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— 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.) _