Upon the adoption of the public buildings act of May 25, 1926, Hon. Andrew W. Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury, took up with the Public Buildings Commission, and the executive departments that were in immediate need of new buildings, the project to place the building program under way. Secretary Mellon authorized the preparation of a tentative study for new public buildings, and after an interval of a few months sketches were submitted to him for a series of buildings monumental in character and intended for the most part for locations south of Pennsylvania Avenue. The greater part of the Triangle development has been completed. ENLARGEMENT OF THE CAPITOL GROUNDS AND UNION STATION PLAZA DEVELOPMENT An important feature of the McMillan Park Commission plan of 1901 was the creation of a series of “Congress Gardens” on the north side of the Capitol. For many years this project was held in abeyance pending the completion of the purchase of lands. The development necessitated the purchase of 12 squares and laying out a plan for this long-neglected area at the entrance to the city. The plan also provided for a new avenue to extend from Union Station to Pennsylvania Avenue, and street cars are routed accordingly. In addition to the landscape features, the plan, which was designed by Bennett, Parsons & Frost, architects of Chicago, provided for a terrace upon which is located a fountain and also a large basin, which reflects the Dome of the Capitol. To harmonize with this plan, a new approach to the northwest corner of the Senate Office Building has been built. The temporary war buildings and Government hotels, which stood on the grounds a whole decade after the World War, have been removed, and the work of developing the plan was carried forward as rapidly as possible under the direction of David Lynn, Architect of the Capitol. Through this plan the United States Capitol is given the appropriate landscape setting which, as the most important building in this country, it should have. The plan joins the plan for the Mall, giving the Capitol the open approach from the west and embellishing Union Square at the head of the Mall. UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT BUILDING The United States Supreme Court Building is in classic style, in harmony with the architecture of the Capitol and adjacent buildings, and is located in the square east of the Capitol, north of the Library of Congress, and facing the United States Senate Chamber. The building, 385 feet from east to west and 305 feet from north to south, has four open courtyards 64 feet square. The portico is of the Corinthian order, and there is a low pilaster treatment around the building. [Illustration: _Photograph by Commercial Photo Co._ THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT BUILDING] [Illustration: THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT CHAMBER FRIEZE BY A. A. WEINMAN, SCULPTOR]