Evening star., 1941-05-04
D. {. Engineers Plan
Final inspection
OF New City Hall
First Agencies to Move
In S., SOC, 900 Municipal
Center This Week

District engineer officials will
make a final inspection of the East
Administration Building of the
Municipal Center at 2:30 pm.
tomorrow as a last step before city
and Federal agencies begin to move
desks and supplies into the new
City Hall Actual use of the
s5,60O.000 structure is scheduled for
May 10. x
About half of the available 224, 900
square feet of Office space in the
building is to be used by the Office
of the Quartermaster General of the
Army and District officials expect
an agreement will be signed this
week under which the United States
will pay pro rata share of main
tenance costs. of the building, in
relation to the portion of Office
space it uses.
There is an understanding the
War Department will vacate its
portion of the building by Novem-
Der /. Lack of working space
urgently needed for defense units
led the United States to requisition
a portion of the city governments
new home.
S Agencies to Begin Moving.
Five District agencies will. begin
Tuesday the task of moving file
cases and other equipment into the
new quarters. The Police Depart
ment and the City Refuse Division,
hope to say farewell to the crowded,
old, rodent-infested buildings on In
diana avenue by the middle of May.
The Health Department Laboratories
and the Fire Department headquar-
tiers staff will be moved from the
District Building, making more space
available there for other munich
pal agencies. The Department OF
Vehicles and Traffic will move into
specially designed quarters in the
new building. leaving space in the
Ford Building for other municipal
units.
Before the building is accepted
from the contractor, final inspection
will be made by Engineer Commits
sioner David McCoach, jr; Maj.
Beverly C. Snow, Assistant Engineer
Commissioner and District director
of construction; Municipal Archi-
tect Nathan c. Wyeth, A. w. Cross
ley, P. w. A. director for the Dis
trict. A. G. Hutson, chief inspector
for the municipal architects office,
and for the P w. A, Col. M. E.
Gilmore, public works commissioner.
and H. M Brown, G. L. Rounds and
j. Hall of the P. w. A. engineer stan.
Second Unit to Be Built.
The new building and compan-
ion building to be erected later to
the west will be separated by a
plaza, centering on, John Marshall
place, with 230" feet separating the
two structures. =.
The portion of the plaza structure
bordering on Indiana avenue Is
reached from the lower portion bor-
dering C street by flight of steps
80 feet wide The cheek-blocks, or
buttresses, fanking the steps will
carry allegorical sculpture in high
relief. Models for the sculpture
have been executed by Lee Lawrie
for the west panel and by John
Gregory for an east panel. Carv-
ing of the stone is to be started
soon.
The principal entrance to the east
building is from c street. The main
lobby is lined with marble and the
floor is decorated with an orna-
mental map of the District, done
in various colors of terrazzo and
mosaic inlays, divided by metal
strips.
Division of Space Made.
Generally speaking, the north
portion of the building will be oc-
cupied by District agencies and
the south side by War Department
workers, except that the Depart
ment of Vehicles and Traffic will
be on the south side of the first
floor. The Police Department takes
various floors in the north portion.
To the east of the building Is a
parking space, in two levels, with
room for about 130 cars There is
space for 10 cars under the central
plaza and for 40 more cars in the
basement of the building. The lat
ter is reserved for police cars.
The connecting wing which di-
vides the large interior court of
the building will be decorated with
two large ceramic murals, which
will depict activities of District
agencies. One has been designed
and is being executed by Waylands
Gregory of Bound Brook, N. j.. and
the other by Miss Hildreth Meiere
of New York City.