65-foot First Amendment plaque to adorn new Newseum in D.C.
By The Associated Press
10.31.02
WASHINGTON — A stone plaque 65 feet high recording the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution will dominate the front of the new home of the Newseum between the Capitol and the White House.
The First Amendment reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
Plans for the $400 million structure were presented at a news conference on Oct. 29 by Mayor Anthony A, Williams and former Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y. Moynihan played a leading role in the redevelopment of Pennsylvania Avenue, inspired 40 years ago by President John F. Kennedy.
Then, Moynihan recalled, only one light could be seen at night along the avenue's main stretch: a liquor store. The store was in the building, he said, where President Lincoln went to pose for his last portrait in the studio of photographer Mathew Brady.
The First Amendment plaque will cover about a third of the facade. Most of the rest will be in glass — including a 4,500 square foot "window," contrasting with the stone structures of the Canadian Embassy next door and the two buildings of the National Gallery of Art on the other side of the Avenue.
Speakers emphasized the extensive use of glass as a symbol of the world seen through news reports.
"Transparency equals democracy," said James Stewart Polshek, head of the architectural group that designed the building.
He said that despite the vividness of the visualizations, which look as if they were photographs of an actual structure, much work remains to be done before the design is final. Plans are still to be approved by the Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission, which often call for important changes in new structures.
Ralph Appelbaum, responsible for the interior design, emphasized that he had not planned just an exhibit for tourists, but an educational experience that visitors could take back with them to their home communities.
Windows on the ground floor will display daily editions of newspapers from all 50 states.
Behind the glass of the new building will be an atrium rising past six levels of galleries. On the far side of the atrium one or more huge screens will carry news footage that can be glimpsed through the great window by passers-by on the avenue, including the presidential inaugural parades which traditionally take that route.
The Newseum will house the offices of the Freedom Forum, which sponsored it and its preceding home in suburban Arlington, Va. That closed in March. The new building will have three times the exhibition space of the old one, as well as other offices and shops to be rented out, a conference center and terraces with spectacular views of the Capitol and the National Mall.
"There will be a two-story memorial to the 1,000 newspeople who have lost their lives, showing that newsgathering can be a dangerous job," said Peter S. Prichard, president of Freedom Forum and the Newseum.