Evening star., 1933-12-06
School Building Delays.


long delay in the preparation of plans
for school buildings in Washington, so
that when money is available to build
them, they can be built The protracted
delay over beginning work on the
woodrow Wilson High School has
stirred indignation among the citizens
associations, and their complaint is
justified.
The money for the plans and spec
ifications for this school, greatly needed
to eliminate congestion and over crowd
ing at Western High, became available
July /, 1882. In the next years ap-
preparation bill Congress included
$475,000 to begin construction of the
building, the money becoming available
last July /. But, of course, there has
been no construction, as the plans have
not even been completed. 1t is at least
comforting to learn now that there will
be a burst of speed at the municipal
architects Office, and work may begin
on the building around the first of next
year. But why was there no speed
shown to begin with? Certainly the
District Building has not been showed
under by construction work.
Harold W. Baker, who was brought
here as director of construction" 10
prevent just such delays, explains that
the trouble over the Woodrow Wilson
School plans resulted from insistence
by the Commission of Fine Arts on a
new layout of the buildings, after re-
jecting the first layout. But is COM
murication between the District Build
ing and the Commission of Fine Arts
so difficult that preliminary confer
ence over plans, and general dis
cussion of the broad problems in
volved in a project, is impossible? Is
there any reason why the commits
sions approval in general of the type
of architecture and the layout of a
group of buildings cannot be obtained
informally at the start, or that ques-
tions which arise in the course of plan
ming cannot be settled as they come
up? If there are obstacles to such
procedure, they should be explained.
Perhaps they can be removed.
Commissioner Gotwals and the Fine
Arts Commission, it is true, do not al
ways see eye-to-eye. Local residents
remember the recent Battle of the
Cupola on~the Taft Junior High School,
and the triumphant victory of the non
cupoloists and the anti-doodadists.
Commissioner Gotwals told the House
Subcommittee on Appropriations that
'Mr. Holiday has school buildings
all over Illinois almost two city blocks
long, with nothing breaking the relief
of the roof line, and think they are
handsome" But the Commission OF
Fine Arts does not agree, generally
speaking, with that point of view.
1t is not known whether esthetical
differences of opinion held up the Wood
row Wilson School. The supposition is
that they did not. But the Woodrow
Wilson School plans are not the only
ones that have been delayed. The his
tory of the Calvert Street Bridge plans,
for instance, might I'LL q small book,
and the plans have not yet been placed
before the bidders. The delay in start
ing the Anacostia Junior High School
has contributed to the practical veto
of that construction now, because the
Budget Bureau will not grant an item
in the next years appropriation bill to
continue the construction that might
have been begun this year. AS long as
the Commissioners had authority to
spend money to begin the Anacostia
School they should have spent it. If
Congress would not grant the money to
continue construction that would be
another story.