Evening Star Newspaper, January 4, 1942, Page 29

By John Clagett Proctor. If everything goes as planned, & new Federal building will soon be begun in square 167, just to the north qf what is known as the State War and Navy Building, and which will probably be used by the Department of State. In- deed, the occupants of the property along Seventeenth street from Penn- sylvania avenue to H street, and those controlling an interest in property for some distance east of Seventeenth street and Pennsylvania avenue, and the own- ers of property on H street, east of the corner of Seventeenth street to the De- catur residence, are said to have been given notice to vacate the property by the coming January 5. This means that the Court of Claims, which occuples the early Corcoran Gal- lery of Art Building, must soon move elsewhere, and the cccupants of 715 and 717 Seventeenth street, and the Lotus Lantern Lunch and the intervening parking station must seek quarters in some other place, if this is possible. The tenants occupying the old Davidge resi- dence, at the southeast corner of Seven- teenth and H streets, are similarly effected, as is’ the realty company and the parking station to the east. In other words, almost the entire east half of this square is to be taken by the Gov- ernment and a new building erected on the site. Generally speaking, and so far as known, there are now but three of the early structures standing on the ground to be taken, which includes the Court of Claims Building, before mentioned, the Davidge house and the Linkins realty office, where was once the Hobbs resi- dence, and the Court of Claims, which 1s of first importance. Old Corcoran Gallery The latter structure was commenced in 1859 by Washington's noted philan- thropist, W. W. Corcoran, and when it was nearing completion and the Civil ‘War coming on, it was taken over by the Government, and from 1861 to 1869 was occupied by the quartermaster general, United States Army. From the begin- ning it was said the building was being erected for the Art Union, but the chances are that Mr. Corcoran supplied all the funds for the building and grounds, and here he housed his art collections, which had formerly had a setting in a special wing of his resi- dence, which stood on the corner of H street and Connecticut avenue, where is now located the National Chamber of Commerce. Prior to this, Mr. Corcoran, together with Mr. J. C. McGuire, had his paintings in a gallery attached to Mr. McGuire's home at 612 E street northwest, which is still standing. The private opening of the art gallery, where is now the Court of Claims, took place January 19, 1874, and the entire building thrown open to the public in the following December. On Washington's birthday anniversary, 1872, a grand ball was given in the building for the benefit of the Washington Monument. The building and the grounds cost the donor $250,000 and the value of the col- lection of statutes and pictures with which the gallery was started, $100,000 more Says an old account: “It is in the renaissance style, and has a frontage of 104 feet on Pennsylvania avenue and 124'; feet on Seventeenth street. The exterior is constructed of brick, with facings, trimmings and orna- ments of Belleville freestone. The front on Pennsylvania avenue is divided into a central pavilion, with a curtain on either side, and flanked by two other pavilions, one on either corner and divided into two stories. The central pavilion has vermiculated quoins in the corner, and these inclose the grand entrance door with a carved jamb and arch, overtopped with fierce tigers’ heads, in relievo. The anticom of the first story is simple in design and detail, and at the same time corresponds with the massiveness of the quoins at the corners of the building. “The second story of the central pa- vilion consists of an arched recess. The span between the import and the suffit of the aych is filled with decorations, and contains the monogram of the founder, surrounded with carved wreaths and en- scrollments. Just beneath this there is a palladium window, with fluted pilasters and columns and capitals, expressing American foliage, exquisitely carved. In the arch are two wreaths, encircling various implements of painting and sculpture. “The central pavilion is flanked on either side by two fluted columns, with capitals representing the broad leaves and fruit of the cornstalk. These sup- port an entablature, on which are trophies, representing the arts, on the frieze of the central pavilion; and on this are inscribed the words, ‘Dedicated to Art’ The cornice over this has a pediment, in the tympanum of which is a base relief, representing the genius of painting, surrounded by figures embla- matical of the sister arts. “The entire structure is surrounded by an imposing mansard roof, carried 10 feet higher than the ordinary roof of the building. The architects were James Renwick, jr, and R. T. Auchmuty of New York. The cost of the building was $150,000. “The entrance is on Pennsylvania ave- nue and opens into a vestibule 25 by 28 feet, from which lead the broad stairs to the second story. These stairs are of freestone, 10 feet wide. On each side are passages 81; feet wide, leading to the sculpture hall, The stairs and halls are lighted by two courts. “The vestibule to the sculpture hall is 19 feet wide by 28 feet long, with two spacious bay windows at the ends. The sculpture- hall itself is 25 feet wide and is amply lighted by 10 windows. “The janitor's apartments are on the right of the main vestibule and just behind them, and connecting with the main sculpture hall are two rooms, one 19x431 feet, the other 19 feet square. These rooms can be used for a school of design, which it is proposed to establish, “On the left of the vestibule is the trustees’ room, 25 by 33 feet, and adjoin- ing is the library, 20 by 65 feet. These galleries are connected by spacious arched doors. “The building was formally conveyed by the donor, W. W. Corcoran, Esq., of Washington, to a Board of Trustees in 1869, who were incorporated in 1870.” The large brick residence at the north- west corner of the square, or what is the southeast corner of Seventeenth and H streets, is the old home of Walter Dorsey Davidge, during his lifetime one of Wash- tngton's foremost lawyers and highly re- spected citizens, who come to this eity in 1842 and began her the practice of Y law as a member of the firm of Davidge & Semmes, with offices on the east side of Seventh street between D and E streets N.W,, and later a partner in the law firm of Davidge & Ingle, with office and home on Louisiana avenue, where Mr. Davidge resided until he moved to 416 Sixth street N'W., and finally to the residence at Seventeenth and H streets, which he first occupied as his home about 1880. About a week ago the writer called on one of the tenants in the latter building, a Mr. Isaacs, who deals in rare books, and found him in quite a quandary as to where he could secare quarters else- where, but all the writer could give this gentleman was sympathy, which in itself is of no intrinsic value. However, he did get a look at the first floor of this old residence, which was certainly once a mansion, having been designed by Cluss & Schulze, outstanding architects of that period, and probably erected by James G. Naylor, builder. This bullding is typical of the early palatial homes of Washington, high ceil- ings, heavy, massive carved doors with broad trimmings, all apparently of wal= nut or some other kind of hardwood that would cost & mint of money today, and the parlor—as it used to be called, still retains several of the unusually lerge mirrors, one reaching from near the floor to the celling. A broad hall- way leads in from the H street entrance to about the center of the house, where is the stairway. And what a stairway it is! Of carved hardwood throughout, with heavy and imposing balustrade and trim, giving it a formidable appearance such as one rarely if even sees in any of the modern homes of today. We wonder what will become of all of this fine wood? In this old home, Mrs. Davidge, a connection of the Washington and Lee families, died in 1885, and Mr. Davidge passed away here in 1901, and subse- quently Mr. and Mrs. Walter D. Davidge, jr., removed from this fine residence to 1826 I street. The present Mr. W. D. Davidge is a member of the Association of the Oldest Inhabitants. The Hobbs Home. Adjoining the Davidge home to the east, where is now the real estate office, was, as early as 1878, the home of Thomas J. Hobbs, for some years dis- bursing clerk of the United States Treasury, and here also lived his son, George S. Hobbs, who was a clerk in the National Museum in 1885. At 1618 resided M, W. Beveridge of the firm of Webb & Beveridge, china, glass and crockery dealers, who were successors to Charles S. Fowler on Seventh street between D and E streets, 100 years ago. Later Webb & Beveridge moved to 1009 D street, and Dulin & Martin finally succeeded them. William F. Mattingly, a well-known lawyer of some years back, resided at 1616 H street, at an early date, where also lived his sons, Arthur 8. and Wil- liam F., jr. Houses 1616, 1618 and 1620 were removed sometime ago, and where they were once located is now a parking lot. Next to this lot, still going eest, is the rear of the Decatur House, the front of which faces Jackson place. Not all of the original buildings in Jackson place remain standing, and some structures, which replace some of Wash- THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTO Walter Dorsey Davidge, sr., whose old home at Seven- teenth and H streets N.W. is to be demolished. e e 10 b State Department Annex Dooms Historic Buildings[ JANUARY 4, 1942 5 s 5. oWk P ¥ The Old Corcoran Gallery of Art, now the Court of Claims Building, which will probably be removed, according to present plans. ington's early historic homes, are to be seen in their stead. The Decatur house is ebout as it was when Comdr. Ste- phen Decatur, the daring naval hero, returned there after his duel with Com- modore Barron and was conveyed to the basement room of the house to the left of the hall, where he died in 1820. To the south of this house, No. 22, is the Women's City Club, where President Roosevelt made his home while the White House was being remodeled in Cavalry Enters New Wartime Spotlight By Gladwin Hill. Wide World News, * FORT RILEY, Kans, Jan. 3.—Here at the Nation's greatest cavalry center the world's old&t type of mobile soldiery is preparing to fight the most modern battles. And momentous developments of re- cent months have made the cavalry even more immediately important than its expouents expected. A lot of people think that because the Army has been mechanized the horse must be obsolete, But this is not so. As long as there are thousands of square miles of the earth’s surface im- passible to machines armies will need Thorses. With Asia and South America, both full of tough terrain, suddenly projected as possible battle areas of United States forces this has become especially per- tinent. Tough terrain is the horse’s forte. A horse can go nearly anywhere a man can, and usually considerably faster. The ratio between horse and cavalry speed and infantry speed on clear ground is more than two to one—six miles an hour against two and a half. And time is one of the vital elements of warfare. When cavalry is mentioned a lot of people think of the charge of the Light Brigade or the United States Civil War cavalry dashes. Such maneuvers are obsolete—even though there have been reports from Europe of Russian cavalry units charging masses of tanks. In strange contrast, mounted soldiers of the 2nd Cavalry Division at Fort Riley, Kans., ma The fundamental funtion of mounted toops today is serving as a light, flexible, fast screen or shield for bigger and more powerful army units and for recon- naisance. It can mask and misdirect attention from movements of heavier units. In a pinch the cavalry can be called in to grab objectives until stronger forces arrive, fight delaying actions or cover up withdrawals. Of the United States Army’s 40-odd divisions, two are cavalry—plus about 13 Regular Army cavalry regiments and 24 National Guard cavalry regiments scat- tered among other Army divisions. (Of the 250 divisions the German Army had, 10 were horse cavalry.) The original United States cavalry di- vision is at Fort Bliss, Tex. The second was organized here last April. It is com- manded by Maj. Gen. John Milli- ken. A cavalry division has about 11,500 men. But they are not just a lot of men on horses. Around Fort Riley motor vehicles are more conspicuous than animals. There are about 1,300 of them — everything from trucks, officers’ battle cars and scout ears to little *“jeeps” and motorcycles—against about 8,000 horses. The operations of motorized units and mounted units have been tightly co- ordinated, and also the detailed move- ments of riders and vehicles. One section of the cavalry is “porte” troops—mounted men carried as far as they can go in vehicles, who proceed on horseback from there. Big trailer-trucks carry eight men and eight horses, all standing, for several hundred miles. By this set-up a regiment of 1,000 men wrested successfully with a brigade of 4000 in the Southern maneuvers this summer. The brigade was trying to cross the Sabine River from Texas to Louisiana. Thé smaller unit was on the Louisiana side, based at Logansport, and operating up and down the river for 40 miles either way. ‘Whenever the brigade would try to cross, the regiment would rush a dozen truckloads of mounted men to the point, unload them a mile back from the river, and the men would ride to positions on the river bank. This way the regiment held off the brigade for four days, a very valuable delaying action. The continuing importance of the cavalry has been reflected in Fort Riley’s growth, from a few thousand men a year ago to 20,000 now. The reservation takes in nearly 75 square miles. In addition to the second division, there is the cavalry replacement train- ing center, one of the regular system of camps to which draftees are assigned for specialized training in one of the Army branches. It opened last March, and is graduating its third contingent of 5,000 men from {its 13-week course. Fort Riley has been most famous down the years for the third of its preseni three major units, the Cavalry School This is the institution of world reputr where picked men from Army units al over the country have been brought far special cavalry training—where Lt. Col Hiram Tuttle, the horse-show star, de- veloped his famous high-school mounts that can gallop backward. In recent years Fort Riley’s curriculum has followed the cavalry's general de- velopment beyond the horse. ‘The course has been speeded up from a year to three months. The last class, vhich finished December 23, numbered 820 students. There are three divisions: a course for outstanding non- commissioned officers. Second, a more advanced and more specialized officers’ course, for lieutenants and captains. Its present class includes 13 guest officer students from gight Latin-American countries. ‘Third, an officer candidate course— one of 13 throughout the country which will train some 14,000 men a year—for enlisted men and draftees with outstand- ing qualities of personality are more important than personal background or ‘bosk-learning. The present class in- clules three Oxford graduates and 17 lawyers, but ‘also a former chiropractor snd & man who stopped at the eighth grade in school. Paul Mellon, the Pitts- rgh millionaire, who has been a buck private at the Riley Replacement Center, is in line for the next class. Also at Riley are about 300 officers and enlisted men in specialized courses in in- dividual cavalry subjects—communica- tions, motors, blacksmithing, gunsmith ing and saddling. Paradoxically while horses have become a smaller section of . the Army, there has been an increasing demand for saddlers because of all the new mechanical equipment that has leather attachments and covers. past one of the tanks also stationed there. The operations of motorized units and mounted units have been tightly co-ordinated, andalso the detailed movements of riders and vehicles. A A —Wide World Photo. ~ N L) T rTrEtE T ik S s s i s —Star Staff Photo. The historic Blair home at 1651 Pennsylvania avenue. 1902, and at what was No. 20 lived for many years Charles C. Glover, sr. At No. 14 Jackson place resided Schuy- ler Colfax, Smith Thompson, Samuel L. Southard, Levi D. Woodbury, Senator Rives and John C. Spencer. It is be- lieved to have been built by Dr. Ewell, and in 1859 it was occupied by Daniel E. Sickles, when in a jealous rage he shot and killed Philip Barton Key, Washington's district attorney. Pre- vious to this it had been the residence of M. le Comte Menou, charge d'affairs of France (1822), and Sir Charles Vaughn, Minister of Great Britain (1834). Mrs. James Blair built No. 12 Jackson place. No. 10 was the old home of Gen. Nicholas L. Anderson, father of Larz Anderson. Later the Boardman family, Arthur P. Gorman and Senator Dorf lived there. No. 8 was the home of Col. Henry R. Rathbone, who was in the box with Abraham Lincoln when the Presi- dent was assassinated. No. 4 was owned and occupied by Franklin A. Dick, law partner of Montgomery Blair, Famous Blair House. Peter Parker lived in the corner house, at Pennsylvania avenue and Jackson place, and at No. 1651, facing the State, ‘War and Navy Building, is the old home of Prancis Preston Blair and later of his son, Montgomery Blair, Postmaster Gen- eral in the cabinet of President Lin- coln. The original part of the build- ing was built about 1810, by Joseph Lovell, a surgeon general in the Army during the War of 1812, and who died October 17, 1836. After the death of Surg. Gen. Lovell, the property then fronting 52 feet 9 inches on Pennsylvania avenue, “with a well of excellent water in the yard, brick stable and carriage house adjoin- ing the alley; flower and fruit garden tastefully laid out and highly cultivated,” was advertised for sale in The Globe until March 28, 1837, about which time it was purchased by the editor of that paper, Francis Preston Blair, for $6,500. For a few years preceding the Civil War, when the senior Mr. Blair was residing on his Silver Spring estate, he rented his Avenue property and the celebrated historian, Bancroft, lived there while he was Secretary of the Navy, John Y. Mason, also Secretary of the Navy, who succeeded Bancroft in office, was the next occupant of the house, and then came Thomas Ewing, whose daughter married there Willilam T. Sherman, noted Civil War general. It was in this house, then the home of Montgomery Blair, Lincoln’s Postmaster General, that Gen. Robert E. Lee, through Francis Preston Blair, was of- fered the command of the Union Army in the fleld, at the beginning of the Civil War. But, then, the Blair House is so replete with history that a volume might well be written about it alone. Apparently, Bancroft did not seek the office of Secretary of the Navy, to which he had been appointed. Rather he cherished the idea of being sent abroad as envoy to Japan, or in some other diplomatic position, and possibly was as much surprised as anyone else when the President’s cabinet appointments were sent to the Senate for confirma- tion. . After Bancroft left the cabinet he served as American Ambassador to Eng- land and later as Minister to’ Berlin. After leaving his post in Germany he temporarily resided in New York, but soon came to Washington and took up A his home at 1623 (now site of 1625) H street, across from the Davidge property. The idea of taking the west half of square 167 for public purposes is not a new one, and just 40 years ago Mrs. Mina Blair Richie, daughter of Mont- gomery P. Blair, sr, wrote to the then Senator Charles A. Fairbanks on the subject, saying: “Dear Sir: I trust you will pardon the liberty I take in addressing to you a protest against the bill introduced by you ig the Senate for the purpose of taking as a site for public buildings square 167, in this city, upon which my old home stands. If it were a public necessity, or if the Government had serious need of this location, the owners of the property would make the sacrifice demanded without & murmur of dissent, but while the south side of Pennsylvania avenue from 15th street to the Capitol presents an incongruous line of vacant land and buildings, most of the buildings being of little value and unsightly, for which a line of public buildings could be substituted, greatly adding to the beauty of our Capital, there would seem to me to be no excuse for depriving a family of their home of four generations, sacred with the associations of parents and grandparents, as well as with many events which are now a part of history, and for which in the future patriotis societies may wish to preserve it, “This house, No. 1651 Pennsylvania avenue, appears on the earliest maps of the city. After it was purchased by my grandfather, the late PFrancis P. Blair, who edited the Globe, the official news- paper and organ of Gen. Jackson's ad- ministration, it was the rendezvous of Benton, Van Buren, Levi Woodbury, Silas Wright and other political leaders of the day; it was at one time rented to the Hon. George Bancroft, the historian, who lived in it while he was Secretary of the Navy during President Polk's ad- ministration. It was also rented to Hon. Thomas Ewing, who was Secretary of the Treasury, and Secretary of the In- terior under President Tyler. Gen. Sherman was married in the drawing room of this house, and has often pointed out to me the exact spot where he stood during the ceremony. My father, the late Montgomery Blair, occupied the house as his city residence from 1854 up to the time of his death, and it was in the dining room, at a dinner given by him to Gen. Robert Lee, that Gen. Lee was told of President Lincoln’s wish that he should accept the command of the United ‘States Army at the outbreak of the Civil War, which he subsequently declined. “During the Civil War our country home at Silver Spring, Md., near Wash- ington, was burned in July, 1864, by the Confederates under Gen. Early, who gave as his reason that my father was a mem- ber of President Lincoln’s cabinet, and that the house was burned in reprisal for similar acts by Federal troops in Virginia. But in time of peace, and in the absence of any apparent necessity or great public benefit to be derived * therefrom, it is cruel and unjust to de- mand the sacrifice of our home again, particularly as there are other localities which would be much more suitable and more directly in the interests of the Government, and equally recommended by the Park Commission. I do not advo- cate, under the existing circumstances, taking property against the wishes of its rightful owners, but if such a eourse is to be followed, what influence should govern {ts selection?” A