, the Commission of Fine Arts has
filed with the District Commissioners
memorandum setting forth its views on
good taste and order" in the mat
ter OF regulating outdoor advertising
within the Capital City.
Since every citizen is interested in
Washington as his Capital City, the
commission pointed out, the rights of
the public In the matter of regulating
outdoor advertising signs should be con-
sldered as against private interests
that are prone to exploit the public
for their own peculiar benefit"
The communication, signed by Chair
man Charles Moore, was considered in
detail by the District Sign Committee
at its last meeting and reads in part
as follows:
All authorities concerned with the
City of Washington hold power in trust
for the people CT the United States.
1t Is important to acknowledge this
paramount obligation to the entire
| people. They have retained in them
selves exclusive Jurisdiction over the
District Of Columbia. Today they are
| embarked on project of civic grandeur
never equaled in the history of the
world
The Commission of Fine Arts has
| a keen appreciation of the difficulties
| attending attempts to regulate signs
! in the District of Columbia and at the
same time they recognize the progress
already made, which has given to the
streets of Washington generally more
orderly character than is usual in
American cities.
Signs Menace Order.
There is radical distinction be-
tween sign which shows the name of
the merchant and the character of
the business he carries on at a par
ticular location, and the advertising
sign, which is intended primarily to
compel the attention of the public
The advertising sign is always q
menace to good order, and the greater
| the menace the more successful it is
from the advertisers point of view.
| This is particularly true of electric
signs which use the background of
the night to set off the wares adver-
| tised. Where, as in the case of the
alters, these signs are confined to the
| fronts of buildings, they cannot be
called Objectionable. But where signs
| are used on the tops of buildings in
such manner as to dominate great
areas of the city, they go beyond the
|
owner and force upon the public at
| tention to particular business, and
| the public resents this intrusion upon
their right to the quiet of the night.
ANY private lighting dominating the
! wide areas of sky is a violation OF good
| taste and good order, and so is to be
discouraged and if possible prevented.
| Monument tip should be maintained as
| against any private lighting.
Good Design Ruined.
THE passage of the so-called Ship
stead act. placing under the control of
the Commission of Fine Arts the ap-
pearance of buildings fronting public
buildings and parks, has led the COM
| mission to feel its way carefully. The
passage of the act was fastened by the
design Of building to be erected at the
| corner of Fourteenth street and Penn
| sylvania avenue. AS the result Of OBJ
| iections made publicly in Congress, the
owners erected well designed bull eRg.
| Then this building was so coveree Nv
conspicuous signs that the design
lost completely. Moreover. the ownHi
Eobtained the usual permission to occuty
| frontage three feet deep OF Govern
| ment owned street. thereby destroying
the architectural character of the
building.
I Ills SApSTlSllCS Ids leu IllC SOtIl-
| mission in the case OF business build
ing submitted to them to attempt some
regulation of the signs and absolutely
| to refuse to sanction any encroachment
| on the streets. Insofar as the Com
mission has knowledge, these two steps
| have evoked no protests.
| The commission has had an inter
/ esting experience in the case of the
! new wholesale market on Water street,
4 lflil nf
and effective design. The new market
| was designed to harmonic in proper
| ton with the fish market, in which at
| the time of its construction the COM
| mission took particular interest. AT
| the suggestion of the commission, the
| owners of the wholesale market regu-
| lated the signs and painted the wood
| work a light color The comparison of
| this new private market with the Mu-
| nicipal Fish Market as to the use OF
signs and color presents an instructive
contrast.
Entry Signs Scored.
"The improvement of Water street as
| a parkway connection between the Poto-
mac and AnacoStia Parks cannot be long
| delayed, and meantime measures can be
| taken by the Commissioners to put
AUDITING property in order. It never has
been contemplated in the plans to
change the essential character of occu-
pancy, but markets and like activities
can be made attractive, as they ought to
be. Such signs as have been erected by
a steamship company and an oil COM
pany were designed primarily to force
4 the attention of the multitudes who fire.
quent East Potomac Park, across the
Washington Channel This they do with
all the authority of q highwayman.
Both are examples of Objectionable
signs, in the view of this commission.
1.-THE Garden Club of America, an
organization of women of taste and
patriotism. has raised considerable
sum of money to mark the entrances to
| the District from Maryland and Vir-
ginia, primarily with effective and at
tractive planting In making survey
of these entrances this commission has
found sorry. pot to say squalid. condi-
! tionS.
In submitting these considerations
this commission rps the purpose Of in
ducing the people generally to consider
and to maintain their rights as against
private interests that are prone (being
human) to exploit the public for their
own peculiar benefit.