Evening star., 1936-03-18
This is the fourth OF series OF
sir articles on the progress OF
Resettlement Administration prof.
ects in Maryland and Virginia.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

BY THOMAS r. HENRY.
A foreSt-fringed city at the head OF
a blue, sail-dotted lake.
Tinted roofs like islands in a sea
of treetops, rose-covered brick houses,
children gamboling on shaven
lawns
A population of cultured but low
salaried Government workers and of
brides and bridegrooms getting their
starts in life
Such, in brief outline, is the project
ed picture Of Greenbelt, the resettle-
ment administration model suburban
development 10 miles from Washing
ton. It is the most advanced of four
similar projects now under way, to
cost an estimated total of S3l 600, 900.
The three others are at Milwaukee,
Cincinnati and Bound Brook. N. J..
Except for variations in details, all
will follow the Greenbelt pattern.
Such is the picture of Greenbelt in
the Office of Wallace Richards, in
active charge of the project, on the
fourth floor of the Walsh mansion on
Massachusetts, avenue, where the draw
ing boards of engineers and architects
fill the rooms, once a center of Wash
ington's society life. They are build
ing a city" on each floor.
AS for Greenbelt itself, 10 miles
from Washington and back of the old
town of Berwyn-it takes little i'm
agination in this dirty, muddy sea-
son to convert the 2o00-acre tract
| hewn out of scrub forest and worn-out
farmland into picture that might
have been lifted from an illustrated
edition of the poems of Alfred Tenny-
son. But when one stands on the
wooded shore of the lake-to-be the
imagination tension is relaXed-for it
is shaping up like the architects pic
ture.
100 Men at Work.
There are 1,700 men at work trans
| forming the mud hole and brush pile
into the dream city. Just now they
are at the dirty stage Of the work
| the stage of muddy boots - through
which all dreams must pass in their
transition to reality. These men are,
for the most part, from the transient
camps of Washington and Baltimore.
They are directed by skilled engineers
and artisans. The Resettlement Ad-
ministration has, at least, taken this
much of the relief burden from both
cities.
Greenbelt, says Mr.. Richards, will
be ready for Christmas-even if there
are to be no chimneys in the oil
heated houses big enough for Santa
Claus to get down. The other ready
made cities probably will require q
little longer. Whatever may happen
between now and the material re-
alization of the dream of the poet
architects, there can be no question
but that work is going on feverishly
out their in the woods.
At present, of course, one must write
of Greenbelt and the other projects
| in the future, as Mr.. Richards and
| the architects see them. They are
projected as communal forest cities
with the country brought to the very
doors of the houses. They are not to
be subsistence homestead develop
ments, with the inhabitants gaining q
part of their livelihood from the sur
rounding land. They are not to be
populated by folks from the slums
| but by substantial citizens seeking
commodious quarters at low rents
They are planned especially for newly
married couples trying to get a start
in life. They are planned as units
just as much as a city apartment
house. They will be owned and man.
| aged as units.
| Part of the inspiration came from
the garden city movement in England
which never quite achieved its objec.
tives. 1t is a favored project of DR.
Rexford G. Tugwell, head of the Re
settlement Administration, which had
thrown at its feet, without asking fol
them, the problems Of the old subsist-
ence homestead division Of the Inter.
ior Department and is trying to make
the best Of them.
Enthusiastic Fight On.
| The realization Of the dream oi
Greenbelt, of course, remains for the
future, but few men ever have fought
mud, red tape and Incidence more
enthusiastically to transform a picture
from Tennyson into tangible brick
stone and bathtubs than MIR. Rich.
ards.
The new town is being built in the
form of a horseshoe, with a broao
1 helt of woodland arollnd IL
The rim of the horseshoe is low
crescent-shaped plateau. The houses
are to be erected around the heel OF
| the horseshoe. There will be 1,00C
of them, extending about quarter OF
the way down both sides Of the pla-
teau. Foundations are complete for
| 100, and so are advanced to the stage
of the first floor. They are being put
up In blocks of from two to eight