Evening star., 1934-08-17

When Bertram L. Keyes fashioned
little cardboard houses for his infant
sons Christmas time amusement %
years ago, he thought little of the part
such play houses" might enact in
real construction jobs. When he con-
structed a miniature house from an
architect-friend's drawings ito show
him what his design looked like" he
still had no idea that such pleasant
pastime could have any economic
value to anybody, especially to him.
self.
But then he built a little cardboard
office building from another architects
plans-still more or less for the pleas
ure of the thing-and the little struc-
ture, worked out in absolute scale,
played such an important part in the
final design of that building that
Keyes thought there might be some
thing in this business"
Today Keyes is an outstanding
craftsman in the highly important
business of model building. He has
maintained his own studio in Balti-
more, where more than a dozen men
work under him. He has fashioned
most of the Federal buildings in the
famous triangular development here,
as we'll as many other new struc-s
lures in the National Capitals pro-
gram. The scale model of the triangle
which has been exhibited in the Com
merce Department, Treasury, National
Museum and downtown department
store windows, and which conse-
uuently has been seen by thousands
of persons, was executed by Keyes.
Started as Toys.
And it all goes back to the en-
thusiasm OF a young father to please
his baby.
"I was a craftsman then" Keyes
recalled today as he worked on prof.
ect In the Office of the quartermaster
general of the Army, land I started
making little toy houses for my baby
boy, to put under the Christmas tree
and all that sort of thing. Then when
| I made scale models for those archi-
tects and they were interested I de-
cided that if they were interested per-
haps other people would be. And
they were"
Explaining the use of the model,
KeyeS said:
ITS fairly difficult for a trained
architect to get from his fiat drawings
| a complete idea of how his design will
| look when completed, and it is vir-
tually impossible for the layman to
get any idea at all of the various views
a building will present. But with the
| model-made to accurate scale from
| the original drawings-it is possible
| to turn and twist the structure and
view it from every conceivable angle.
] Designers can place their eyes at
exactly the spot from which the eyes
of persons will view the completed
building and sight through the various
| vistas which such things as arches
and doors will present. If unattrac-
tive features can be discovered then
before ground is broken-the drawings
can be changed. and then. by using
new models built according to the
altered design, the designers will know
/ exactly what their product will be
when completed"
Works With Cardboard.
Most of Keyes' work is done in heavy
cardboard. Sharp knives and an un-
tidy and insignificant looking paste pot
are his tools. Delicate work, his, and
yet the buildings he fashions-some of
them up to 10 feet long and contain
ing no material other than cardboard
are so cleverly braced that they can
be picked up by their ends with not
; so much as a quarter-inch sag in the
unsupported span.
There has been some question about
! the life of these models. Keyes him
self was aslittle concerned about that
until research showed him the exist
ence of at least one cardboard model
that is 500 years old Old enough, he
decided, to satisfy any architect.
Ordinarily KeyeS is very much his
own boss, running his own studio and
bidding on the jobs he desired But
| well, there has been a depression, and
| building has suffered. So. with little
construction, too few architects had