Executive Order 306

by President of the United States

It is hereby ordered that whenever discretion is conferred by law on the head or heads of any department, on the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, or on any other executive officer or officers, to fix the exact position of a public building in the District of Columbia, and to approve the plans for the same, he or they shall confer with the consultative board hereinafter constituted, and shall not either locate the exact site or approve the plans until both the question of location and plans shall have been submitted to such board, and the board shall have made a report and recommendation in respect to the matter.

A consultative board is hereby constituted of the following gentlemen: Bernard R. Green, chairman; Daniel H. Burnham, Charles F. McKim, Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Frederick Law Olmsted, jr.

The members of the board will serve without compensation. It is intended through the recommendations of the board to bring about harmony of design in all future public buildings and conformity to an artistic system of improvement based on the original plans for laying out the capital. The examination of the board of architects should be confined to the location and the artistic effect of the exterior of the buildings.

The Secretary of War is directed to advise each member of the board of his appointment, and to learn whether he will accept the appointment on the conditions named.

Theodore Roosevelt.

The White House,

March 14, 1905.

Notes

Amended by:

• Executive Order 310, March 18, 1905

Revoked by:

• Executive Order 311, March 27, 1905

See related:

• Executive Order 1010, January 19, 1909

References

1. Dalrymple, Dana G., "Agriculture, Architects, and the Mall, 1900-1905: The Plan is Tested", in Kohler, Sue & Scot, Pamela, Designing the Nation's Capital: The 1901 Plan for Washington, D.C., U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, <http://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/ncr/designing-capital/sec5.html>.