Defeat on the East Front

Designed by William Thornton in 1793, approved by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, constructed by Architects Benjamin Latrobe and Charles Bulfinch, the east front of the U.S. Capitol--where Presidents are inaugurated--has long been an embattled front. For more than half a century, proposals to remodel it have been beaten back by defenders of its architecture and its importance as a national shrine. Last week the defenders lost a battle that may mean they have lost the war.

The Last Stand? The current phase of the struggle began in 1955, when the House passed a $5,000,000 appropriation act (increased in 1956 by $12 million) for the expansion of the Capitol, and tied into it provisions to move the east-front wall 32 1/2 ft. forward, replace its sandstone fac,ade with a marble copy. Supporters of the remodeling said that it would correct an "architectural defect" (the dome overhangs the east portico), repair and halt damages caused by time and weather, make room for 42 new offices, new restaurant facilities, one large hearing room and a tourist-free corridor connecting the Senate and House. Said Architect of the Capitol J. George Stewart (no architect but a former civil engineer): "The Capitol is not a museum. It is the live seat of a great government."

This kind of argument was not at all convincing to the defenders, including the American Institute of Architects and a group of historical associations, who charged that the plan had been railroaded through without proper hearings. Last year a bipartisan group led by New Jersey's Republican Senator H. Alexander Smith introduced a bill to block the remodeling. Last week at a hearing on the bill before the Senate Public Works Subcommittee, the defenders took what may have been their last stand.

"Architectural Folly." Calling the plan "architectural folly," architects said that the dangerously deteriorated areas could be restored without demolition, that the relatively high cost of remodeling was not justified by the small space gained, that tearing down the Capitol fac,ade would destroy an invaluable record of early American architecture. They favored the remodeling of the west front only, where more space could be added at less cost in dollars and tradition. Manhattan Architect Lorimer Rich (designer of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier), who has been defending the east front for 20 years, called the plan a "disaster." Said he: We must preserve "those shining stars where we take our children to see the same things their grandfathers saw."

At week's end, while the defenders' bill was still buried in committee, the Commission for the Extension of the Capitol--composed of House Speaker Sam Rayburn (a down-with-the-east-front man), House Minority Leader Joseph W. Martin Jr. (who was against the change), Senate Minority Leader William F. Knowland and Stewart--met under the chairmanship of Vice President Nixon and made a key move. In a split vote (division unannounced), the commission ordered: proceed with the remodeling. It now seems unlikely that Congress will do an about-face and save the old east front.

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