18TH AND 20TH CENTURY PARK IMPROVEMENT PLANS.

7

a commission to formulate a scheme for the future grouping of Government buildings and the treatment of the parks, so as to be in harmony one with the other, and thus attain a grand artistic result as a whole. Senator McMillan, with a broad foresight of the necessity of such study and a keen appreciation of the fact that only the best men should be selected for such a commission, acted upon the suggestion of the institute and appointed D. H. Burnham and F. L. Olmsted, jr., giving them the power to select a third man, who it was well known would be Mr. Charles F. McKim. In a short time after its organization the committee added Mr. Augustus St. Gaudens to their number, so as to obtain his advice on sculptural matters. This was an ideal commission-a commission of education, experience, refinement, executive ability, all of whom had shown themselves by their executed work to be men of capacity and able to handle the broad subject which was submitted to them for study. A successful and artistic solution was never doubtful after it was placed in their hands.

The report was submitted to the Senate Committee on the District of Columbia on January 15, 1902, and unanimously approved.

The drawings and models which formed a part and accompanied the report were placed and hung in the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and graphically presented the scheme, while numerous bromide enlargements of photographs of vistas, parkways, fountains, and other park embellishments are on exhibition to illustrate work of a similar character done in this country and Europe. The exhibit fills two large rooms and one small room. The water-colors and prints are carefully hung so as to prevent conflict in scale, design, or color, and both illustrations and models are well lighted. In the entrance hall is placed an enlarged view of L'Enfant's map as the keynote of the proposed plan. The first drawing to attract attention is the general plan.

The Capitol building is the crowning feature on the east of the Mall. Around it are grouped the buildings for legislative purposes, so situated as not to destroy, but to enhance, the original vistas and inclose the Capitol with monumental and pleasing structures. On the west of the Capitol grounds Union square, without trees, with its three dignified statues of Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan, and its north and south ends guarded by two Government buildings, forms an imposing end for the Capitol grounds and a proper beginning for the Mall. From Union square to the Monument stretches a green sward 300 feet wide, about 1 miles in length, flanked on either side by four rows of American elms, with one cross vista about midway between the Monument and the Capitol. The formal treatment of elms broaden into a Greek cross of 1,200 feet in width at the Monument, giving it a setting and scale, which appears to me could not be obtained by any other treatment.

The Monument is placed on a horizontal plane, below which on the

8 18TH AND 20TH CENTURY PARK IMPROVEMENT PLANS.

west is a broad terrace from which a flight of steps descends 40 feet to a formal garden, enriched by parterres, hedges, fountains, pavillions, terraces, and formal planting of elms. From the Monument to the river the open vista continues of the same width as the tapis vert between the Monument and the Capitol, but instead of lawn the principal surface is water with a canal about 200 feet wide and 3,600 feet long, and in this section a cross canal over 1,000 feet long is introduced. The vista from the Monument is ended by the Lincoln Memorial, which is placed on the river bank, about 2 miles from the capitol. From the Lincoln Memorial the Memorial Bridge crosses the Potomac at an angle to the axis of the Capitol, having as its vista in one direction the stately old building of Arlington, and in the other direction the Lincoln Memorial.

The original plan of L'Enfant located an equestrian monument to Washington on the intersection of the north and south axis of the White House and the east and west axis of the Capitol. The Washington Monument as built was about 75 feet south of the axis of the Capitol and 500 feet east of the axis of the White House.

The commission has boldly fixed the principal axis of the contemplated improvement on the axis of the Monument and the Capitol, but the difference was too great to deflect the treatment so as to make a false axis with the White House. The solution adopted by the park commission in overcoming this error has produced happy results. The major cross axis to the Mall begins with a group of buildings around Lafayette Square in proximity to the President's House, for the Executive Departments, with the Executive Mansion as the central feature. On the east and west of what is known as the "White Lot," the grounds south of the President's House are planted with 4 rows of linden trees. From the White House there is an uninterrupted view across the broad circle through the low garden of the Monument to the Temple of the Makers of the Constitution, and down the broad Potomac between the hills of Maryland and Virginia. It is proposed to erect buildings for the various scientific departments of the Government, for exhibition and museums purposes, on the north and south of the Mall. North on B street it is proposed to purchase the property between Pennsylvania avenue and B street and here locate the various municipal buildings for the District government, the armory and drill hall which is to be used for Presidential inauguration balls, the market, etc. The space between New York avenue and B street, it is suggested, together with the space between Maryland avenue and B street south, should be taken and made a part of the park system.

By the treatment adopted the original vistas are maintained and new vistas established by the Memorial to the Constitution Makers, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Arlington House.

The area between the Capitol and the Monument has its formal

18TH AND 20TH CENTURY PARK IMPROVEMENT PLANS.

9

planting of elms and formal grouping of buildings. The area between the Monument and the river is treated as a dense forest, with its broad opening between the Monument and the Lincoln Memorial and smaller walks radiating from various points of interest, and the area from the White House to the river with broad lawns and open vistas.

The bird's-eye view illustrates the general scheme as described in connection with the plan. The detailed views naturally divide themselves into five groups-the Capitol, the Monument, the White House, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Memorial to the Constitution Makers. The Capitol division shows the streets facing the present grounds on three sides occupied by classical Government buildings, and the west front brought out to a square as indicated in Thornton's plat and open to Union Square and the Mall. The terrace fronting Union Square gives an additional base to the Capitol and will add materially to its imposing effect. The terrace is flanked by marble reproductions of the Bulfinch gatehouses, which were removed to make way for the improvement of the grounds in 1876, and the gateposts which were removed at the same time, although discarded, they are far more in harmony with the structure than the architectural embellishments which took their place, and it should please us to see reproductions replaced. From the center of the higher terrace of the Capitol a fountain is brought by a series of cascades to a basin of no mean dimensions. Around this basin the steps wind, and the terrace and basin are richly treated with balustrades and fountains. The general effect of the ter race cascade and three dignified statues of Generals Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan are shown in Union Square in the perspective view looking from the west side of the square.

From the roof of the Capitol a view is shown of Union Square and the east end of the Mall, with its grouping of classical buildings.

The Monument division.--The tapis vert which extends from Union Square ends with the Monument, where stately lines of elms broaden into the cross which surrounds the Monument. The Monument, as it stands to-day on a small hillock, suggests a shaft sprouting from the ground. It needs a horizontal plaza or line at its base. This base is given by a treatment of marble terraces on which are formally planted American elms. On the east the plaza is but little above the surface of the ground, and on the west a broad flight of steps leads to the formal garden 40 feet below. The view from the Mall shows the effective results of the white horizontal line of the marble terrace. The sunken garden is surmounted by marble terraces on which are planted a dense growth of elms.

In a small room separated from the other portions of the exhibition is placed a model of the Monument, with its terraces, garden, and formal planting of trees. This model presents a clear idea to the mind of the garden-cool basins of water, fountains, cascades, and the shaded

10 18TH AND 20TH CENTURY PARK IMPROVEMENT PLANS.

groves-which will give scale to the Monument and comfort and pleasure to the populace, while it allows them to enjoy the pleasures of the gardens, fountains, the dignified shaft, and many beautiful vistas and distant views, of water, hill, forest, art objects and their various combinations, as well as affording places for rest during leisure hours in the hot summer weather of our climate. The Monument will be approximately 600 feet high from the garden level. In the midst of trees, with charming effect, are placed resting pavilions, and in the garden below small classical pavilions, and on the plaza and in the basin below are many fountains. The various. charming vistas which may be obtained from the Monument or its garden are illustrated by several views, one of the White House from a point near the white marble terrace; the garden, with the White House in the distance, and a general view of the Mall, with formal elms and classical buildings, with the Monument garden in the foreground.

The Lincoln memorial.-Although the Capitol and Monument with their surroundings are great objects of beauty which are emphasized and enhanced by the proposed park treatment, they are hardly more imposing, important, or pleasing than the temple portico, which forms the west vista over the basin of the canal from the Monument. The effect of the Lincoln memorial is charming in refinement and simplicity where it overlooks the basin of the canal on the east, with fountains and terraces in the foreground. It is still more interesting and pleasing where it overlooks the river and forms a center from which the river-side drive to the parks and the memorial bridge radiate. From the Monument the memorial stands serene and restful at the end of the vista, with the broad canal in the foreground flanked by a dense growth of trees, with the Potomac River and the Virginia hills as a fitting background. The dense shaded forest and radiating walks and drives from the circle around the Lincoln memorial indicate some of its attractions.

Memorial to the Constitution makers.-On the axis of the White House and directly south is located the memorial to the Constitution makers. On the north this memorial faces the Washington common, where games and athletic sports are to be held, and on the south it faces the large basin which may be used for aquatic sports in summer and skating in winter. The charming view from the White House across the great circle over the sunken garden to the memorial of the Constitution makers and the broad Potomac beyond is well depicted in the vista from the White House.

The models.-Installed in the hemicycle are two models made to a scale of 1 foot equal to 1,000 feet, showing the Mall and the adjacent parks of the city as it is at present, and another showing the city as the park commission suggest or advise that it should eventually be. The first model brings to our attention how completely a good plan

18TH AND 20TH CENTURY PARK IMPROVEMENT PLANS. 11 can be ruined by the want of proper sympathy and lack of knowledge of no doubt well-meaning and intelligent people. Each individual park and each individual building is located and laid out as if it was the only object to be considered, both buildings and parks are belittled, dignity and interest lost. This is to be wondered at when we remember the plan of L'Enfant was continuously in possession of the park makers and builders. The view from the Monument to the Capitol is over a tangle of trees and past a jumble of buildings with no relation to each other, each marring the effect of the other. The trees in themselves are, of course, beautiful, but so planted that they can not be enjoyed. Looking from the Capitol, in the foreground is the unsightly Botanic Garden, and then the Pennsylvania Railroad, and again the tangle of trees, with no general system of design. This model also depicts very graphically the haphazard method of selected sites for Government buildings, without any effort at unity or harmony of grouping, and the ruthless destruction of vistas, which was the fundamental, unique, and distinctive feature of the original plan. It is impossible to understand the ignoring of the simple and dignified grouping suggested on the L'Enfant plan or of the destruction of the vistas. One example, which may be seen in the building of the Library of Congress, cutting off and belittling the Capitol, and another the War, State, and Navy building, obtruding past the White House. The destruction of park effects by inharmonious structures with their rear on the parks is well illustrated by the Army Medical Museum.

The prominence of the new city post-office on Pennsylvania avenue is brought forcibly to the attention on both models of the city, and the fact is noted that it is out of harmony with its present surroundings and hopelessly incongruous in connection with those of the future.

The model of the Mall showing the suggested treatment of grouping of future buildings is a great object lesson, demonstrating what may be accomplished by simplicity, dignity, and a similarity of treatment in, and a simple grouping of classic structures, emphasizing the points of interest, not belittling them by an attempt to make prominent each individual structure, but so locating and designing the main features, the Capitol, the Monument, the Lincoln memorial, the Executive Mansion, and the memorial to the Constitution makers, as to make all landscape and buildings lead up to these structures and make them dominate the system.

The park commission has been able, fortunately, with the broadminded officials of the Pennsylvania Railroad, to secure the promised removal of the tracks and the station from the Mall, where it has been a blot upon the landscape and a bar to any systematic or harmonious. design of the Mall as an approach to the Capitol. This accomplishment would justify all the work expended by the commission as well