Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-05-29
By Edith Porter L0bish

of the Patent Office and Treasury Department.
His salary was $1,000 a year. Later is was
increased to 81, 900.
Through competition Mills chosen
architect Of the Washington Monument. To-
gether with scores of other American artists
he submitted in 1886, design for the memo
rial. His plan was selected as the most fitting
AS originally designed, the Monument was to
be an obelisk 500 feet high, rising from cir
cuar colOnnaded building 100 feet high. An
equestrian group was planned to adorn the
portal. while the interior to be spacious
gallery for statues and paintings of the Rev.
olution.
BECAUSE the society for the erection of the
u Monument had difficulties raising the neces-
sary funds it not until 1848, when the fund
had reached $4,000. that Congress granted
authority for work to begin on the memorial
Where the Monument now stands Is not the
actual location selected by L'Enfant. 1t Is
to the east and south because of the
elevation and firmness of the ground.
Beneath bright sky surrounded by the
notabes Of this country and foreign lands,
Robert Mills pronounced this charge at the
laying Of the. corner stone, July 4, 1913:
Look well to the erection Of this national
monument, see that every stone is well squared,
and that it is placed in its position both level
and plumb, that the noble Offering of a Ma
ton to commemorate greatness, patriotism and
virtue may stand until the end Of time"
Mills did not live to see the monument COM
pleted. Indeed at the time of his death in
1885, the shaft was little more than 100 feet
high The final dedication was February
81, 1885. The cost was computed to be
$1,000, 600.
James Hoban, who had been Mills first
guide in architecture was a young architect
from Dublin, Ireland. He won the $500 prize
for his plan for the White HouSe-the "PreSi-
dents House"
That America still is as proud of the beauty
Of the White House today as it in 1900,
when President and Mrs John Adams moved
in, is proof enough of James Hobans ability.
A charming description Of the White House in
the days Of early America appeared in a Lon
don publication Of 1910:
The residence of the Chief Magistrate Of
the United States resembles the country seat
OF an English nobelman in its architecture and
size, but it is to be regretted that the parallel
ceases when We come to the grounds. BY it
self, 1t Is commOdious and creditable build
ing serving its purpose without too much state
for a republican country. yet likely, as long as
the country exists without primogenture and
rank. to be sufficiently superior to all other
dwelling houses to mark it as the residence Of
the Nations Chief.
The interior Of the Presidents House Is wen
disposed and possesses one superb reception
room and two oval drawing rooms tone In each
story Of very beautiful proportions. The
other rooms not remarkable, and there is
an inequality In the furniture Of the whole
house lowing to the unwillingness and piece
meal manner in which Congress votes any
moneys for its decoration) which destroys its
effect as a comfortable dwelling. The oval
room is carpeted with Gobelin tapestry, work
ed with the national emblems. and are alto
gether In q more consistent style than the
other parts OF the house. 1t is to be hoped
that Congress will not always consider the
furniture Of the Presidents House as the
scapegoat Of all sumptuary and aristocratic
SINS and that We shall soon be able to intro