Evening star., 1946-01-27

Horace M. Albright, president o1
the American Planning and Civic
Association yesterday sent to Pres
ident Truman the historical record
of the views of former Presidents
Fine Arts Commission and leading
architects on the need for preserv-
ing the White House as a home for
Presidents and not as an Office
building.
Attached to letter which he
wrote the President was an appen-
dix prepared by the Joint Commit
tee on the National Capital, which
represents, beside the planning and
civic association, the American In
stitute of Architects, the American
Federation of Arts, the American
Institute Of Planners, the American
Society of Civil Engineers, the
American Society of Landscape Ar
chitects, the Garden Club of Amer
lea, the National Association of Real
Estate Boards, the National Sculp-
ture Society and the National So
ciety of Mural Painters.
Unsuitable for Dual Use.
Here Is the record as presented: ::
1874-A description of the White
House In Keim's Handbook: 1T is
entirely unsuitable for the purposes
to which it is now applied: executive
offices and private residence"
1899-Glenn Browns Memories.
"A craftsman of the Office of Public
Buildings and Grounds made a plan
more than doubling the size of the
building with additions east and
west, each of them larger than the
present White House and ending in
circular towers. The American Insti-
tute Of Architects strongly protested
the proposed addition Protests of
48 art associations throughout the
country were added. President Nc
Kinley listened to the public demand
and ordered the plan abandoned"
Would Lose individuality.
1902-Report of the Mcmillan
Commission: THE historic White
House cannot be enlarged without
destroying its individuality, thus
causing the loss of those character
istic features which endear the edi-
flee to the American people. Removal
of offices is favored by the present
Chief Executive (Theodore Roose-
yelD and to the commission it seems
to be the best solution of the prob
lem possible at this time"
l902-Daniel H. Burnham, first
chairman of the Fine Arts Com
mission: Il shall be very much op-
posed to any structure in the
present White House grounds be-
cause, although called temporary
it would be left there for a life
time"
1902-Report of McKim Meade
and E. White, architects who re-
stored the White House in the
Theodore Roosevelt administration:
To construct within these grounds
building sufficiently large and i'm
posing to stand as permanent Of
fees would be to detract from the
White House itself SO seriously as
to be- absolutely out of the ques-
ton. The one possible solution,
therefore, was to occupy the only
available space with a temporary
building the present west wing)
which should be comfortable within
and inconspicuous in appearance,
leaving to Congress at its leisure
to take up seriously the question of
a permanent, adequate and thor
oughly dignified Office for the Chief
Executive"
Restoration Praised,
1902-1908 - annual message to
Congress of President Theodore
Roosevelt: Through a wise pro-
vision of the Congress at its last
session, the White House, which had
become disfigured by incongruous
addition and changes, has now been
restored to what it was planned to
be by Washington. . 1t should be
kept as it originally was, for the
same reasons that we keep Mount
Vernon as it originally was. - It
is a good thing to preserve such
buildings as historic monuments