Evening star., 1936-12-02
SHRINE
IS LIKELY TO GET
TIDAL BASIN SITE
Spot on South Side Picked
Tentatively for $1,000, 900
Structure.
FINAL DECISION WAITS
UNTIL ABOUT JAN, is
Change Would Be Made in Shore
Line to Provide More Pro.
nounced Promontory.

A site on the south side of the Tidal
Basin facing northward toward the
Washington Monument virtually has
been selected as the site of the So
000, 900 memorial to Thomas Jefferson,
third President of the United States.
This location was favored by men,
bers Of the Thomas jefferson Memo
rial Commission created by the Sew
enty-Fourth Congress at an executive
session yesterday at the commission
Offices in the old House Office Build
ing.
Meantime. Government engineers
estimated that foundation costs for
the projected memorial would be sire
mendous." This estimate was based
on an examination of records that
show sub-surface conditions in that
area. A small fortune would have to
be spent underground, engineers said.
to sustain the pretentious structure.
Several difficulties we're foreseen by
the engineers, because. they said, the
memorial in that area would take a
considerable portion of the eastern
section Of the Tidal Basin. This, they
contended, would reduce materially
the volume of water utilized to flush
out the Washington Channel. The
Tidal Basin permits water to flow in
through the inlet gate and then. when
the tide goes out. flushes the Wash
lngton Channel by way Of the outlet
gate at Fourteenth street.
Subsurface Conditions.
Borings for subsurface conditions
show that the United States Engineer
Office has gone down 70 feet at the
Tidal Basin, near where the Jefferson
Memorial is proposed and has not
reached a solid foundation. officials
said. The inlet and outlet bridges are
not on solid rock. but are constructed
on 75-foot piles, cut of feet below
the water line.
Solid rock was encountered at the
Highway Bridge 110 feet down. The
Inlet Bridge has settled on either end
4 or 5 inches, causing it to crack IN
the middle. but officials said today
that this is not considered a danger.
GUS condition. although it does show
construction difficulty.
The Ericsson Memorial. which is %
Gated southwest of the Lincoln Men,
orial on the banks of the Potomac
River. has settled some 6 inches, but
not uniformly, fitting toward the west.
The approaches to the Arlington
Memorial Bridge. where it is around
40 feet to bed rock. have settled as
much as l8 inches, but these do not
rest on a solid foundation, although
the bridge proper does.
Parks Board Program.
The National Capital Park and
Planning Commission has been con-
sidering a program under which Inde-
pendence avenue would be extended
down near the Potomac River. If this
is carried out. the northern section of
the Tidal Basin would be cut off. fur
ther reducing the volume of water.
Frederic A. Delano, chairman of the
National Capital Park and Planning
Commission, declined today to make a
public statement on the Congressional
Commissions projected choice of the
Tidal Basin site for the Thomas JEFF
ferson Memorial. He said that the
Thomas Jefferson Memorial Commits
sion may request his body to con-
slider the program and he does not
feel like saying anything in advance.
H. P. Caemmerer, executive secre-
tary of the Fine Arts Commission,
said that his commission has always
stood for that Site" expressing pleasure
that the congressional group has fav-
ored the Tidal Basin area. Caemmerer
made it clear, however, that no design
has been submitted to his commission.
That site has always been con-
sidered for a great memorial" Caem-
merer declared. 1T is in the WASH
! ington plan and the commission of
1901 designated the south axis as the
site for a memorial to the founders OF
the Republic. The Thomas Jefferson
Memorial is in keeping with that
plan"
Final decision on both the site and
plan for the memorial probably will
be reached at another meeting of the
commission about January Is, accord
| ing to Representative John j. Boylan
of New York, chairman.
Two plans for the memorial have
been presented to the commission by
John Russell Pope, architect. who has
designed some of the outstanding
architecture of the Federal Govern
ment's new building program. One
plan provides a circular-shaped struc-
ture, the other a cross-shaped one. No
decision on these has been reached by
the commission, Boylan said.
May Exceed Lincoln Memorial.
The Jefferson Memorial will rival, Il
not exceed in size, the Lincoln Memo
rial. Under tentative plans. it would
be 100 feet high, as compared with the
80 feet of the Lincoln structure. The
outstanding feature of the Jefferson
Memorial would be statute of Jeffer-
son himself, in heroic size.
The Memorial Commission, Chair
man Boylan said, is working closely ir
cooperation with the National Capita
Park and Planning Commission and
the Fine Arts Commission.
At the session yesterday, those ir
attendance in addition to Boylan, in.
cluded Senator oLnergan, Democrat
Of Connecticut; Representative Smith
Democrat, of Virginia; Stuart @. Glib.
honey, president of the Thomas Jefs.
erson Memorial Foundation. which
purchased and maintains Monticello
the home of Jefferson; DR.. Fiskl