Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-06-10
Cities.
o"s People
Mr.. Burnhum's
Revolution
BY ROBERT ]. LEWIS

N@NS OAAC VI tAlC ICdSOIlS,
apparently, why President
Kennedy believes now is the
time for the Government to
get some modern-style build
ings.
The administrations re-
cent adoption Of its new ar
chitectural policy is designed,
in the classic sense, to be
SubverSive.
What it wants to over
throw is a long-Standing pol
icy established after a sort
of coup d'etat about 10 years
ago.
The leader OF that earlier
revolution was an energetic
architect Of his day named
Daniel Burnham. Like all
leaders of change, he relied
on a powerful symbol and a
persuasive slogan.
His symbol was a cluster Of
immensely impressive plaster
buildings in colossal Roman
style that blossomed along
the shores of Lake Michigan
as the setting for one of
Americas m ost prestigious
worlds fairs.
On this site, said Christie
pher Tunnard and Henry
Hope Reed in their book,
American SKYLINE" had
"riSen an American forum
filled with public palaces,
rich with ornament and
sculpture, to rival even an
.cient Rome"
Some Knocked the preten-
sion at the time," Messrs.
Tunnard and Reed pointed
out, land many have Knocked
it since; yet this temporary
world of staff and plaster
changed the taste of a
Nation"
Such, then, was Daniel
Burnham's persuasive SYM
boil. No less grandiose was his
often-quoted slogan.
Make no little plans" he
said. They have no magic
to stir mems blood. Make
big plans. Let your
watchword be order and your
beacon beauty"
&c &h t..'
1T WAS QUITE obvious
Daniel Durham was an ar
chitect with big things in
mind. He wanted to open the
American peoples eyes to
a vision of grandeur. With
the Chicago Exposition, for
which he was greatly respon-
sible, he had a demonstra-.
ton project of what could be
done to mould America to
his dream.
People rubbed their eyes,
cheered wildly and yelled for
more.
In Washington - Congress
decided - there should be
some grandeur, too. To han
die the job, one man, Daniel
Burnham, stood out. His
chance to make his revolu-
ton complete had come.
As the dominant adviser to
the Mcmillan Commission of
1901, he put his architectural
ideas into effect. AS first
chairman of the Fine Arts
Commission, he set up a
means Of future control.
Il y y
EVEN IN BURNHAM'S day,
there were many who con-
sidered him a false prophet.
Louis Sullivan, one of the
most distinguished of his
contemporaries, saw at once
which way the wind would
blow.
1.-THE damage wrought by
the Worlds Fair will last for
half a century from its date,
if not longer" said Mr.. Sui
Ivan.
Scoring the idea that ar
chitectS should initiate the
Romans and Greeks, another
commentator once said: mo
great work has ever been
written in a dead tongue"
Even those who were in
tellectually sympathetic to
Burnham's vision were prone
to question much of the &C
tual result.
Il 49,
PERHAPS 1T is a bit early
to assess the full flavor OF
the latest of these grandiose
buildings first envisioned fol-
Washington by Daniel Burn
ham.
But representative
Thompson, Democrat Of New
Jersey, didn't think so last
Friday.
To describe the Splendi-
ferrous new House Office
Building, he didn't hesitate
to use such words as mas
sive" and ugly" The build