Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-03-10
New Bill Proposes
Work on East Mall
L-euse-Purchuse
Would End With
Proposal

Mall between the Capitol and
the Anacostia River for Fed
eral buildings has been pro-
posed in a bipartisan measure
revising the Public Buildings
Act of 1926.
Representatives Jones, Dem.
ocrat Of Alabama. and With
row. Republican of Wisconsin,
introduced the bill last night in
the House.
They included the provision
for locating a Federal COM
munity within the bounds Of
the District in the first major
legislation proposed this session
for a unified Government build
ing program.
The major change in the bill
is a new requirement that both
Senate and House Public Works
Com m ittees must approve
building plans before any con-
struction funds may be APP
Ipropriated.
MOdernized Powers
The bill would modernize
condemnation powers Of the
General Services Administra-
ton throughout the Nation.
The administrator would be
authorized to construct Federal
Offices financed by direct appro.
Ipriations. Thus, the bill pro-
poses to kill once and for all
the old leaSe-purchase system
Of financing abandoned last
year by congressional appro-
Ipriatlons committees.
Prompt hearings are expected
because Mr.. Jones heads the
Public Buildings Subcommittee
which will handle the legisla-
ton.
Confers With Officials
He included the East Mall
after consultation with officials
of the administration, the Ma
tional Capital Planning Com
mission and the Capitol Archi-
tects' Office.
It would set up a Federal
taking area" between ConSti-
tuition and Independence ave-
nues, Second street NE. and
Sc. and the Anacostia River
between c street, Twenty-first
street, Constitution and North
Carolina avenues NE.
Envisoned in the area is a
grassy tract balancing the Mall
on the west side Of the Capitol
to the Potomac River.
Capitol Architect ]. George
Stewart plans to put legisla-
tive Offices on the stretch near
est the Capitol building. This
conflicts with long-range pro-
posals of the National Capt.
tai Planning Commission to
line UP administrative Offices on
each side of the terraced strip.
Block Set Aside
In addition to the East Mall,
the block just west of the Old
State Department Building was
designated as a new Federal
taking area. The former Emer-
gency Hospital. now occupied
by the Federal Aeronautics Adj
ministration, is located in the
tract. bounded by Seventeenth.
Eighteenth and F streets and
New York avenue NV.
This designation is expected
to be protested by the American
Institute of Architects, located
in the historic Octagon House,
1735 New York avenue NV.
The Octagon House was ex-
empted from a Senate-paSSed
bill last year setting the same
bounds around the block for
Federal acquisition.
An institute spokesman said
today he would examine the
new legislation and seek a sim
liar exemption for the House.
1t served as the Presidential
residence. for President James
Madison after the British
burned the White House in the
War of 1912. AS such, it prob
ably should be preserved as a
national shrine, the spokesman
said. but so far, Government
planners have agreed to let the
institute maintain the place.
Also set aside for Federal
buildings in the Jones bill are
eight separate tracts and the
central Federal Triangle area.
already designated by law as
land liable to Federal condem-
nation.