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The Mall We Know TodayThe Mall that we know today is in large part a realization of the McMillan Commission of 1901-02, whose architects, exponents of the City Beautiful Movement, envisioned the Nation's Capital as an imperial city surpassing the grandeur of European and other world capitals, a mix of great white classical buildings interspersed with parkland. They extended L'Enfant's Mall [slide-PLAN] and marked the new terminus of the west axis with the Lincoln Memorial and the south axis with a memorial to the heroes of the Revolution, now the Jefferson Memorial [slide-VIEW NOW]. The central panel of the Mall was to be an open green expanse framed by rows of elm trees and punctuated with terraces and water elements at the Washington Monument grounds and Lincoln Memorial [slide-DESIGN FOR WASH.MON. GROUNDS]. Today, the area between the Capitol and Washington Monument is nearly completed and closely follows the McMillan Plan. The West End has developed in a different manner, however. The only completed elements of the McMillan Plan are the Lincoln Memorial and its associated landscape, the two Reflecting Pools and rows of elms. The flanking areas were occupied by temporary government buildings during WWI and WWII. These temps were removed in the 1970 and replaced by Constitution Gardens, a lake and informal landscape that evokes not the formal McMillan Plan but Downing's mid-19th century picturesque designs for the Mall. [slide-AERIAL OF SITE] Congress also authorized the additions of the multi-acred Vietnam and Korean veterans memorials flanking the Lincoln Memorial in the 1970s and 80s, thus playing a significant role in shifting the character of this end of the Mall from recreational space towards a memorial garden. The American people have contributed to the Mall's character in recent decades in the way they use this national landscape both individually and collectively - for recreation, tourism to the museums and monuments, and above all as a public forum and democratic stage for activities ranging from the July 4th fireworks to demonstrations, marches, and protests. Increasingly, these public gatherings reflect the broad diversity and pluralism of American civic and political life at the turn of the 21st century: black Civil Rights, anti-war protests, farmers, Million Man March, Million Mom March, Gay Rights. The proposed WWII memorial would represent a challenge both to the Mall's physical character and to its evolving significance as place for the celebration of American nationhood. Next: The WWII Memorial ... |
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Copyright © 2008 National Coalition to Save Our Mall Inc. All Rights Reserved |
