Evening star., 1934-02-12
TELLS OF CAPITAL
IN L|NCOLN'S DAY
Fine Arts Chairman Says
Building Boom Was Un-
der Way Then.

washingtonians who take just pride
In the gigantic Federal building pro-
gram being expedited with millions Of
public works funds are inclined, per-
haps, to feel bit contemptuous of
the Washington of Abraham Lincoln s
day, then regarded as the most slov-
enly Capital in any civilized country.
Yet so well informed an authority
as Charles Moore, chairman Of the
Fine Arts Commission, in talking on
Lincoln In Washington" before the
Congressional Club Friday afternoon,
reminded witnesses of today's develop
ments that Washington then was ex-
periencing an era Of public building
quite comparable TO that which
greeted President Franklin Roosevelt's
advent"
Mr. Moore, who now Is taking a
major part in carrying out the plan
of Maj. Pierre L'Enfant for future de-
velopment Of the Capital, drew con-
traSting picture Of the two Washing
tons with q wealth Of anecdotes and
incidents from the life Of Lincoln and
his associations with the city in which
he first appeared as a homesick Con-
gresham In March, 1847.
Was Most SIovenly Capital.
With respect to some of the archi-
tectural designs Of this now forgotten
building era, Mr. Moore cited some Of
the structures of later day as a
warning to would-be innovators."
Invariably and inevitably the
forces of hlArnan nature and Of
civilization reassert themselves" he
warned, sweeping to destruction the
modernist and his house built on the
shifting sands of popular favor"
To-day We talk of Washington as
one Of the beautiful Capitals of the
world" he said. I'm Lincoln's day,
this Capital, with its $4,000 people,
had the reputation of being by all
odds the most slovenly, ill-built, for
lorn seat of Government in any civil
lied country. Pennsylvania avenue
had rutted cobblestone pavement.
Along the present Constitution avenue,
sluggish creek, known as the Tiber,
more sewer than canal, made its slow
way to the Botanic Garden, then
turned off to the present War College.
The residence portion Of the city was
along F and G streets and around
Lafayette Square.
Yet, incredible as it now seems,
Washington was then experiencing an
era of public building quite compar-
able to that which greeted President
Franklin Roosevelt's advent. The
Senate and House wings of the Capt.
tol were nearing completion, and the
dome was rounding to those superb
proportions which mark it as one
of the half dozen most satisfactory
domes Of the world. The extension
Of the Treasury was in progress The
Interior Department patent Office)
and the General Post Office across p
street, were nearly finished.
Many Building Projects.
''Mr. W. w. Corcoran, most liberal
and wisest of Washington benefactors,
had built his Art Union, now the
Court Of Claims. An abundant supply
Of water was about to come from
Great Falls through conduit cross
ing Cabin John Run by the then
largest stone arch in the world
Horse-car tracks were being laid from
the Navy Yard to Georgetown, and
up Seventh street to Boundary.
Robert Mills, brought up in JEFF
ferson's household and trained under
Latrobe and Bulflnch, had ruled Gov
eminent architecture for half a CEN
tury. Now he was yielding place to
Thomas U. Walter, whose plans for
the extension of the Capitol had been
preferred to those of the elder archi-
tect. Through all changes the archi-
tectural style adopted by Washington
and Jefferson and exenplifed by
Thornton in the Capitol, Hoban In
the White House, and Hadfield in
the Court House, had been adhered
to by their successors. This style,
based on classical precedents, seemed
to the fathers the one style used by
cultivated men visibly to express ideas
Of dignity, power and grandeur.
Three Notable Lapses.
'Three notable lapses into the So
called modern architecture of their
day came later-the State, War and
Navy Building, the Pension Office,
and the Richardsonesque Post Office
Department on Pennsylvania avenue
are now marked either for destruction
or for such remodeling as will bring
them into harmony with both their
dignif1ed predecessors and also with
the new structures Of the Triangle.
In these revolutionary days Of new