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Show " WASHINGTON T W J i r tTvs,K"'!.-. i 1ST- r3. J',- v7 - - X-2 ' v , J i f "a. - - - i "Federal Triangle" in Washington. Prepared by National Geographic Society, Washington. L. C. W.N'U Service. THE annual spring rush of tourists to Washington is on. In the Nation's Capital even , the perennial visitor Is greeted with something new to enjoy. This year new buildings, recently opened, In and near the great triangle between be-tween the Capital and the Ellipse, will be a feature of a tour of the city. Gaze dowD upon the modern Washington from an airplane. As always, the simple grandeur of the White House, the Capitol, the Lincoln Lin-coln Memorial and the towering Washington monument draw the eye and make the heart beat faster. But near them new wonders have appeared. ap-peared. Quietly and steadily, with so little lit-tle fuss that residents were hardly hard-ly aware of it, thousands of carloads car-loads of stone and metal whole mountains in the aggregate have been hauled .into the city and reared Into monumental buildings. Acres and acres of old, unsightly structures have been razed on Capitol Cap-itol Hill, around its base, and along broad, historic Pennsylvania avenue. ave-nue. In their place stretch parks, wide boulevards, or long, handsome houses of government. In the angle formed by the intersection in-tersection of Pennsylvania avenue and the new Constitution avenue, beautiful Champs Elysees or Rue de Klvoll of Washington, rises a mighty wedge of masonry, the famed "Federal Triangle." eight blocks long. In this single group is the most amazing collection of government buildings that the world has seen. Beneath the roofs of this Triangle Tri-angle work nearly 20,000 government govern-ment employees, about as many as the entire population of Batavlu, N. Y., or Daytona Beach, Fla. Every lay dozens of people get lost In Its 20 miles of corridors. Massive and Beautiful. In sheer size the cluster of buildings build-ings Is staggering. Even from high above. It is as if a dozen or more of New York's tallest skyscrapers have been laid on their sides, formed Into a blunted arrowhead, and cut and twisted to make courts and wings. One unit the Commerce Com-merce department Is longer than the Chrysler building Is tall. But it is not merely an impression of bigness that one has in the wandering wan-dering plane. Long ranks of ma-jeslic ma-jeslic columns, graceful arcades, a wide piuza, and solid rock walls give a beauty and simplicity that make these enormous newcomers Bt companions com-panions for the classic White House and Capitol. The airplane turns, and far off in the distance, beyond the Cap-'ilol Cap-'ilol dome, appears a gleaming white marble temple, comparable In beauty even to the noble Lincoln Memorial. This is the new United States Supreme Su-preme Court building. Hie only real home of lis own that the nation's highest court lias had. For Hie lirst time In American history a citizen now might gaze upon the separate, permanent abodes of the three branches of his government legislative, Hie Cap-llol; Cap-llol; executive, the White House, and now, for the judicial, long sheltered shel-tered In the old senate chamber, this temple whose dignity and lmpres-sivenoss lmpres-sivenoss match the majesty of the law Hself. Suspended in History. As you cruise about, other splendid splen-did while buildings appear, new jewels In the familiar setting along the Potomac. Beyond the Lincoln shrine the new Arlington Memorial bridge links north and south. Down the Virginia shore of the winding river a wide Applan way. the Mount Vernon Ver-non Memorial highway leads to the home and tomb of the Father of Ills Country. From the steps of tile Capitol all the way down to the river, two and a third miles away, sweeps a broad stretch of tree-dotted park land. Cone Is much of the mushroom growth of temporary wartime structures. struc-tures. Their removal gives new beauty to this Mall, main feature of the grand plan conceived by the Revolutionary soldier-artist, Maj. Pierre Charles I. 'Enfant, when lie laid out this city with broad, sweep ins;, propheik' strokes to lie the cap ilal of a vast country. Hanging between earth and sky. ymi seem suspended in liistor halfway horween the past and unfathomable future. How would the city look a hundred years hence, or twenty, or a thousand? For months now, returning travelers trav-elers from Timbuktu or Teheran and pilgrimaging citizens from Dodge City or Dubuque have been pausing on emergence from Washington's Wash-ington's Union station and uttering exclamations of admiration and surprise. sur-prise. No wonder! Instead of ugly brick walls and tar-paper shacks of World war vintage, a splendid park cut by wide drives sweeps across to the Capitol. In the midst of the magnificent plaza, if it be summer, a fountain plays, its water glowing with subdued colored lights. The Senate Office building, off there at the left, has had its face lifted and a handsome face it now is, with a long row of Roman Doric columns. A street car line that once marred the scene dips discreetly underground. un-derground. Beneath a broad lawn is a subterranean garage iu which 270 senatorial cars can be parked. Supreme Court Building. But to look upon the latest crowning crown-ing glory of Capitol lull one should stand on Lhe front Steps of the Capitol, Cap-itol, where Presidents are inaugurated, inaugu-rated, and see the new Supreme Court building, its beauty heightened height-ened by the green of trees and grass. It occupies a historic site. Early patriots in powdered wigs foregathered foregath-ered at a famous old hotel run by William Tunnicliff on this spot before be-fore the War of 1S12. After the British burned the Capitol in 1S14, a building erected here housed congress con-gress until the marks of the torch were erased, la Civil war times it was used as a military prison. Everything about the Supreme court's home Is on a majestic scale. Look at those blocks of marble, one at each side of the steps. Each block weighs 45 tons. They are two of the heaviest marble blocks ever brought into Washington. The two bronze doors weigh 3,000 pounds apiece. The eight Corinthiarr columns are 51 feet high. The pediment above them catches the eye, not alone for its size, but for its interesting sculptures in which the features of historic or living men are recognized. Inside the massive bronze portals por-tals a main hall lined with 3G stately state-ly columns each made from ona solid piece of stone lends to the courtroom where the nine black-robed black-robed justices sit. At their own request re-quest the room was made only about 00 per cent larger in floor area than the old Supreme court room in the. Capitol. Richly colored marble col umns and sculptured panels lend beauty to the lofty chamber, 47i feet from floor to ceiling. Wonderful Libraries. In the Folger Shakespeare library, down the street, reposes a line collection col-lection of books and Elizabethan treasures, even the supposed corset of Queen Elizabeth, solemnly stowed away in a vault and showed only to a chosen few. Behind the Library of Congress an annex almost to double its capacity ca-pacity is being built, although already al-ready it is the largest library in the world, with more than 9.S-10.0OO books, pamphlets, pieces of music, and other Items at the latest count. Down from Capitol hill, past a shining new House Ofiiee building lately reared beside the first one, the trail of the new Washington Washing-ton leads to Pennsylvania avenue. In some of Its now vanished buildings build-ings masses of rubble and ruined walls then the first bricks flew In the "bonus army" riots of 1932. Halfway along "The Avenue," between be-tween the Capitol and White House, there stretched off to the left In the early days of the city a dreary swamp where Washingtonians were wont to shoot "reedbirds." On this unlikely site now stands a structure In many ways unique the National Archives building. Here for the first time is a worthy, safe and permanent home for the precious records of the nation, na-tion, some scrawled in failed Ink on yellowed paper by early patriot i hands, others punched out on modern mod-ern typewriters, or even contained in sound motion-picture films which will be preserved and shown hole. To guard against deterioration to keep Father Time at bay as long :is possible both sunlight and natural nat-ural air are barred from the archive storage sections, which are window-less. |