Plan for the Development of the Mall at Washington D.C.
Park Commission, Washington D.C.: c. 1902
Offset lithograph on paper
13 x 21.5 inches, border
15.5 x 25 inches, overall
$900
Plan for the Mall at Washington D.C.
1902 Map, McMillan Plan
1902 Map, McMillan Plan
Map of the McMillan Plan for development of the Mall in Washington, D.C. prepared by the Park Commission appointed under the authority of the U.S. Senate. The plan focuses on the area from the U.S. Capitol west to the Potomac River.
The McMillan Plan of 1901-02 was named for Senator James McMillan, liaison and principal backer of the Senate Park Commission. The redesign was undertaken for the centennial of the founding of Washington, and was intended to create a grand design for the city’s core on a par with that of the great cities of Europe. The commission’s distinguished members included Daniel H. Burnham, architect Charles McKim, sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, landscape architect Frederick L. Olmsted, Jr., Henry Adams, William James, Henry James and others. The plan included Union Station just north of the Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial, a memorial to early presidents that became the Jefferson Memorial, and a mall lined with major educational and cultural buildings, which today house the National Gallery and museums of the Smithsonian Institution.
The original rationale for the mall is explained in a box in the lower right corner of the map:
This is a plan for the location of the public buildings which the government must from time to time erect in any case -- buildings which, however beautiful in themselves, would fail of their highest effect if scattered about the city in a haphazard fashion, whereas if located in relation to one another and provided with the proper setting, they would combine in a harmonious and consequently beautiful whole.
Condition: Generally very good with the usual overall light toning and wear. Few short marginal tears restored verso.
References:
Rose, Julie K. “The 1901 Plan for Washington, D.C.” American Studies@UVA. Spring 1996. http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/CITYBEAUTIFUL/plan.html (4 August 2008).