Show washington T avy X D M N N 1 Y A A federal T triangle ri angle in washington prepared by bv the national geographic society tir washington wash anston D C service UE annual spring rush of tourists T THE to washington is on in t the be nations capital even the perennial visitor is greeted with something g new to enjoy this year new buildings 0 recently opened in and near the great triangle between the capitol and the ellipse will be a feature of a tour of the city gaze down upon the modern washington from an airplane As always the simple grandeur of the white louse house the capitol the lincoln memorial and the towering t washington monument draw the eye and make the heart beat faster dut but near them new wonders have appeared quietly and steadily with so little fuss that residents were hardly aware of it thousands of carloads 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 hill around its base and along broad historic pennsylvania avenue in their place stretch parks wide boulevards or long handsome houses of government in the angle formed by the intersection of pennsylvania avenue and the new constitution avenue beautiful champs or rue de divoll of washington rises a mighty wedge of masonry the famed federal triangle e eight blocks long in this single group Is the most amazing collection of government buildings that the world has seen they make their own weather in hottest summer the air inside Is cooled to the temperature of a fine spring day massive and beautiful in sheer size the cluster of buildings is staggering even from frioni high above it is as it if halt half a dozen or more of new yorks 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 department is longer ono er than the chrysler building is tall but it Is not merely an impression of bigness that one has in the wandering plane long ranks of majestic columns graceful arcades a wide plaza and solid rock walls give a beauty and simplicity that make these enormous newcomers fit corn com for the classic white house and capitol the airplane turns and far off in the distance beyond the capitol dome appears appear s a gleaming 1 camin white marble te temple ill comparable in beauty even to the noble lincoln memorial this Is the new united states supreme court building the only real home of its own that the nations highest court has had for the first time in american history a citizen now might gaze upon the separate permanent abodes of the three branches of his government legislative the capitol executive the white house and now for the judicial long sheltered in the old senate chamber this temple whose dignity and impressiveness match the majesty of the law itself suspended in history As you cruise about other splendid white 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 memorial highway leads to the home and tomb of the father of his country from the steps of the capitol all the way down to the river two and a third miles away sweeps a broad stretch of tree dotted park land gone is much of the mushroom growth of temporary wart wartime line structures their removal gives alves new beauty to this mall main feature of the grand plan conceived by the revolutionary soldier artist maj pierre charles lenfant LEn tant when he laid out this city with broad sweeping prophetic strokes to be the capital of a vast country hanging between earth and sky you seem suspended in history halfway between the past and the unfathomable future how would the city look a hundred years hence or twenty or a thousand 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 under underground round beneath a broad lawn Is a subterranean garage in which senatorial cars can be parked supreme court building but to look upon the latest crowning glory of capitol hill one should stand on the front steps of the capitol where presidents are inaugurated and see the new supreme court building its beauty heightened by the green of trees and grass it occupies a historic site early patriots in powdered wl wigs 0 s forgath ered at a famous old h hotel 0 tel run by william on this spot before the war of 1812 after the british burned the capitol in 1814 a building erected here housed congress until the marks of the torch were erased in civil war times it was used as a military prison everything about the supreme courts home Is on a majestic scale look at those blocks of marble one it at each side of the steps each block weighs 45 tons they are two of the heaviest marble blocks ever brought into washington 0 the two bronze doors weigh pounds apiece the eight corinthian columns are 51 feet high the pediment above them catches the eye not alone for its size but f for or its interesting sculptures in which the features of historic or living men are recognized inside the massive bronze portals a main hall lined with 30 stately columns each made from one solid piece of stone leads to the courtroom where the nine black robed justices sit at their own request the room was made only about GO CO per cent larger in floor area than the old supreme court room in the capitol behind the courtroom are th the oak paneled offices of the justices each of whom will have about as much space as all had together in the crowded capitol only three had offices there at all and most of the members of the court do much of their work at home to assure the justices privacy the new buildings corridors can be c closed by big bronze gates wonderful libraries in the folger shakespeare library down the street reposes a fine collection of books and elizabethan treasures even the supposed corset of queen elizabeth solemnly stowed away in a vault and shown only to a chosen few behind the library of congress an annex almost to double its ca capacity Is being built although already it is the largest library in the world with more than books pamphlets pieces of music mu sic and other items at the latest count down from capitol hill past a shining new house office building lately reared beside the first one the trail of the new washington leads to pennsylvania avenue halfway along the avenue between the capitol and white house there stretched oft to the left in the early days of the city a dreary swamp where Washington washingtonians lans ians were wont to shoot reed birds 11 A an n energetic government hit upon this location as a key point in its building program here would rest the tip of the federal triangle wrecking operations began bean be an scientific ried pled pipers from the agricultural department disposed of the rats which at first devoured the work mens lunches on this unlikely site now st stands aads a structure in many ways unique the national archives building |