Evening star. [volume], May 31, 1936, Image 49

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
— FEATURES
Oie taf
ARCHITECTS’ LIBRARY A WONDERLAND OF MATERIALS
« I
ik. __ - - ■ *
j Federal Government Assembles Building
Supplies in Fascinating Display Here, With
Cost Borne Entirely by Fabricators
By John Jay Daly.
IF YOU hear an architect singing
these days, "I Dreamt That I
Dwelt in Marble Halls," he has, in
all probability, paid his first visit
to the new architectural library as
sembled for his convenience by Uncle
Bam down in the Government ware
. house on Seventh street.
From time immemorable, lawyers
> have had reference libraries. An old
r legal custom established by Black
J stone.
Architects have never had anything
J that even closely resembled a library—
t a place where they might go and pour
* over materials, samples, and what
have you.
So, when Uncle Sam wen* modern
istic not long ago, putting in all sorts
of fol-de-rol furniture and up-to-date
hoop-de-doodle-do in his new Govern
ment buildings, the dream of an archi
tectural library came into being.
Although Uncle Sam had the neces
sary space for such a creation, he did
not have the money to spend—strange
asi that may seem in this day of money
spending. So he enlisted the services
of the bulding material manufacturers
—the men who make brick and hew
lumber, who fashion fabricated ma
terials of all kinds—and these fellows
supplied the funds.
As a result. Uncle Sam now provides
the handsomest collection of building
< materials ever assembled under one
' roof—and it didn’t cost the old gentle
» man one red cent.
I That is a startling piece of news,
; when so much criticism is being leveled
• at a spending orgy the like of which
; the world never saw before—or may
* never see again, but It is gospel truth.
* i A LL you have to do to verify this is
* walk down Seventh street, below
* the railroad bridge, to D street south
west, turn into the Government ware
house, and ride the elevator to the
fifth floor. There you will walk
through marble halls that set the
architects singing—and lumber rooms,
and terra cotta rooms and a stainless
steel room.
Talk about interior decoration, why
even the exterior decorators have a
showing here, where all samples of
brick made in the U. S. A. are on
display, where the various stones from
quarries in every State in the Union
are on view, and where stream-lined
aluminum gutter pipes take the place
of old-fashioned tin.
On June 1 and 2, from 2 to 4 in the
> afternoon, all this display of building
material will be on exhibition—for the
* general public. And the general pub
, lie will naturally be interested, lea: al
* *
modt every man and woman has at
some time dreamed of the ideal house
—home. Well, the dream house could
easily be put together from material
now on display at the Government
warehouse.
It seems rather prosaic to say that
j all this architectural glory should be
stored in a warehouse—but you should
see the warehouse. In itself, this is a
masterpiece of Government architec
ture. It houses the procurement
division of the Treasury Department,
| which is in a way of being the old
supervising architect's office—and this
is the office that designs and super
vises the construction of Government
buildings—from post offices in the
smaller towns* and larger cities to the
_
magnificent display of architecture
along the Mall.
Naturally, these architects worked
under handicaps in the past, when
they had no sample room to guide
them. After this, whenever a Gov
ernment architect wants to see just
how material will look in the finished
job all he has to do is stroll down
to the architect's library—and glance
over the reference works.
Admiral Christian J. Peoples W the
director of procurement for Uncle
Sam—and under his experienced eye
must pass all the material used in the
construction of Government buildings.
W. E. Reynolds is assistant director.
L. A. Simon, supervising architect
of the Treasury, has charge of all the
drawings and must pass upon them
before even so much as a bid is
submitted.
Neal A. Melick, supervising en
gineer, lias plenty to do with the
actual work at hand.
'T'HE entire display is under the
A watchful eye of Roy W. Johnson,
a young architectural engineer who
has spent the best part of his career
with the Government.
All these men are mighty enthusl
(1) In the “Aluminum Room” the walls and ceiling
are marble. (2) Fountain, in the center of the “Tile
Room.” (3) Portion of the “Terra Cotta Room” and
lobby. (4) Entrance to the “Brick Room.” (5) New
home of the Procurement Division of the Treasury De
partment, otherwise known as the Government ware
house. (6) Doorway between the tile and terra cotta
rooms. (7) Doorway to the “Wood Room.” (8) The
“Marble Room”j desk is of marble and metal, chairs of
aluminum. _-Photos by Horydczak.
astic about the new architects’ li
brary. Even though there are some
10 rooms—display rooms—now in
order, this is only the beginning. Many
industries have yet to come forward
with exhibits—notably the brass and
copper people.
Just to show how enthusiasm is i
drummed up on this score, former
Representative Edward W. Goss of
Connecticut was down in the ware
house the other day, looking over the
architectural display. He went en
thusiastic over the assembled articles.
From a manufacturing district, Mr.
Goss knows his goods. He comes from
the Brass City—Waterbury.
“We’ll have a brass display down
here, Mr. uoss saia, or i mis* my
guess. And a copper display, too!
“To my mind, this new architects'
library, so-called, beats all similar
exhibits ever put on in America—even
those at the various world fairs. That
is true because this is a permanent
place of exhibit. As I understand it,
architects the Nation over may come
here and see what's what in their
line—and, believe me, America has
about everything the human heart
can desire in the way of building
material."
Immediately after viewing the ex
hibit, Mr. Goss got in touch with a
number of Connecticut and New York
manufacturers, telling them of an op
•t 1 —— ■ III
portunity they’ll miss unless they climb
on Uncle Sam's new band wagon.
While the manufacturers are permit
ted to place various and sundry pieces
of material on exhibit, there is no
advertising permitted, no mention of
firm names. Still, this is not a draw
back.
IT IS said that one manufacturer
could see no return profit in put
ting his goods on exhibit. Finally he
was persuaded to do so from a
patriotic motive. Even though the
exhibit is not yet open to the public,
this manufacturer got back more than
the cost of his wares; for architects
who went to see the library in its
formative stage came across a ma
terial they had been looking for—and
they ordered it to go into new build
ings. Ordered it in such abundance
that a minor boom was started.
The whole display has that effect.
There are so many beautiful pieces
of material that the average human
feels, immediately upon viewing
them, that he must begin building
something. Too. the display is likely
to have a permanent effect upon
home-building. The entire process
' may be reformed.
Women Changing Country Life of World Cross Oceans for Meetings Here
_A ■
—
Washington Host to Great
Gathering From States
and Other Nations.
By Alice Rita Deasy.
ADIES of the manor and sim
ple farmers’ wives are traveling
to Washington this week from
43 States and 21 foreign na
tions in every conceivable conveyance,
from ocean liners to trailers pulled
by the family touring car. More than
7,000 farm women. Including leaders
from Ceylon, South Africa, Prance,
Germany and Palestine, the north
ernmost Canadian provinces, Georgia
cotton fields and Western prairies, are
to attend the Third Triennial Con
ference of the Associated Country
Women of the World, opening in
Washington tomorrow.
Country women’s organizations to
bs represented at the conference are
rapidly making obsolete the conven
tional city dweller’s picture of rural
civilization. They are unostenta
tiously leading a revolution in coun
try life. Isolation and monotony are
disappearing. No longer are farmers'
Interests limited by farm boundaries.
New ideas and activities have replaced
stagnation. Recreation, research pro
grams, libraries, hygiene and disease
prevention campaigns, co-operative
marketing and production and farm
er-owned banks are part of the new
rural world.
No longer is the country woman
just a dependent farmer's wife whose
monotonous round of toll is unre
* ' r
A home demonstration club curb market in Arkansas. Group of women in a local home demonstration club in
Virginia, serving school lunches._
lieved by beauty or recreation. By
organized effort she is becoming a
self-reliant business woman, a mem
ber of co-operative enterprise, an ex
pert home maker and nutritionist.
New knowledge of labor saving is free
ing her for wide interests, vacations
and political activities.
All over the world rural women are
checking the migration of their sons
and daughters to towns by making
farm lift more attractive eyi com*
fortable. In many nations they are
assisting city dwellers, who sought
refuge on farms during the depres
sion, to fit into agricultural life.
Country women have brought hy
giene to the primitive African blacks,
a flying doctor to Australia, foot ball
to the ancient Maoris of New Zealand,
democracy to British rural society and
traveling libraries to the mountain
farms of Southeastern Umjed States.
TJAND In hand with their adoption
of ultramodern methods, farm
women are sponsoring renaissance of
picturesque customs, national cos
tumes and ancient crafts. The Wash
ington conference is exhibiting typi
cal handiwork. Of special interest to
Americans will be the famous War
wickshire loan exhibit, miniature
samples of Warwickshire crafts, cedar
boxes with porcupine quills from Cey
lon, lambskin slippers frtj^n Germany
and peasant costumes of Czecho
slovakia.
The Associated Country Women of
the World unites rural women’s or
ganizations of 37 nations on five con
tinents. It maintains co-operative
relations between farm women’s so
cieties of all nations, furthers their
common interests and fosters forma
tion of new country women’s organi
zations. The international headquar
ters in London is supported by volun
r
Crafts Revived, Modern
Ways Taught, and Service
of All Kinds Provided.
tary contributions of constituent as
sociations. It conducts a triennial
study of an important farm topic.
Results of three years’ research on
the world’s farm-food habits and na
tional food specialties will be pre
sented at the Washington conference.
This unusual woman's organization
was conceived at an informal meet
ing in London in 1929. The first
triennial conference was held in
London in 1930. Three years later, at
the Stockholm conference, a consti
tution and the title. Associated Coun
try Women of the World, were
adopted.
Its forthcoming Washington confer
ence is unique among conventions.
Any rural woman may attend sessions
after payment of a nominal registra
tion fee. Delegates will meet chiefly
for discussion of world-wide farm
problems and achievements of the
past three years.
'T'HE A. C. W. W. conference has
A aroused such interest among
American agriculturists that their at
tendance will be seven times the
original expectations. More than a
score of American rural women's or
ganizations will be represented.
Since 1920 American country
women’s big problem has been to sup
plement low cash farm Income and
(Continued |n Sixth Page.)
Exhibit in Warehouse—Soon Due to Open;
Will Be Permanent and Will Stand as Only
One of Kind Ever Created in This Country
I In the past several years notable
gains have been made in the manu
facture of synthetic materials—and
all these new processes are on ex
hibit. Some of them can hardly be
distinguished from the natural prod
uct
American chemical genius especially
has been at work—and in the Archi
tects’ Library are samples of material
that will make of the American home
a place of extraordinary comfort.
Since the new library was assembled
under the direct auspices of Govern
ment architects—men who work in
the supervising' architect's office —
it is natural that they should take
pride in the exhibit. On the other
hand, they have not lost sight of
their critical faculties. They made
sure that nothing but the finest ma
terial in the land came to Washing
ton for this exhibit.
When these gentlemen say a piece
of building material is good, it stands
ace high. Under their critical eyes,
the manufacturers and purveyors of
building material have assembled the
choice objects of their craft, at an
approximate cost of $100,000, the bill
paid by the boys who solicit business
from Uncle Sam.
Not to be selfish about it, the Gov
ernment officials are going to throw
them architectural reference library
open to all architects of the United
States, regardless of their fields of
operation; whether they design office
buildings in New York or row houses
in Philadelphia and Baltimore.
IT is the first time in all history that
A such a place of study has been open
to the architects. Some attempts, on
a smaller scale, have been made in
other countries; but nothing quite like
this here in Washington.
As you enter the new reference
library your eyes will be greeted by
the finest display of stainless steel
the manufacturers could put together
in small compass—and you will be
dazzled at just what can be done
with stainless steel. Why, they can
even color it so it looks like green
velvet.
Then, there Is a glass display. The
old saying about people who live in
glass houses not being able to throw
stones is out. From now on Ameri
cans can live in glass houses, people
may throw stones, and not a glass will
be broken. There is glass material
strong enough to take the place of
brick—for exterior and interior walls.
Altogether 10 rooms contain all
there is to know, up to now, about
building materials.
Taken separately and individually,
these rooms are:
1. The interior marble room. This
contains samples of polished or honed
samples of domestic marbles, each
piece 18x36 inches and fastened to
the walls side by side so that the
display gives you at a glance Amer
ica's marble show. The floors, too,
are of marble—the only touch of
fabricated material being the celling,
an acoustical treatment that keeps
the voices low. Acoustical tile, they
call It. Indirect lighting enhances
the display. Only thing absent is a
marble staircase. A lamp made of
Alabama marble touches off the place.
3. The exterior stone room. Her*
will be found 191 samples of marble,
(Continued on Fourth Page.)
_