International studio (33.1907/1908(1908))

The Washington Plan

leans by Bienville; the plans of both are artistic
and practical, and may be advantageously con-
trasted with those of New York and Chicago,
which merely exhibit the ability of certain draughts-
men to handle a straight-edge and a ruling pen.
Another distinction of the original Washington
plan was that it provided appropriate setting for
the public buildings—the Capitol was placed upon
an eminence so that from every point it might be-
come a dominant feature in the city’s composition;
the President’s house was located in a different
section of the city and placed back from the street,
while the Mall was reserved to furnish sites for
semipublic edifices. All this was undoubtedly done
with an eye to effect—the parking was intended to
serve as a frame to the architectural picture, and
the space thus reserved made sufficient to insure
ample perspective. Sir Christopher Wren once
complained that public buildings were of necessity
generally seen sideways, and it is true that greed of
ground prevents the public from looking many
squarely in the face.
And, furthermore, it will be seen that L’Enfant’s
plan set forth the advisability of segregating in
groups the buildings for the Federal Government,
the municipality and the public. Around the
Capitol, sites were designated for legislative build-
ings and around the White House, others for
executive offices. It was to an extent the civic center
idea which has only of late years in this country
been advanced or followed. And all these several
parts L’Enfant brought into a carefully related

composition, connecting in a suitable manner the
chief features, considering the immediate need, and
yet providing for future growth and development.
Undoubtedly he drew his inspiration from the great
cities abroad—he was familiar with the work of
Lenotre, and had before him the maps of Paris,
Amsterdam, Frankfort, Strasburg, Orleans, Turin
and Milan as references; but he did not forget the
exigencies of the occasion and the capital which he
planned was well suited to its latitude and to the
needs of the American people.
I have not given so much space, however, to the
original plan of Washington in order to draw
attention to Major L’Enfant’s genius, or to pay
tribute to the wisdom of those who sought his
counsel, but rather because it bears directly upon
the subject in hand and leads to a better under-
standing of that later plan which has in the present
day exerted so potent and benificent an influence.
Nations, like individuals, are prone to forget.
Long before a century has passed L’Enfant’s plan
had been pigeonholed and was being “improved
upon ”; some of the vistas he had carefully planned
were destroyed, a railroad had run its tracks across
the Mall, a Botanic Garden blocked the approach
to the Captol, and the value of continuity was
entirely disregarded. Architecturally and artistic-
ally, things were pretty dark in Washington from
forty-five to ninety-five, as certain public buildings
and monuments erected during that period amply
testify; but the same conditions prevailed elsewhere
as well.


model: mall, looking west

PARK COMMISSION PLAN