Evening star., 1937-02-14
By Leila Mechin.

" HERE is an OLD saying tflaC
God made the country, and
man built the city" which
L conveys the inference that the
latter did not do his job very we'll,
but sacred lore sets before us
celestial city as the consummation OF
mans dream of bliss, and in these
later DAYS, through the medium OF
God-given talent, city building has
become an art, and very great art
at that.
Washington has been particularly
fortunate in its builders. 1t did not,
like other cities, lust grow; it was
deliberately and wisely planned.
George Washington selected the site.
after great deliberation. and he and
Jefferson. with the young French en-
gineer, L'Enfant devised plan which
envisioned a city widespread. beau-
tiful and orderly, as the capital OF
Q great nation should be.
A hundred years swept by. and
from a wilderness. a city Of mag
nifcent distances" and small, scat
tered population, Washington had be-
come a national city, with healthy
growth. calculated before many years
to get out of hand, city originally
well planned but arbitrarily devel-
oped, and with glaring incongruities.
The centennial of the removal OF the
seat of government to the District OF
Columbia called attention to the need
of q comprehensive plan for the de-
velopment of the park system along
artistic lines. and resulted In the
authorization and appointment of the
now-famous Park Commission OF 1901.
This commission, backed by Senator
Mcmillan, and composed of Daniel
H. Burnham, Charles F. McKim, Au-
gustus Saint Gaudens and Frederick
Law Olmsted, jr., with Charles Moore
as secretary, after studying the mat
ter carefully, recommended a return
to the original plan by L'Enfant and
adopted as the basis OF its compre-
hersive scheme its cardinal features.
The study was made and the great
plan presented about 35 years ago. 1t
S IlO" pIdCGASdiIs SOiAiP4SSCA.
A survey of this achievement is
given in the report of the Commis-
sion of Fine Arts, which has Just
come from the Government press.
A document of over $50 pages. of
which 81 are given to illustrations.
the story it tells of development and
attainment in the art of city building
is amazing in the extreme. This re-
port covers from 1929 to 1885, with
addenda. thanks to delay in publica-
ton, which practically brings it to
date.
nURING this period, it is truly said,
"the most extensive public build
ing operations ever undertaken by
any government have been begun and
virtually completed" This refers. of
course, to the triangle group of Gov
ernment Offices, of scale and dig
nifty seldom if ever surpassed. Also the
Lincoln Memorial has been suitably
framed" by series of semi-public
buildings erected on the south side of
Constitution avenue west of Seven
teenth street; the Memorial Bridge
has been completed. as well as the
Memorial driveway to Mount Vernon,
new approaches to Arlington have
been built; Rock Creek Park has been
extended so that it now links with
Potomac Park; Analostan Island has
been acquired for park and recrea-
tional purposes: the small parks of
the city, from which it derives so
much charm, have been done over
and given a new lease of life But
Of all, most significant and important
Is the development of the Mall, the
clearing of the vista from the Grant
Memorial at the foot of the Capitol
to the Lincoln Memorial at the other
end of the axis, which is indeed, the
backbone Of the L'Enfant Park Com
mission plan.
This, according to the report, writ
ten by Mr.. Moore, chairman of the
Commission of Fine Arts, is "the
greatest and finest central compo-
sition ever devised by man for a cap
ital CITY," and it is so far completed
today that 'its grandeur and mag
nif1cence may be seen and appre-
ciated by any trained observer" In
length it is greater than the dis
tance from the Palace of the Tuileries
to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
greater also than the distance in Lon
don from st. Paul's Cathedral to
Buckingham Palace. Such COMPARE
sons give one comprehension Of the
magnitude of the scheme.
It is interesting to know that the
plans for the development of Union
Square were prepared by Frederick
Law Olmsted, jr, whose father laid
out the Capitol grounds, and who was
himself, it will be remembered, a
member of the Senate Park Commis-
sion.
The progress that has been made.
and the amount achieved, is the more
remarkable when it is recalled that
the plan of 1901 did not meet with
immediate favor among the law max
ers. This plan, which gave impetus
to city planning not only all over this
country but abroad, was regarded with
considerable suspicion by the Lower
House in Congress, which had not
coucurred in the appointment Of the