Slhould the recommendation of the
Commission of Fine Arts that the!
Commerce Building be placed at the !
west end of the Mall-Avenue triangle
be adopted, there will remain the ne- I
cessity of selecting other sites for :
the Department of Labor and Justice,
which airt '.© t>* provided with new
homes under the present public build
ings program. In the first layout of
the sites for the buildings to be
started immediately or soon, it was
proposed to place the Commerce Build
ing in 'he Mall, the Justice and Labor
buildings on the “five-square site”
on Fifteenth street, the Internal Rev
enue Building fronting on B street
and including in part the open-air
market, and the Archives Building
Just to the west.
The proposal of a site for the Com
merce Building on the area occupied
by Center Market and the commission
house establishments in lieu of the
Mall site has met with emphatic ap
proval .is a practical advance toward
the utilization of the Mall-Avenue tri
angle for public building purposes
and the solution of the problem of
the reclamation of Pennsylvania ave
nue. If, however, the Commerce
Building is to be located on Fifteenth
street, there is no reason why the
Justice and Labor buildings should
not be placed elsewhere within the
triangle, perhaps at the point favored
by many for the Commerce Building,
between Seventh and Tenth streets.
All things considered, the location
of the Commerce Building, which is
to be perhaps the largest public
structure In Washington, on the mar
ket site w*u!d he more satisfactory.
