On the south below the House of Representatives Office Buildings the frontage is occupied by nondescript buildings, all undignified and unsightly. The obvious use of this land is building sites and house gardens to balance Union Station Plaza on the north. This also is a project for the future. THE HEAD OF THE MALL The area directly west of the Capitol grounds was marked on the L’Enfant map as an open plaza, affording an approach to that building similar to the one on the east. Owing to the slow development of Washington the west front underwent various vicissitudes. The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co. tracks once were located about on a line with the Peace and Garfield Monuments. The Botanic Garden area was reclaimed from an alder swamp, and the James Creek Canal wound its way through it. A quarter of a century ago the House passed a bill for the removal of the Botanic Garden fence, with the view of giving the public access to that park in the same manner that other parks are open. The plan of 1901 aimed to restore this area to its intended uses as a broad thoroughfare so enriched with parterres as to form an organic connection between the Capitol Grounds and the Mall. Anticipating the improvement of this square, named Union Square, as outlined in the plan, Congress located therein the memorial to General Grant, the base of which was designed to be used as a reviewing stand, and later a site in the same area was designated for the monument to General Meade. The Grant Memorial was completed a number of years ago, the Meade Monument is also in place, and the Botanic Garden has been relocated south of Maryland Avenue, near the Capitol. The new plan for Union Square as carried out, was made by Frederick Law Olmsted in 1935. DEVELOPMENT OF THE MALL That section of the Mall between Third and Four-and-a-half Streets has been laid out and planted with elms in accordance with the plan of 1901, and Congress has provided for putting in the roadways. The temporary buildings in the Mall were so located that upon removal the roadways will be in accordance with the Mall plan, and as fast as the buildings are razed the planting of trees can be made. The space between Four-and-a-half and Sixth Streets was so improved and restored during the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1921. Congress has authorized the occupation of the north side of the Mall between Third and Seventh Streets (former site of the Pennsylvania Station) by the National Gallery of Art, designed by John Russell Pope. Plans for the building approved by the Commission of Fine Arts are classical in style of architecture. Auditoriums, both large and small, designed for the uses of conventions, inaugural exercises, and meetings of patriotic societies are among the prime necessities of Washington. Such gathering places would meet governmental and semipublic needs and be advantageous to the growth of American feeling. [Illustration: MALL AND MONUMENT GARDENS, PLAN OF 1901]