Significant Plans and Projects- 1791-1994
Pierre Charles L'Enfant, 1791
Thomas Jefferson, ca 1804
1/ Frederick Gutheim for the National Capital Planning Commission. Worthy of the Nation The History of Planning for the National Capital (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1977), 15-20; Kenneth Bowling, Creating the Federal City, 1774-1800: Potomac Fever (Washington, DC: American Institute of Architects Press, 1988), 87-96, 102-5; Pierre Charles L'Enfant, "Plan of the City Intended for the Permanent Seat of Government of t[he] United States" (1791; published in Washington by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, 1887), Andrew Ellicott, "Territory of Columbia" (1794), 15, and Thackara and Vallance, "Plan of the City of Washington in the Territory of Columbia ceded by the States of Virginia and Maryland to the United States of America, and by them established as the Seat of their Government, after the Year MDCCO ( 1792), all as reprinted in John W. Reps, Washington on View: The Nation's Capital since 1790 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991 ) 1-9, 15, 21, 27-8; Roger Trancik, Finding Lost Space: Theories of Urban Design (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1986), 155-78, passim. See also Elbert Peets, On the Art of Designing Cities: Selected Essays of Elbert Peets (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1968) and Werner Hegeman and Elbert Peets, The American Vitruvius: An Architect's Handbook on Civic Art (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1988); Fiske Kimball and George Harold Edgell, History of Architecture (New York Harper Brothers, I 918); and William Ordway Partridge, Art for America (Boston: Roberts Co., 1895).
Appendix B: A Summary of Significant Plans Capitol and Projects at President's Park
visually link the Capitol and the President's House. Jefferson's vision for the property dominated its development until the mid-19th century. 2/
Charles Bulfinch, ca. 1818
Robert Mills, ca. 1840
Andrew Jackson Downing, 1851
Thomas U. Walter, 1852
__________________________________
2/ U.S. Congress, (2 Stat. 175); Thomas Jefferson, Landscape Sketch Map, c. 1802-1805, Library of Congress, as reproduced in William Seale, The President's House, 2 vols. (Washington, DC: White House Historical Association, with the cooperation of the National Geographic Society, 19X6), illustrations 14, 90, 103, 109, 110, 116; William Seale, The White House: The History of an American Idea [Washington, DC: American Institute of Architects Press, 1992), 47, 86; National Park Service, Lafayette Park by George F. Olszewski (Washington, DC: GPO, 1964) vii5 Barbara McEwan, White House Landscapes: Horticultural Achievements of American Presidents (New York: Walker and Company, 1992), 47.
3/ Van Ness vs. the United Stares and the Corporation of Washington, as quoted in Annual Report of the Commissioner of Public Buildings, October 11, /856 ([Washington. DC]: No date), 855.
4/ Robert Mills, 1841, "Plan of the Mall," as reprinted in Gutheim, Worthy of the Nation, 53.5. NPS, Olszewski, Lafayette Park, 13, 15, 20; Seale, The President's House, 295, 300, 310-11 343, Andrew Jackson Downing, "Plan for the Mall and President's Park" as copied by Bvt. Brig. Gen'l N. Michler, 1867; and "Map of the City of Washington and District of Columbia," no scale (1845), Record Group (RG) 77, F 116 and F 116 no. 2, National Archives (NA); Reps, Washington on View, 125, 139, 155, 157.
6/ Thomas U. Walter, "Proposal for President's Park, 1852," as redrawn for Arthur Cotton Moore Associates, The Aesthetic Master Plan of the Main Treasury Building and Treasury Annex (Washington, DC: ACM/A 1985), plate 27, p.41.
APPENDIXES
Alfred Mullet, ca. 1866-71
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1867-1933
__________________________
7/ Seale, The President's [louse, 433,504, Annual Report of the Commissioner of Public Buildings, October 30, 1866 ([Washington, DC]: No date), 547-48; Seale, The White House, 72,120; Reps, Washington on View, 125,139,155, 157,169,171,189,191,197,213,214,227,233,235,257; Gutheim, Worthy of the Nation, 64,83,152; Annual Report of Brevet Brigadier General Nathaniel Michler, Major of Engineers, U.S. Army, in Charge of the Public Buildings and Grounds, Works, Etc (Washington D.C. GPO, 1868), 10.
8/ On February 26,1925, tenure of the U. S. Army corps of Engineers Office of Public Buildings and Grounds and the Superintendent of the State, war, and Navy Building as separate administrative entities ended. Under PL 68-478 these duties were combined under one authority known as the Office of Public Buildings and Public Parks of the National Capital. As in the case of earlier commissioners before the Corps of Engineers in 1867, the director of public buildings and public parks of the national capital now reported directly to the president. The director was also chosen from the ranks of the Corps of Engineers, now directly by the president. This arrangement had been in place de facto for many years; now it operated under official action. This order of things continued until June 10, 1933, when Executive Order 6166 transferred the duties of the office to the office of National Parks, Buildings and Reservations, otherwise known as the National Park Service See NPS, Olszewski, Lafayette Park 1; US. Statutes at Large, XIV (Boston 1976),466; Annual Report; Director of Public Buildings/Public Parks, 1933. I; Mary Jane Dowd, comp., Records of the Office of Public Buildings and Public Parks of the National Capital, Records Group 42, Inventory No. 16 (Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1992), 2-3; Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers, 1925: Extract: Improvement and Care of Public Buildings and Grounds, Care and Maintenance of the Washington Monument and of the Highway Bridge across the Potomac River, and Erection of Monuments, Memorials, etc. Washington, District of Columbia, [by/ C. O. Sherill, Lieutenant Colonel, Corps of Engineers, Colonel. USA. In Charge (Washington, DC: GPO, 1925), 1,935
9/ NPS, Olszewski, Lafayette Park 1; U.S. Statutes at Large, XIV (Boston 1976),466; National Park Service, President's Park South, by George F. Olszewski (Washington, DC: GPO, I 970), 11; N. Michler, Major of Engineers, to the Chairman of the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, 39th Cong., 2nd Sess., Senate Misc. Doc. no. 21 ([Washington, DC]: February 13, 1867), 1-7; Annual Report of Brevet Brigadier General Nathaniel Michler, Major of Engineers, U.S. Army, in Charge of the Public Buildings and Grounds, Works, Etc. Annual Report [1867] (Washington, DC: GPO, 1867), 4-7; Annual Report [1868], 6, 10-12, 17-18, 26-27; "Appendix W" in Annual Report [1869], 496-99, 501-2, 511-14; "Appendix Z" in Annual Report [1870], 520-23, 528-29; Reps, Washington on View, 177-82; "Plan of President's Park," scale I :80 (1879) O18, 18A, RG 121, NA; "Plan for the President's Stables," no scale (Oct. 28, 1879), 1-1-1.14; "Map of the City of Washington, District of Columbia," scale 4": I Mile (1845), RG 121, F 116 no. 2., NA.
Appendix B: A Summary of Significant Plans and Projects at President's Park
Orville E. Babcock, 1871-77: Babcock's work reflected an interest in "scientific" methods. He instituted the first comprehensive inventory of plantings and plant materials on the property. Under his direction, water was introduced into Lafayette Square for irrigation purposes, and the wild garlic growing there was removed. Specific mixes of grass seed were used for the White House lawns Walks were bricked. Animal displays, including prairie dogs and an eagle, were installed in Lafayette Square, and trees were moved from the square to the White House lawns. Two bronze urns were added to the landscape, and a watchman's lodge was built on the square in 1872. East and West Executive Avenues were connected on the south by 1872. Fountains were established on the north and south lawns. The Ellipse (by then referred to as the "White Lot") continued to be filled and graded. Babcock established a work and storage yard for the property on the Washington Monument grounds and also hired the first professional with the title "landscape gardener."
Thomas Lincoln Casey, 1877-81: The Ellipse was brought up to grade in 1879-80. The east-west drive through the "President's Grounds" (in the vicinity of today's Hamilton and State Places) was closed. Experiments continued with grass types, including strains of orchard and blue grass for heavily shaded areas. Ten laborers were working on the White House grounds, and by 1880 me eastern portion of the Ellipse had a parklike appearance."
Almon F. Rockwell, 1881-85: Rockwell continued to implement Downing's 1851 plans. President Chester Arthur's attempt to expand the White House failed. 12/
John M. Wilson, 1885-89: Downing's circular drive and walk were established on the Ellipse and shaded with a double row of American elms on the either side of the adjacent walk. Ancillary drives north, south, east, and west of the Ellipse were also established. Some granite curbing was installed, and a lawn/rye seed mix was used on the Ellipse. The Bullfinch gatehouses were moved from the Capitol to the southeast and southwest corners of President's Park. 13
Oswald Ernst, 1889-93: Electric lights were installed on the Ellipse, and additional paving was done. The Lafayette statue was erected in 1891. The roadway south of the Executive Office Building was improved. New flagstone walks were installed in front of the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue, along with minor repairs. Gardeners catalogued 40,698 plants with both their botanical and common names in use at the White House and on its grounds. 14
John M. Wilson, 1893-97: Wilson recommended that the president's office be removed from the White House proper. Electric lighting was scheduled for Lafayette Park, along with new fencing in front of the White House. An asphalt walkway 15' wide, with a 30' parkway between the walkway and the road, was scheduled for the Ellipse and presented in plan view. Lafayette Park received a separate
________________________________
10/ "Appendix X2" in Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers [1971], 968-70, 971-72; "Appendix Y" in Annual Report [1872], 5-7, 9, 23; Annual Report [1873/, 2-4, 6-7, I 1; "Appendix Elm" in Annual Report [1874], 3-4, 8-9, 1; "Appendix IHH" in Annual Report [1875], 10-3, 16-17; "Appendix GG" in Annual Report [1876], 4, 7, 12 18; "Appendix KKl" in Annual Report [1877], 6-10; Seale, The President's House, 483, 503; Andrew Dolkart for the Executive Office of the President, Office of Administration, The Old Executive Office Building: A Victorian Masterpiece, Mina Wright, ed. (Washington, DC GPO, 1984), 1, 7-8, 21.
11/ "Appendix KK2 and 3" in Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers 11877/, ~10, 12; "Appendix KK" in Annual Report [1878], 1345, 1347; "Appendix LL" in Annual Report [1879]. 1881-82; "Appendix NN" in Annual Report [1880], 2339.
12/ Seale, The President's House, 535-37, 545; NPS, Olszewski, President's Park South, 39-40; "Appendix RR" in Annual Reports of the Chief of Engineers[1881/, 2711-12, 2716; "Appendix QQ" in Annual Report [18821, 2733-34, 2741~3, 2093; "Appendix SS" in Annual Report [1884], 2339.
13/ "Appendix RR', in Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers [1882], 2094-95, 2099, 2100, 2102, 2105, 2504-5, 2511); "Appendix VV" in Annual Report [1885], 2503; "Appendix SS" in Annual Report [1885], 2340; "Appendix ZZ" in Annual Report [1888], 2781 -88, Dolkart The Old Executive Ounce Betiding, 2
14/ "Appendix BBB" in Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers [law], 3535-36, 3556-61; "Appendix EKE" in Annual Report [1891], 3907, 3913-15; "Appendix BBB" in Annual Report [1892/, iii, 33X5~6, 3390-91, 3393, 3396-98.
APPENDIXES
designation as Reservation 10 in 1894. The first formal recreation permit was issued for the Ellipse in 1895. 15/
John S. Sewell,1897; Theodore Gingham, 1897-1903: Gingham continued Wilson's crusade for more presidential office space and revived previous plans for White House expansion. gingham engaged an independent surveyor for the site and also called for removing the presidential stable. His tenure proved to be a great period of technological innovation at the site, however, all development decisions were still based on the L'Enfant and Downing plans. During this period, the Sherman monument was erected in Sherman Park south of the Treasury Building, a bridle path was laid out on the Ellipse, and public recreational demands continued to grow. gingham's attempt to revamp the White House gave rise to the Senate Park Commission (or McMillan Commission) of 190l. 16/
Senate Park Commission (McMillan Commission), 1901
McKim Mead and White 1902
_______________________________
15/ "Appendix CCC" in Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers [1893]. 443~31. In the District of Columbia appropriation bill approved July 14, 1892, the secretary of war was authorized to grant permits for the use of public grounds for encampments of the Grand Army of the Republic. Under a joint resolution of Congress approved Jan. 23, 1893, permits were granted by the secretary of war to the Executive committee on the Inaugural Ceremonies. see previous citation' iii' iv, 4315-16, 4326-31, 4336; "Appendix CCC" in Annual Report [1894], 3273-75; ``Appendix DDD" in Annual Report [1895], 4139-41; "Appendix DDD" in Annual Report 1189C/, 3984; "Appendix BOB'' in Annual Report [1897/, 4038. Stanley W. McClure, "Acquisition of Areas in National Capital Parks in Addition to the 17 Original Appropriations,'' file H26 (History of NCP WHL-AM-005), Records of the Office of White House Liaison, Executive Support Facility, White House Liaison.
16/ "Appendix BOB" in Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers [1897), 4027-32, 4039, 4055-57, 4060 61 Appendix CCC', in Annual Report [1898], 3737, "Appendix HHH" in Annual Report [1900], 5252-53, 5256, 5260; "Appendix 000" in Annual Report [1901], 3693. Hess Furman, "Symbol Going sack in White House," New York Times, Oct. 23, [1951], photostatic copy, Office Files (of 50), Misc. Reconstruction, file 1, box 312, Harry S. Truman Library thereafter cited as HSTL).
17/ Olmsted Brothers' "Report to the President of the United States on Improvements and Policy of Maintenance for the Executive Mansion", (Brookline, MA., 1935), 1-32, passim; NPS, Olszewski, President's Park South, plate XXVI.
18/ Seale, The President's House, 655; Gutheim, Worthy of the Nation, 118-33; Trancik, Finding Lost Space, 155-78, passim.
Appendix B: A Summery of Significant Plans and Projects at President's Park
more for ceremonial functions. A drive was retained from the north to the Executive Office wing in 1902, servicing the "temporary" office established by President Theodore Roosevelt that same year. 19/
Commission of Fine Arts, 1910-
George Burnap and Beatrix Farrand, 1913
National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), 1926-
________________________________
19/ "Appendix EKE" in Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers [1903], 2525; Seale, The White House, 166, 185, 204.
20/ Sue A. Kohler. The Commission of Fine Arts: A Brief History 1910-1990 (Washington, DC: The Commission of Fine Arts; 1990), 1-7; Gutheim, Worthy of the Nation, 200-1.
21/ Seale, The President's House, 777-79; Seale, The White House, 206-11
22/ Gutheim, Worthy of the Nation, 185-87.
APPENDIXES
* Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, 1962-69: Beginning in the Kennedy administration, the Skidmore, Owings and Merrill plan also drew inspiration from the Johnson administration's beautification programs of the 1960s. Elaborate plans included an underground parking facility and tunneling certain major east-west thoroughfares. The Haupt fountains at 16th Street and Constitution Avenue were installed concurrent with this overall grand design; however, little else was realized due to funding complications and a change in presidential administrations. 23/
* Advisory Council on Pennsylvania Avenue Master Plan, 1964: The l 964 plan called for, among other things, formal street plantings, with a new plaza terminus on the northwest designed with Renaissance-inspired paving patterns. 24/
* Joint Committee on Landmarks, 1965: As a cooperative effort of the National Capital Planning Commission, the Commission of Fine Arts, and the District of Columbia, historic preservation considerations were addressed before the 1966 National Historic Preservation Act put such concerns into a legal framework. The committee took a particular interest in Lafayette Park and the preservation of the surrounding neighborhood. 25/
Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation (PADC), 1962-96
* Venturi, Rauch and Scott Brown, 1980: The design for the western plaza attempted to invoke L'Enfant's original city plan in a playful "nonliteral" and "ironic" montage of symbolic forms cast in granite. Venturi envisioned two 86' high pylons to frame the western terminus, referencing both Le Notre and L'Enfant and their baroque aesthetics in terminating the ends of vistas with buildings, statuary, or plantings. The pylons were removed from the final plan.26
* M. Paul Friedberg, 1981: Friedberg's Pershing Park, a contemporary element with Venturi's western plaza, represents a departure from traditional planning concepts by turning the focus inward to a green and watered refuge from the city. Although controversial, the park has remained extremely popular. 27/
Other Significant Plans
Olmsted Brothers, 1935
23/ NPS, Olszewski, President's Park South, plates XXVI through XXXI; Trancik, Finding Lost Space, 164; Gutheim, Worthy of the Nation, 294; Skidmore Owings and Merrill, "Ellipse One- and Two-level Garage Feasibility Studies, Summary Reports," 1967; 'Washington Mall Circulation System," 1973.
24/ Trancik, Finding Lost Space, 165, plate 25; The Campidoglio (engraving by Etienne Duperac, 1569) as reproduced in H. W. Janson, A History of Art: A Survey of the Major Visual Arts from the Dawn of History to the Present Day (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1966), 363; Thomas U. Walter, "Proposal for President's Park, 1852," as redrawn for Arthur Cotton Moore Associates, The Aesthetic Masterplan of the Main Treasury Building and Treasury Annex (Washington, DC ACM/A, 1985), plate 25, p. 39.
25/ Gutheim, Worthy of the Nation, 293.
26/ Trancik, Finding Lost Space, 16071 .
27/ Ibid.
Appendix B: A Summary of Significant Plans and Projects at President's Park
circulation, formal gardens, viewsheds, and related items. Olmsted particularly wanted to see the formal entrance to the White House reestablished at the north portico instead of the east and west wings as designed by McKim, Meade and White in 1903. Olmsted's 1935 plan has served as the general basis for all landscape work within the White House fence to the present day. Although Olmsted discouraged the use of East and West Executive Avenues as major traffic routes, his work concerning the reconfiguration of E Street in the vicinity of Sherman Park' and the final use of State Place as an element of the east-west traffic route across the site further reenforced the bisection of President's Park. Plans for extending E Street through the property appear on maps as early as 1932; by 1936 the roadway was in operation. With the connection of E Street to freeway systems on the west in the 1960s, a major arterial thoroughfare bisected L'Enfant's site. 28/
National Park Service, ca. 1935
Truman Renovation, 1949-52
John Carl Warnecke Associates, 1962 -69
28/ Olmsted Brothers, "Report to the President," 1-32, 36-8, 39-55, passim; NPS, Olszewski, President's Park South, plate XXVI.
29/ NPS, Olszewski, Lafayette Park 7, 44-8.
30/ "Immediate Release [Restoration of the Historic Executive Mansion Grounds]," March 19, 1952, TMs, PSF, file 3, box 301, HSTL; Fanny-Fem Davis, management agronomist for George W. Harding, chief, Horticulture Branch, National Capital Parks, National Park Service, "Report on the Care and Rehabilitation of the Executive Mansion Grounds Incident to the Renovation of the White House January 1950 to May 1952," TMs (Washington, DC: National Park Service, 1952), 1-3; Harry S. Truman to Douglas W. Orr, Apr. 13, 1952, Orr to Truman, Apr. 14, 1952, and Truman to Orr, Apr. 18, 1952, PSF, file 3, box 301, HSTL; Matthew 1. Connelly to Senator Millard E. Tydings, Jan. 23, 1950, Office Files (OF) 50, file 2, box 309, HSTL; Seale, The President's House, 1050-51; Harry S. Truman to Mrs. Hazel F. Taylor, Sept. 9, 1951, OF, HSTL.
31/ NPS, Olszewski, Lafayette Park 26-28, 40-49, 60-64; Bernardo Rostad to John C. Warnecke, Dec. 30, 1960, memorandum re: "Meeting 12/27 Lafayette Square," D 18, Master Plan Lafayette Square 1/1/66 to 1/1/68, 68A-3201, box 18, ARD/WHL/NPS.
Historic Structures and Districts
NOTE: The year that a structure or district was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), designated a national historic landmark (NHL), or recognized by the District of Columbia (DC) is shown in parentheses at the end of the listing. Several properties have multiple designations; in these cases only the highest designation is listed; for a complete listing of all designations, consult the ``Cultural Landscape Report" (EDAW Inc., et al 1995).
Appendix C: An Inventory and Assessment of Structures and Memorials
APPENDIX
an excellent example of Beaux Arts classicism and for its social and political contribution to the cultural heritage of the District of Columbia. This structure is also a part of the Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site. (NRHP 1972)
Appendix C: An Inventory and Assessment of Structures and Memorials
(Federal Circuit Court of Appeals and U.S. Court of Claims), Treasury Annex, Riggs National Bank, American Security and Trust Company, and National Savings and Trust Company. Many of these structures are also separately listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Lafayette Square is, itself, also a part of a larger national historic district nomination for the L'Enfant Plan of the City of Washington, District of Columbia. The district is significant for its association with the L'Enfant plan, its association with landscape designer Andrew Jackson Downing, and for the architectural significance of the structures surrounding the square that are rooted in the Federal period but express architectural styles through 19th-century Victorianism, early 20th-century Edwardian, and the 1920s Beaux Arts. The landmark district is also significant in the fields of commerce, military, and political affairs. (NHL 1970)