European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 11, 1981, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Capitol greens for West front inaugural by Francis Clines new York times a mural Painter named Allan Cox has worked quietly in the Rotunda and corridors of the Capitol in Washington through much of the last three he is lovingly rendering events from the Mayflower compact to mans Landing on the Moon onto the Interior Maze of a building that never stops even now it is preparing to provide a new perspective on presidential it is the Only Public building i know that is More Friendly than More like a warm Home than a Monument that freezes people to Cox in his this son of a mural Painter is Busy on his scaffold these pm panelling history onto the up per reaches of a House oblivious to the capitols More Slapdash exterior paint Job that is to be finished in time for Ronald reagans inauguration As the first president Ever to be sworn in at the West front of the 180yearold for years the West front has been Frozen in Controvert to the Point of crumbling in recent Over plans to enlarge and restore some inaugural funds Are now being spared to put a cosmetic coat of paint on but its Fate remains unsettled As the nations latest shift of executive and congressional leaders is about to take this promises to be the most splendid of Ina according to George the current architect of the he notes that it will be the first to look Down upon Washington Long vibrant outdoor the National its sweep will include the capitals grand with the Washington Monument and Lincoln memorial off in the background in the Vista of fresh beginnings to be presented to the television this is the most magnificent open space in the and finally the nation will make full use of White says with great the Aura of this ceremony will be for the new president wont be looking Down on a parking the remark is a reference to the familiar inaugural ceremonies held around the other Side of the at its far busier East where presidential inaugurations have usually been the West front is the More ornamental with Large terraces that will require fewer temporary grandstands for the some of its columns and Walls have cracked and eroded and Are buttressed they Are relics of one of the governments earliest Economy when George Washington decided that cheaper Virginia Sandstone would have to do for the buildings formative until according to the East front has been used because of tradition and the fact that the which extends out from the West front for a mile and a was not considered relatively Complete until recent the last 10 years have been marked by the removal of temporary world War i buildings West of the Washington Monument and the construction of the latest tourist the National air and space the National gallery of arts Bast building and the Hirsh Horn a modernistic Circle of Concrete near the Winfred Castle of the original smithsonian planning and construction have been under Way along the mall since the with the goal of expunging the final swampy traces of the stretch history a commercial and after earthen fill was As a Railroad terminus Complete with a nearby red Light according to with the mall now groomed and inaugural officials decided the time was right for a West front White dearly Hopes that the nation and the Reagan administration might be inspired by the occasion to finish the Capitol the Centrepiece of the cites geography As Well As its the Capitol to a pastiche of 9 and each of to several parts was Hen in aesthetic and bureaucratic it has grown in various directions since politicians first gathered in its original the old Senate build on to hear president John Adams i congratulate on the Prospect of a residence not to be it has with two wings added in the 1850s to the original twin As a result of the altered aesthetic the original Center dome was replaced by a larger and higher version to restore Lincoln insisted that the construction of this tiered cast Iron dome continue through the civil even As the capitols committee rooms and basement were commandeered As army bakeries and if people see the Capitol going it is a sign we intend the Union shall go he White insists that this same dynamic tradition justifies putting a new West front Extension on the Capitol to balance with the East front Extension built in the 1950s amid considerable the West front plan is no less controversial As preservationists the capitols shaky stretch of historic Sandstone Walls and pillars Are at White says the building was never intended to be dipped in but rather to according to a master with the nations a simple restoration of structural integrity to the now buttressed West front would Cost he Esti while the full reinforcement plus Extension would Cost million additional and create Square feet of new office new York times Gorton 2 workmen on scaffolding repainting a Section of West front of Capitol for inauguration of president elect since inaugurations usually have been at East f Page 10 the stars and stripes january 1981