Evening star., 1945-01-27
Patrick 10 Draft Bill
On Apartments for
Congress Members

Representative Patrick, Democrat,
of Alabama today planned to draft
a new bill for construction of an
apartment house for Congress men,
bers after further conferences to
resolve conflicting ideas about size,
location and financing of the prof.
ect which were brought out al a
meeting late yesterday.
A score of House members who
attended yesterdays conference
agreed something should be done to
make it easier for Senators and Rep
resentatives to find places to live
at reasonable prices in Washington,
but could not make up their minds
on what action to take.
Representative Manasco, Demo-
crat, of Alabama suggested that the
problem might be solved without
using scarce materials and manpow-
|er for new construction if the Fed
eral Government would turn back
to housing use some of the many
apartment buildings and hotels
taken over for Office space here.
AAAoAStS VA SOIotTuCttOus
Mr.. Patrick insisted, however, the
problem could be solved only by
construction of special apartments
for which rentals would be controlled
by Congress and said nothing can
stop me-except time and defeat
until I get this thing through"
Representatives Sullivan, Demo-
crat, Of Missouri and Savage, Demo-
crat, of Washington and Puerto
Rico Resident Commissioner Pinero
agreed to meet with Mr.. Patrick
again Monday afternoon and help
him draft a new bill for the project.
A new woman member of the
House, Representative Woodhouse,
Democrat, of Connecticut told the
group that as soon as gasoline ra-
tioning ends most Congressmen's
wives won't want to keep the chill
dren cooped up in an apartment, so
you should get the views of the wives
before you build too big a place"
Don't worry" Mr.. Patrick replied.
You can be sure the wives opinions
will be reflected in whatever action
is taken"
Bilbo's Idea Is Told.
James o. Day, counsel for the Sem
ate District Committee, represented
Senator Bilbo, the committee chair
man, at the meeting.
The Senator's idea, Mr.. Day said,
is that the proposed apartment de-
velopment should be big enough to
house all Senators, Representatives
and their employees.
Mr.. Manasco said he doubted if 1t
would be possible ever to get more
than rs congressional families to
live in one place. Il like to be close
enough to walk to work, and others
want to get away from it," he said.
Pierre Ghent and Burton Corning,
architects, explained to the group
plans for development of a S14,000,-
900 apartment and hotel project on
Temple Heights, Connecticut and
Florida avenues NV, and offered
to work out some arrangement for
giving priority to the housing needs
of Congress members if they would
help get priorities for immediate
construction.
Little Interest Shown.
Little interest was manifested in
this idea, however, after Mr.. Corn
ing estimated that rentals in the
Temple Heights development would
run from $75 a month for one room
to $3.50 month for an apartment
with two bedrooms.
Another local architect, Maurice
F. Moore, presented plans for build
ing a $2,300,000 apartment house
near Connecticut avenue and Lega-
ton street NV, in which he esti-
mated a broom, kitchen and bath
apartment would cost 500 month
The meeting yesterday was called
by Mr.. Patrick at the request of
Representative SABBATH, Democrat,
of Illinois. author of pending
House bill for construction of an
apartment building near the Capitol
to be managed by the Architect of
the Capitol, to consider any sug-
gestionS for amendments.