Evening star., 1937-09-18
FORT DRIVE PLANS
SHAPING TOWARD
RAPID COMPLETION
Commission Reveals All But
One Mile Soon to Be =.
Owned by U. S.
SULTAN TO COOPERATE
IN IMPROVING STREETS
Minor Landscaping Changes Made
for Mellon Art Gallery as
Meeting Closes.

Of the 2l miles in the Fort Drive.
linking up the circle of historic Civil
War fortifications around Washing
ton in q pleasure drive, will be in
ownership, the National
Capital Park and Planning Commits
sion has announced. Col. Dan l..
Sultan, engineer commissioner Of the
District, who Is an ex officio member
Of the planning body, agreed to CO.
operate in the improving Of the streets
which enter into the scheme.
The planners, winding up their first
post-Summer meeting late yesterday,
heard a report on the Fort Drive
from their director Of planning, John
Nolen, jr. The commission Is anxious
to see the drive, sponsored IN the plan
of 1901 for the development of the
city, become q reality shortly 80 Is
to aid crosstown traflc and afford
q pleasure highway. With the money
now in hand, Nolen said, all but 1
mile Of the highway will soon be in
public ownership.
The Planning Commission has long
been acquiring the right of way for
the Fort Drive, piecemeal, until today
the Job is all but complete. Tho
major Civil War forts that formed
the defenses Of Washington are now
part Of the city's park system and
notably Fort Dupont Is being de-
veloped by the Civilian Conservation
Corps as a major recreation center.
Gallery Landscaping Approved.
With the exception Of . few minor
changes, the commission approved
landscape plans for the late Andrew
w. Melons National Gallery of Art,
now under construction at Seventh
street and Constitution avenue. The
plans, laid before the commission by
member of the firm of the late
John Russell Pope, architect for the
gallery, show that driveway entrances
will be afforded both on the Constitu-
ton avenue and the Mall sides Of the
building. These, Thomas S. Settle.
the commissions secretary, explained.
will be similar to the driveway Lead
ing into the new National Museum
at Tenth street and Constitution
avenue.
After studying plans submitted for
projected extensions to the new Ma
tional Museum, the commission In
structed its staff and its consulting
architect, William T. Partridge, to
make model Of the altered building.
showing its relationship to the Mellon
Art Gallery. r. w. Bristol, chief
architect OF the Procurement Divi-
sion of the Treasury Department, ex-
planned the plans to the commission.
which desires that the area on tho
north side Of the Mall, between
Seventh and Ninth streets, be treated
as an open plaza, between the gallery
and the museum, opposite the Archives
Building.
The planners looked with favor on
BristoPs proposal that the setback
lines be only 100 feet, rather than l57
feet, west Of Ninth street for the new
National Museum extension. The
planners desire that the gallery and
extended museum harmonic.
Playground Expansion Furthered.
The commission approved the trans
fer OF the northwest corner Of the
Georgetown Playground, at Thirty
fourth and @ streets, on which some
houses are now standing, to the Dis
trict Commissioners, for expansion Of
that recreational area for children.
The commission acquired the land
and the houses are soon to be RACED.
The planners likewise authorized the
transfer Of land at New York and
Montana avenues from the Commis-
sioners to the National Capital Parks
Office.
A number of minor highway
changes, sent over from the District
Commissioners for approval, received
commission sanction. Several appli-
cations for new gasoline filling sta
tions also received the attention Of
the planners and practically all these
were approved, officials said.
The plan to construct an additional
railroad siding into Buzzards Point
was favored by the commission. This
Is planned some two blocks northeast
OF Potomac avenue southwest, Settle.
explained.
Since 1920 land values in the vtctn-
fty OF the Rock Greek and Potomac
Parkway and Constitution avenue and
the Mall have increased as much As
800 per cent, E. Allen Robinson.
property values consultant, told the
commission in a special report. He
emphasized the beneficial effect on
land values, where park areas are Gre
ated, and declared that, shading back
from the park lands, property values
are enhanced 200 per cent and farther
back 100 per cent, depending upon
the proximity.
The commission Is anxious to have
real estate developers contribute part
of their holdings for park property.
thus aiding themselves and stirulat-
ing the value OF their own properties
Tor sale. This has been done notably
by j. c. Nichols of Kansas City. No.
prominent realtor, who is a member of
the National Capital Park and Plan
ming Commission.