Evening star., 1937-02-19
Site Near Tidal Basins Old
Bathing Beach Also
Is Chosen.
ROOSEVELT APPROVAL
OF PLANS REPORTED
Application Pending for Half Of
100000 Needed to Permit
Work to Start.
BY WILL p. KENNEDY.

Commission, at an executive meeting
yesterday, unanimously adopted reso-
lutions naming the site and selecting
the design for the $4,000, 900 memorial.
The plans are said to have received
the unqualified approval of the Presi-
dent at a White House conference
several days ago. Chairman John j.
Boylan OF the commission said that
this action insures the start Of con-
struction work in the near future.
No further legislation Is necessary,
he explained, and an application Is
pending in the Budget Bureau for
immediate appropriation Of $780,
600, half Of the authorized amount,
to start the work.
The site chosen is near where the
bathing beach on the Tidal Basin
was located few years ago. The
memorial is to be on the axis of Mary
land avenue southwest, facing north
to the White House. Pierre Charles
LEnfant, who laid out the City Of
Washington during the time Of
Washington and Jefferson, desig-
mated five cardinal points to be occu-
pied by outstanding structures, Chair.
man Boylan explained, four of which
are already occupied by the Capitol,
Washington Monument and the Lin
coin Memorial, with the White House
on the northern arm of the cross.
The fifth side has been designated
for the jefferson Memorial on the
southern arm of the cross,
Tidal Basin to Be Changed.
The Tidal Basin is to be partially
filled in to afford a properly balanced
site, and the shape of the Tidal Basin
is to be changed to center properly
and form a rejecting basin for the
memorial. Less than 3 per cent Of the
water area, however, will be sacrificed.
Engineering studies have resulted IN
a decision to go down some rs feet
to give adequate foundation for the
memorial structure.
The commission approved the cir
cular plan, submitted by Architect
Pope, who was formally designated as
architect of the memorial. The Ma
tional Park Service was designated by
the commission to act as its executive
agent In connection with construc-
ton Of the memorial.
Since the Thomas Jefferson Memo
rial Commission was authorized to
undertake this work by a resolution
approved in the Seventy Con.
gress many meetings have been held,
various sites considered and number
Of designs studied. In the conception
Of a design for memorial to Thomas
Jefferson, consideration was given to
his record as statesman, q scholar.
architect, third President Of the
United States, the drafter Of the
Declaration of Independence. an
adviser on framing of the Consti.
tuition and founder of the University
Of Virginia.
Drawn to Fit Character.
The design approved yesterday was
especially drawn to At the character
Of Jefferson and the site chosen faces
the White House, which he was first to
occupy and opens towards his native
State Of which he had been Governor.
While the memorial design is of a
distinctive type, properly illustrating
the character of Jefferson, it in no wise
subordinates the Lincoln Memorial,
with which it harmonizes.
The Loncoln Memorial Is said to
be one Of the best examples of cubic
architecture, while the Jefferson Me-
mortal will be an outstanding example
Of circular, spherical or rotunda archi-
lecture.
Pennsylvania avenue ans Maryland
avenue are the two great th)roughfares
having the dome of the Capitol as
their focal points These form, with
the Mall, or Great Central Garden"
Of the L'Enfant plan of 1890, carried
forward by the Mcmillan plan Of
1901, and reaching a fulfllment Of
the great founding forefathers' dream
In the development of the last 10
years.
Writings Studied.
In the conception of an appropriate
memorial to Jefferson immediate con-
sideration was given to the evidences
Of his aesthetic leanings as shown in
works executed under his direction,
and also in his writings and drawings,
which have been carefully compiled by
the memorial commission.
The members of the commission
agreed that in the worlds architec-
ture two forms of the classic type Of
buildings met with his appreciation
as inspiration for buildings in ex.
ceptionally important locations. The
great prototypes of these forms, the
commissions studies disclosed, are
probably best Illustrated by two build
ings which Jefferson seemed to be
most familiar-the Pantheon in Rome
and the Villa Rotunda near Vicenza.
The Pantheon, circular in form,
with columned portico, is a product
Of the greatest period of Roman classic
architecture and Palladio was in
spired many centuries later, from the
same classic source, in his design Of
the beautiful Villa Rotunda.
Pope Is also the architect of the
Archives Building and Of the National
Art Gallery, which is to be the Gift
Of Andrew w. Mellon, former Secre.
tary Of the Treasury.
The decision regarding the Thomas
Jefferson Memorial In no way can bo
construed as minimizing the urgent
need for a great National Auditorium
in washington, although the sugges-
tion had been made that such an
auditorium might be linked with the
purpose, approved by Congress CT
erecting the Jefferson Memorial.
The same leaders in Congress and
the same agencies Of the Government
who have worked hardest for the
Jefferson Memorial are also pledged
to actively support the effort for the
National Auditorium on an entirely
adequate scale.