Evening star., 1933-01-20

Placing Of Fourteenth Street in
Subway Held Feasible With
Extreme Care.
Only modification of the so-called
informal plan for treatment of the
washington Monument grounds, to
bring them into harmony with the
Mall development, should be decided
upon, Lieut.. Col. U. S. Grant, Sd. vice
chairman and executive officer of the
National Capital Park and Planning
Commission, holds in a report trans
mitted yesterday afternoon to Congress
by President Hoover. The report,
evolved from years of study and the
deliberations of special engineering
advisory board, definitely discourages
the Mcmillan Park Commissions 1901
plan for development of sunken gardens
around the base of the Washington
Monument
Col Grant contends the Washington
Monument should be preserved in its
majesty OF simple beauty. Should the
plan of 1901 prevail, Col. Grant saws
that the base of the Washington Monu
ment would have to be carried down
some 30 feet to bed rock. The so-called
informal plan was prepared by Freder-
lex Law OlmStead, jr., until recently a
member of the Planning Commission
ana associated with the 1901 commits
sion, and Henry v. Hubbard of Harvard
University, now member of the Plan
ming Commission. Both are Landscape
architects.
Text Of Recommendations.
Col. Grants recommendations follow:
From the esthetic viewpoint. il
seems to be a case where doctors dis
agree. With SO much in favor of pre-
serving the present setting of the
Monument, and the evident difference
OF opinion among those best qualified
to say what would be better esthetic
treatment for the base, it appears
Wlsest at this time to do the minimum
necessary to bring the roads and plant
ing into relation with the Mall and
Lincoln Memorial grounds, following the
horizontal layout of the informal plan
herewith submitted, but without the
grading operations necessary to carry
the Mall plateau across Fourteenth
street: and so recommend
When and if it becomes necessary
Tor traffic, or other reasons, to depress
Fourteenth street, as it undoubtedly
Will in the next decade or so, and the
cost OF doing this is economically justi-
fled, then the possibility of carrying out
the changes of grade, under passes and
other expensive and disturbing elements
of the informal plan, may more ad-
vantageously be studied, with special
reference TO its merit In. comparison
with the formal plan, also submitted
herewith, or with any other new plan
that may then be thought worthy Of
attention.
Successive Steps Urged.
las drawn, both the formal plan and
the informal plan involve such changes
In the conformation of the ground as
to indicate the advisability of first un-
derpnnlng the Monument, although the
informal plan may be SO adjusted as
to avoid this danger and expense with
only little loss of its essential spirit and
intent. I therefore recommend the
changes necessary to carry this plan
out by successive steps be made from
year to year as individual features be-
come necessary or desirable Estimates
can be submitted in accordance with
this policy. with the regular annual
estimates of the Office of Public Build
ings and Public Parks of the National
Capital under authority of section of
the act approved March 4, 1929 public
Because of the expense involved
'(s70O0OOO to s8.OO0,OOo and the un-
certainty as to the time when certain
related changes will have to be made,
such as the depression of Fourteenth
street, I recommend at this time against
the adoption of any general formal or
other plan that will materially change
the characteristics Of the setting of the
Monument as planned and intended by
its builders
II further recommend that the gen.
eral policy be adopted Of making the
least possible change in the Washing
ton Monument grounds.
The retention of the present char
acter of this park as the central fea-
ture of the city, although with neces-
sary changes in detail to tie it into
changed surroundings. would seem wise
because it has had the approval of at
least two succeeding generations and
because it has consequently become
identified with the Monument itself in
the public mind. 1t would also have
the additional historical interest Of
preserving the most notable and i'm
portant feature of the National Capital
developed and completed during the
period of greatest constructive activity
In the nineteenth century.
Records Missing.
"The great difficulty experienced in
finding reliable records of the work
done in the past and of the reasons
therefor, and the expense incurred in
taking borings and in their study by
outstanding engineers of national repu-
tation, so as to analyze and interpret
them, thus establishing for the first
time a correct description of the sub
surface conditions, justify that this re-
port be printed and the information.
thus gained be preserved"
Col. Grants special engineering Ad-
visory Committee, basing its finding on
the borings made around the base OF
the Washington Monument, emphasized
that the placing of Fifteenth street in
a subway "is decidedly hazardous and
Is not recommended by the board; the
placing of Fourteenth street in sub
way seems feasible provided that ex-
treme care is taken in both design and
construction, and that the details of
the design should be carefully analyzed
before initiating construction; with
reference to loading soil in the vicinity
of the Washington Monument grounds,
It would seem that to place a fill OF
not to exceed 10000 cubic yards be-
tween Fourteenth and Fifteenth streets
might be safe, provided this fill Is very
carefully placed, so as not to give high
local concentration or unsymmetrical
loading at any time, and to the west
ward Of the Monument the engineers
...,. 1f ahny