Evening star., 1960-01-17
LIKE A MUsTACHE ON MONA LISA
Modern d. Buildings Worry Critic
BY GEORGE WILSON
star stan Writer

Trust for Historic Preservation
sees many Of the buildings
changing the face Of Washing
ton about as appropriate for
the capital city as q mustache
on the Mona Lisa.
DR.. Richard Hubbard How
land, the president, shudders
when he thinks about what
may happen to the capital in
the 1960S. He envisions bull
dozers knocking down the trees
beautifying the most squalid
streets; the wrecker's hammer
crashing against the Old State
Department Building, and face
less Office buildings rising of
historic avenues.
1t Sis DR.. Howland's Job to
worry about these things. The
National Trust, which he heads,
was chartered by Congress in
1949 to facilitate public par
ticipation in the preservation
Of sites, buildings and objects
of national significance or in
tereSt." 1t is the only national
organization Of its kind.
Critical Of Designs
"The thing to remember
about most buildings" DR..
Rowland said yesterday, "is
that they are-or should be-
works Of art. But a building
has an immobility. You can't
hide it or retrieve it or put it
under wraps once it is up, as
you can with a painting or a
statue. That is why it is so inn
portant, especially in the Ma
tion's capital, to show discern
ment ahead of time"
He feels neither the Govern
ment nor private organizations
are showing enough discern
ment in designing buildings for
Washington. He fears Wash
ington will look like a Western
boom town of commercialism
If the current rash of mod
ern" office building spreads.
These so-called modern Of
flee buildings have an enor-
nous banality," DR. Howland
contended. There is no midi
cation Of a top or sides. It is
building by the yard. 1t looks
like a limitlesS amount of erec-
tor sets put together II
these hunks of buildings keep
going up, Washington will look
like Topeka, Kans.. instead of
the Nations capital"
Incredibly Dull" Building
He does not think much of :, :,
Congress handiwork either, as n
expressed in the New Senate =
Once Building. 5, .
1T Is an inept design" he I,
said. Not what one expects to -
find for the Offices of our high
est officials. The building looks !.
like what 1t is: A place entered Il
by subway or from a car =
park. :. There is no principal "
portal. The whole effect is ,
incredibly dull" q
DR.. Rowland likes the Old G
Senate Office Building much
better: 1T shows taste, dis o
cernment and scholarship. The II
design is adopted from the d
east front Of the Louvre. c.
1t is solid and substantial, be-
fitting the place where the
Nations Senators work. The
building has a harmony Of pro- a
portions. :" fl
An archeologist as well as le
an architectural historian. DR.. s.
Rowland feels buildings should o
have character and personality, d
should indicate land usually c
do) the kind of work going on "
inside. His comments on these
three buildings at the inter- Y
section Of Sixteenth and NJ Il
streets NV. illustrate what he
means: =
National Education Associa-
tion Headquarters AN ex-
ample of by the yard con-
struction. There is no top or
sides to the building. Little
character. The overall i'm
preston is bureaucracy, stereo-
types. The building expresses
the mechanics of education
salaries, seniority and the like.
Not the intellectual side. The
real basis Of education-schol-
arship and imaginative think g
ing and the communication Of Il
ideas-would seem not to go on +
inside.|
National Geographic Society
This is fine looking build p
ing. 1t has nice setting and t
Roman Republican lines. The h
building is expressive of the
scholarly work carried on in
side. 1t shows the care and ef-
fort that went into planning t
the building. The design S
shows a regard for proportion. 7
1t has character. We need more ,
Of this kind of careful plan
ming before buildings are con-
structed. :"
American Chemical Society /
Building-"An example of the {
supposedly modern trend Of
having the skeleton of the I
building showing on the out c
side. The design was de- a
veloped 80 years by an archi- i
tect named Mics Van Der Robe.
-. But it is still considered q
pretty advanced here. The i
building will be obsolete in a
few decades. &. 1t gives me the
impression Of scientists work.
ing away in little cells. :" 7
AFL-CIO Headquarters, 8l5 d
Sixteenth street N.W.-"An ex- A
cellent solution of Using mod +
ern materials and design and b
yet giving the building some A
personality. The building T
was designed as a composition. a
-. 1t has forceful entrance C
and definite upper story.
IT ic MT i,,ef n ,to.ooA,.>.sl =