Harris Plan and GW

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Collier resigned the GW presidency in August, only three years into his term, to become ambassador to Chile. He had gone a long way to establish the political and diplomatic connections and attendant pomp and circumstance that George Washington University had foregone in its efforts to continue as an institution. Howard Lincoln Hodgkins, dean of the Department of Arts and Sciences, was named president pro tempore. Hodgkins had been a part of the University since entering Preparatory School in 1875, and had gone through the ranks from student to professor to administrator. He had served as a major advisor to the University presidents for years, and was clearly the most knowledgeable of the operations and philosophy of the school. Despite his temporary role, Hodgkins' long.-standing relationship with the school put him in an excellent position to introduce a major step toward the realization of a campus.

Strongly committed to President Stockton's intentions and the 1910 Formula, he was equally committed to the development of a campus suitable to the needs of a major university. In May 1922, at the Board's annual meeting, Hodgkins proposed the purchase of 2014 H Street, N.W. for $5,000 and an expenditure of $10,000 for renovations in the buildings on G Street. He then introduced a major plan to develop Square 102 into a campus. The plan was presented by Albert Harris, a professor of architecture at the University and the District of Columbia's newly appointed Municipal Architect. The proposal, soon dubbed the "Harris Plan," called for the use of the entire block of Square 102. "Eight units of similar construction and style, though with individual modifications" would create an urban version of the classic university quadrangle. Harris recommended that the first unit, to serve as classrooms, should be built on the northeast corner of 21st and G Streets on a lot 125 feet square, made up of the Woodhull property and 2027 G Street. Hodgkins and Harris recognized: that the plan was ambitious, but the recent (1921) bequest of Woodhull House gave the University considerably more land for to development of a campus plan. It took a few months for the Board to approve this Plan, but by the end of the summer the Committee on Buildings and Grounds was authorized to go forward and to acquire as much property on the east side of 21st Street between G and H Streets as possible. In 1923, construction began on the first element of the Plan, Corcoran Hall. This building was the first to be built by the University in the Foggy Bottom/West End neighborhood. The building's plan was executed by Harris and Arthur B. Heaton. Albert Harris, the architect whose name is associated with this plan, was a man whose career followed unusual lines. A native of Wales, he accompanied his family to Pittsburgh in 1873, at the age of four. Moving to Virginia as a youth, he graduated from the Arlington Academy in 1893. He served an architectural apprenticeship in Chicago with the office of Henry Ives Cobb. Cobb, a designer of national significance, worked in Chicago, Washington and New York. Details of Harris' association with Cobb are not known, but Harris probably returned to the Washington area to set up an architectural practice as early as 1897. (A D.C. Permit to build two houses at 1246-48 F Street, N.W. was issued that year naming an A.L. Harris as architect.)

It is known that he went to work for the architectural firm of Hornblower and Marshall in 1900, becoming the chief craftsman for this successful organization. During his tenure there, Harris had charge of their work on the National Museum (now the Museum of Natural History) and the U.S. Customs House in Baltimore, the firms two major commissions. In 1911, three years after Hornblower's death, Harris became a partner of the firm and was responsible for designing the Lothroop Mansion (Connecticut Avenue at Columbia Road) and the Army and Navy Club (Farragut Square). In 1912 at the age of 43, he received his Bachelor of Architecture degree from George Washington University and left Hornblower and Marshall to try his hand again at a private practice. Also in that year, he was appointed to the faculty of George Washington's School of Architecture, a position he held until his death in 1933.

From 1914 through 1921, Harris took on similar academic responsibilities at Catholic University, as well. In 1921, he was named Municipal Architect for the District of Columbia and in this position he was responsible for supervising five-year building program for the public schools (McKinley High School and McFarland, Langley and Stuart Junior High Schools). His most notable achievement while serving as Municipal Architect was his role in coordinating plans for a new Municipal Center. Harris's involvement with planning this building was considered his greatest achievement: "The plan for the Municipal Center approve: by the National Commission on Fire Arts was regarded by Mr. Harris and his associates as one of the most notable pieces of his work in District service.”

Arthur B. Heaton, who associated with Harris on Corcoran and Stockton Halls, was born in Washington, D.C. in 1875. He graduated from Central High School, and then studied at the Sorbonne in Paris. Heaton's work was described as "distinct and it is said that it always carried his trademark in some little detail he added." Some of the buildings he designed include the John Dickson home, the Methodist Home for the Aging, Washington Home for Foundlings, the Memorial Clinic at Garfield Hospital (demolished), the Y.W.C.A. at 17th and Streets, N.W. (demolished), branch offices for the Washington Loan & Trust Co. (his 1924 design for the 17th and G Street branch office [demolished] received an architectural award of merit in 1927 from the Washington Board of Trade), the McLachlen Banking Corporation, and the Chevy Chase Savings Bank. Sculptured relief panels depicting automobile details from his Capital Garage (1925 at 1320 New York Avenue [demolished] are preserved by the Smithsonian Institution's transportation division as "relics of Washington's most elaborate parking garage.” Heaton's public service centered on a deep interest in cleaning up slums and improving Washington's buildings. He served as Chairman of the Public and Private Buildings Committee of the Board of Trade and during the Depression was a leader in the "Renovise Washington" movement, an effort to repair and restore the city's homes while providing work for members of the building industry. A founding member of the Washington Building Congress, he served as its president in 1941-42. He was a member of the Board of the Equitable Cooperative Building & Loan Association and of the John Dickson Home.

The who, how, and why behind the conception of the Harris Plan are still unknown. What is clear is Hodgkins's interest in making the best out of the University's physical situation, yet he had publicly gone on record stating his commitment to the G Street location. Both he and architect Harris were University graduates and professors, and must have been keenly aware of the school's lack of adequate physical facilities. Harris' background and association with the University further places him in a position to have made the proposal. A 1912 graduate of the University's School of Architecture at the age of 43, Harris began teaching there the same year. He had a great deal of practical experience and had worked for Henry Ives Cobb during to period of Cobb's creation of master plans for the University of Chicago (c.1893) American University (c.1897-99). The introduction of the third person associated with this plan, Arthur B. Heaton, is unclear. The two buildings constructed under the Harris Plan, Corcoran Hall and Stockton Hall, were designed as a joint venture between Harris and Heaton.

Harris sought a collaborator, and why Heaton was chosen are unanswered questions. Harris, as the Principal Architect and a college professor, may have not been in a position to provide working drawings for his designs, and therefore, in need of the assistance of an established practicing architect. The choice of Heaton may have been the result of the friendship between him and president of the University's Board of Trustees, John Bell Larner. Larner and Heaton had a long standing association, first through the Washington Savings and Loan Company, of which John Larner was president and Heaton was architect of its branch offices, and secondly, through their having sat together on several Boards.

As preparation was made to implement the Harris Plan, the University selected a new President. William Mather Lewis was the chief of the educational service of the Chamber of Commerce when he was named to head the school. His background had been both educational, as headmaster of Lake Forest Academy, and administrative, as director of the savings division of the U.S. Treasury Department. Thrust into the task of developing the quadrangle (a.k.a. University Yard), his first jump into the school's facilities was the recommendation that a gymnasium be constructed. A temporary structure of prefabricated materials was erected on the University Yard known affectionately as the "Tin Tabernacle," this building stood in place until 1976. But it did not thwart the progress of the Plan.

Corcoran Hall was dedicated on October 23, 1924. John Bell Larner, president of the Board of Trustees, led the ceremonies. Named in memory of William Corcoran, one of the University's first and greatest benefactors, the news reports of this occasion cited Larner's acknowledgment of all whose contributions "Made possible the erection of this magnificent building." The four-story brick building was designed to serve as classrooms and laboratories for the Department of Arts arid Sciences. The building was presented in an institutional brand of the Georgian Revival style, complete with pediment door and stone foundation. The building was to set the tone and established the architectural style that would be used for the rest of the quadrangle. During the ceremony, President Lewis spoke: "This occasion," he asserted, "marks a constructive step in the development of a farseeing plan for the provision of adequate and artistic equipment. Indeed, the construction of this building was the school's most substantial investment in the development of a real campus.

Later in 1924, Harry Wardman once again suggested a plan of action. He offered to buy the Law School building at 1435 K Street (he had donate $5,000 toward its purchase four years before), and proposed the erection of a new building at 20th Street. This building would house the Law School, be constructed as part of the Harris Plan, and match Corcoran Hall across the square. Work began in December of that year. The building, completed the following year, would be known as Stockton Hall.

After two years, two of the eight planned structures of the quadrangle were already in place. The Harris Plan seemed well on its way until, suddenly, talks of a merger between the University Hospital, Garfield Hospital, the Washington Home for Foundlings, and the newly-founded cancer research laboratory that would be known as Warwick Memorial threatened to cause a major reorganization of the university.

The discussions regarding the future of the University Hospital and its Nursing School jeopardized progress for all branches of the school. No development plans could be moved forward until a decision on the health programs was finalized. It would not be until the end of Lewis’ tenure in 1927 that the University would be able to resume action on its physical plant.

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Author or Source: Application for Historic Buildings Registry/RG0031
Document Location: University Archives
Date Added to Encyclopedia: December 21, 2006
Prepared by: G. David Anderson, University Archivist and Historian

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