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DESIGNING THE NATION'S CAPITAL: The 1901 Plan for Washington, D.C.
APPENDICES
Daniel Burnham's "First Draft" for the Senate Park
Commission's Report to the Senate Committee on the District of
Columbia1
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA2
1This manuscript is reproduced with the permission of
the Daniel H. Burnham Collection, Ryerson & Burnham Archives, The
Art Institute of Chicago.
2Editorial note: Brackets [] indicate correction of
typographical errors or omitted letters or works.
First draft "Improvement of the Park System of the
District of Columbia" Much more in detail than the printed
bo[o]kin places.
The Committee on the District of Columbia, acting
under instructions of the Senate embodied in the resolution adopted
March 8 1901:
RESOLVED, That the Committee on the District of
Columbia be, and it is hereby directed to consider the subject and
report to the Senate plans for the development and improvement of the
entire park system of the District of Columbia. For the purpose of
preparing such plans the committee may sit during the recess of
Congress and may secure the services of such experts as may be necessary
for a proper consideration of the subject. The expenses of such
investigation shall be paid from the contingent fund of the Senate.
[R]espectfully report
In 1889 Congress provided for the purchase of the 170
acres of land in the valley of Rock Creek which have been developed into
the Zoological Park; and the next year a special act was passed,
authorizing the purchase of 2000 additional acres of land extending from
the northern boundaries of the Zoological Park to the District line. The
amount of land actually acquired under the provisions of this act was
1,605.9 acres. This territory, beautified by nature, is undeveloped save
for a few roads the location of which was obvious; and before the public
can realize the advantages of the purchase, a systematic plan must be
made by landscape architects.
Extending along the Potomac from the Anacostia, or
Eastern Branch, nearly to the mouth of Rock Creek are the flats
reclaimed by the Engineers and set apart by Congress under the name of
the Potomac Park. This territory, comprising 739.42 acres (including the
tidal basin) is entirely undeveloped; and its possibilities as a river
park are greater than can well be stated in words.
The Anacostia flats, comprising about 2000 acres,
imperatively demand reclamation in order to free the eastern portion of
the city from the malarial conditions that for years have seriously
retarded the development of that section, and have constantly impaired
the health of those persons who have been compelled to live within its
miasmal influences. Congress, recognizing the deplorable conditions to
which thousands of people either in its employ or under its care are
thus of necessity subjected has entered upon the preliminary work
looking to the eventual reclamation of these flats; and it is believed
that the time has now come to enter upon this work, with the view to
create within this area a water park. In this manner can the park needs
of the District be best served, and at the smallest expense.
The valley of Rock Creek from the mouth of that
stream to the Zoological Park is unsightly to the verge of ugliness.
Congress has had the situation studied with a view to finding a solution
of the difficulty either by covering the creek entirely, or by creating
a parkway through the valley. The need of a definite plan of treatment
is shown in a striking manner by the fact that on the line of
Connecticut Avenue a bridge is in course of construction; while the
Massachusetts avenue crossing is being made by throwing an arch over the
stream and filling in approaches. A decision should be reached as to
whether the creek is to be covered, o[r] is to remain open; and also as
to the treatment of the space in either case.
The development of the Potomac and of Rock Creek
parks, the creation of a park along the Anacostia, and the increasing
use of the Soldiers' Home grounds for park purposes, calls for a study
of the means of connection among the parks, so as to bring into one
system the diversified attractions that the parks when developed will
offer. The positive squalor which to-day mars the entrance to almost
every one of the parks is too apparent to need discussion.
Aside from the pleasure and the positive benefits to
health that the people derive from public parks, in a capital city like
Washington there is a distinct use of public spaces as the
indispens[a]ble means of giving dignity to governmental buildings; and
of making suitable connections between the great departments. When the
city of Washington was planned under the direct and minute supervision
of Washington and Jefferson, the relations that should subsist between
the Capitol and the Presidents House, were carefully studied. Indeed the
whole city was planned with a view to the reciprocity of sight between
public buildings. Vistas and axes; sites for monuments and museums;
parks and pleasure-gardens, fountains and canals; in a word all that
goes to make a city a magnificent and consistent work of art were
regarded as essentials in the plans prepared by L'Enfant and approved by
the first President and his Secretary of State. Nor were these original
plans prepared without due study of great models. The stately art of
landscape architecture had been brought from overseas by royal governors
and wealthy planters; and both Washington and Jefferson were familiar
with the practice of that art. L'Enfant a man of position and education,
and an e[n]g[i]neer of ability, must have been familiar with those great
works of the master Le Nôtre which are still the admiration of the
traveler and the constant pleasure of the French people. Moreover, from
his well-stocked library Jefferson sent to L'Enfant plans "on a large
and accurate scale" of Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfort, Carlst[uh]e,
Strasburg, Orleans, Turin, Milan and other European cities, at the same
time felicitating himself that the President had "left the planning of
the town in such good hands".
It has so happened that the slow and unequal
development of the city during the century of its existence has worked
changes in the original design; and to a certain extent has prevented
the realization of the comprehensive plan of the founders. As a result
there has been a lack of continuity in the parks, and spaces like the
Mall, that were designed for development as a unit have been cut into
pieces, some of which have been improved, some have been sold to private
persons, and some have been diverted to uses so absolutely at variance
with the original idea as seriously to detract from the dignity of the
buildings these spaces were intended to enhance.
Happily, however, nothing has been lost that cannot
be regained at reasonable cost. Fortunately, also, during the years
that have passed the Capitol has been enlarged and ennobled; and the
Washington Monument, wonderful alike as an engineering feat and a work
of art, has been constructed on a site that may be brought into
relations with the Capitol and the Executive Mansion. Doubly fortunate,
moreover, is the fact that the vast and successful work of the engineers
in redeeming the Potomac shores from unhealthful conditions gives
opportunity for enlarging the scope of the earlier plans in a manner
corresponding to the growth of the country. At the same time the
development of Potomac Park both provides for a connection between the
parks on the west and those on the east, and also it may readily furnish
sites for those memorials which history has shown to be worthy a place
in vital relation to the great buildings and monuments erected by the
founders of the Republic.
The question of the development of these park areas
forces itself upon the attention of Congress. Either this development
may be made in a haphazard manner, as the official happening to be in
charge of the work for the time may elect; or it my be made according to
a well-studied and well-considered plan, devised by persons whose
competence has been proved beyond question. Such a plan, adopted at this
time and carried out as Congress may make appropriations for the work,
will make Washington the most beautiful capital city in the world. The
reasons on which the foregoing assertion is based will appear in the
course of this report.
The action of the Senate in ordering a comprehensive
plan for the development of the entire park system of the District of
Columbia is the resultant of two movements, one popular in character,
the other technical. In October, 1898, the citizens of the District of
Columbia began to plan for the celebration, two years later, of the one
hundredth anniversary of the permanent seat of government in Washington.
The project being national rather than local, was brought to the
attention of the President, and by him was laid before Congress, with
the result that a joint committee of the two Houses was appointed to act
with the citizens committee in planning for the celebration. In
December, 1900, commemorative exercises, held at the Executive Mansion
and at the Capitol, were participated [in] by the Governors of the
States as well as by the officials of the General Government and the
representatives of foreign powers; and the celebration was brought to an
appropriate end by a reception and banquet given by the Washington Board
of Trade in honor of the committees and the distinguished guests.
The key-note of the celebration was the improvement
of the District of Columbia in a manner and to an extent commensurate
with the dignity and the resources of the American Nation. Senators,
and Congressmen vied with Governor after Governor in commendation of the
ideas breached by the joint committee, that the opportunities for making
Washington the beautiful city its founders intended it to be should be
realized without delay.
While the centennial exercises were in progress the
Institute of American Architects, in session in this city, was
discussing the subject of beautifying Washington; and in a series of
papers making suggestions for the development of the parks and placing
of public buildings, the tentative ideas of a number of the leading
architects, sculptors and landscape architects of the country were put
forward for discussion. As a result the Institute appointed a committee
on legislation; and from consultations with the Senate Committee on the
District of Columbia resulted the order of the Senate for the
preparation and submission of a general plan for the development of the
entire park system of the District.
On March 19, 1901, the subcommittee of the District
Committee having the matter in charge met the representatives of the
Institute of American Architects, and agreed to the proposition of the
latter that Mr. Daniel H. Burnham, of Chicago, Illinois, and Mr.
Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., of Brookline, Massachusetts, be invited to
act as experts in the preparation of park plans, with power to add to
their number. These gentlemen accepted the task, and subsequently
invited Mr. Charles F. McKim and Mr. Augustus St. Gaudens, of New York,
to act with them.
The Committee considered itself most fortunate in
securing the services of men who had won the very highest places in
their several professions. As the director of works of the World's
Columbian Exposition at Chicago, Mr. Burnham had achieved a reputation
for artistic taste, executive ability, and that comprehensive grasp of
the details necessary to carry a great undertaking to its successful
issue. The monumental works with which Mr. McKim's name is connected as
architect made it certain that in the preparation of plans for the
District of Columbia only those elements of beauty which the world has
agreed upon would find place; that a reverent and intelligent
appreciation of what was good in the work of the founders would have due
weight; and that the development proposed would be at once harmonious
with the past and equally pleasing to a refined taste. Mr. St. Gaudens'
work as a sculptor is by universal consent second to that of no other
American; and among architects and artists his critical abilities are
held in the highest esteem. Mr. Olmste[a]d bears a name identified with
what is best in modern landscape architecture in the District of
Columbia; he is the consulting landscape architect not only of the vast
system of parks and boulevards which make up the metropolitan park
system of Boston and its suburbs, but also of large parks in various
cities. To inherited taste, he adds the highest training both practical
and theoretical; and he enjoys the distinction of being the sole
instructor in landscape architecture in any American university.
The nature and scope of the work having been outlined
to the Commission, they entered upon their task not without hesitation
and misgivings. The problem was both difficult and complex. Much must be
done; much, also, must be undone. Moreover, no sooner was the membership
of the Commission announced than their aid and advice was sought in
relation to buildings and memorials under consideration; so that
immediately the range of the work broadened. Thus the importance and
usefulness of the Commission was enhanced. Such a result was anticipated
by your Committee; and the most encouraging part of the work has been
the cordiality and even enthusiasm with which the various officials who
came into relations with the Commission have taken up the work.
The Supervising Architect of the Treasury Department
from the first has been in the heartiest accord with the general ideas
and aims of the Commission as to the character of the buildings and
their approaches; and at his request the Commission have aided him in
his efforts to obtain suitable plans for the new building for the
Agricultural Department. The Secretary of War and the Secretary of the
Treasury have also done the general work a service by calling upon the
Commission for assistance.
After a detailed examination of the topographical
features of the District of Columbia, the Commission drew up preliminary
plans. They were then forced to the conclusion that an adequate
treatment of the park system depended upon the exclusion of the
Baltimore and Potomac Railroad from the Mall, so as to give an
unrestricted passage from the Capitol to the Monument and the Executive
Mansion. For years the removal of railroad tracks from the Mall has been
the dream alike of citizen and legislator.
The occupation of the Mall by the railroad dates back
about thirty years, at which time in their eagerness to secure
competition in freight and passenger traffic the then local government
of the District granted the lands, and subsequently Congress confirmed
the grant. In extenuation of the original grant it may be urged that the
space was then no better than a common pasture and that the railroad
would but take the place of the canal which it paralleled, so that
conditions would be bettered by the change, as undoubtedly proved to be
the case. Be that as it may, the railroad held the property by a title
good in law and in equity; and by virtue of a recent act of Congress the
space to be occupied had been increased, in consideration for the
surrender of street trackage and the proposed ele[v]ation of the tracks
within the City of Washington.
It so happened that the chairman of the Commission,
Mr. Burnham, was the architect of the Pennsylvania railroad's new
station at Pittsburg[h], and after his selection as a member of the
Commission the construction of the Washington station was offered to
him. After consultation with the subcommittee, Mr. Burnham proposed to
the President of the Pennsylvania railroad that the station be built on
the south side of the Mall and lands adjoining. The architectural and
other advantages of such a site were set forth with such vigor as to
command serious consideration. There the matter rested for a time.
The Commission, in order to make a closer study of
the practice of landscape architecture as applied to parks and public
buildings, made a brief trip to Europe, visiting Rome, Venice, Vienna,
Budapest, Paris, London, and their suburbs. Attention was directed
principally to ascertaining what arrangement of park areas best adapts
them to the uses of the people; and what are the elements that give
pleasure from generation to generation and even from century to century.
The many and striking results of this study will appear in the
discussions that follow.
It was during the stay of the Commission in London,
that President Cassat[t] announced to Mr. Burnham his willingness to
consider the question, not of moving the Baltimore and Potomac station
to the south side of the Mall, but of withdrawing altogether from that
region and uniting with the Baltimore and Ohio Company in the erection
of a union station on the site established by legislation for the new
depot of that road; provided suitable legislation could be secured to
make proper compensation for the increased expense such a change would
involve; and, provided, also that the approaches to the new site be made
worthy of the building proposed to be erected.
It should be said here that in considering the views
of the Commission and in reaching his decision, the President of the
Pennsylvania Railroad looked at the matter from the standpoint of an
American citizen, saying in substance that he appreciated the fact that
if Congress intended to make of the Mall what the founders of the city
intended it to be, no railroad should be allowed to cross it; and that
he would do all he could do consistent with the interests of the
stockholders of his road to vacate that space.
This conditional consent on the part of the railroad
removed the one great obstacle to the preparation of adequate plans for
the improvement of the city. Lesser obstacles, such as the lack of
surveys of the oldest parks in the District, and the difficulties of
getting together the widely scattered data, have been surmounted. On the
other hand, the work has been much lightened by the excellent
topographical maps of the District outside of the city, prepared by the
Coast and Geodetic Survey; and by the uniform courtesy of the Engineer
Commissioner of the District and other officials who have willingly
given all the assistance of their various offices.
On beginning work the Commission was confronted by
the fact that while from the first of October till about the middle of
May the climatic conditions of Washington are most salubrious, during
the remaining four and a half months the city is subject to extended
periods of intense heat, during which all public business is conducted
at an undue expenditure of physical force. Every second year Congress is
in session usually until about the middle of July; and not infrequently
it happens that by reason of prolonged or special sessions during the
hottest portion of the summer the city is filled with the already great
and increasing numbers of persons whose business makes necessary a more
or less prolonged stay in Washington. Of course nothing can be done to
change weather conditions; but very much can be accomplished to mitigate
the physical strain caused by summer heats. Singularly enough up to the
present time the abundant facilities which nature affords for healthful
and pleasant recreation during heated terms have been neglected; and in
this respect Washington is far behind other cities whose climatic
conditions demand much less, and whose opportunities also are less
favorable.
In Rome throughout the centuries it has been the
pride of emperor and pope to build fountains to promote health and to
give pleasure. Mile after mile of aqueduct has been constructed to
gather the water even from remote hills, and bring great living streams
into every quarter of the city; so that from the moment of entering the
Eternal City until the time of departure, the visitor is scarcely out of
sight of beautiful jets of water now flung upward in great columns to
add life and dignity even to St. Peter's; or again gushing in the form
of cascades from some great work of architect or sculptor; or still
again dripping refreshingly over the brim of a beautiful basin that was
old when the Christian era began. The forum is ruins, basilicas and
baths have been transformed into churches, palaces have been turned into
museums; but the fountains of Rome are bo[th] omnipotent and
eternal.
If all the fountains of Washington, instead of being
left lifeless and inert as they are during most of the time, should be
set playing at their full capacity, they would not use the amount of
water that bursts from the world-famous fountain of Trev[i] or splashes
on the stones of the pi[a]zza of St. Peter's. At the Chateau Vaux le
Vico[m]te near Paris, the great landscape architect Le Nôtre built
cascades, canals and fountains consuming five million gallons of water
per day; and the fountains of Versailles are the wonder and delight of
the French people.
The original plans of Washington show the high
appreciation L'Enfant had for all forms of water decoration; and
argument is scarcely needed to prove that the first and greatest step to
be taken in the matter of beautifying the District of Columbia [is] such
an increase in the water supply as will make possible the copious and
even lavish use of water in fountains.
Scarcely secondary in importance to fountains are
public baths. An instructive lesson in this respect is to be found in
the experience of the Metropolitan Park Commission in taking over and
equipping Revere Beach, immediately north of Boston. There the squalid
conditions prevailing in former years have been changed radically; and a
well-kept and well-ordered beach sufficient in extent to accommodate
over 100,000 persons is publicly maintained; no fewer than 1700 separate
rooms are provided for bathers and bathing suits are furnished at a
small expense. The receipts are sufficient to pay for maintenance and
yield a surplus of several thousand dollars for repairs and
extensions.
In Washington the extensive use of the present
bathing beach shows how welcome would be the construction of a modern
building with ample facilities. Moreover the opportunities offered by an
extended river front should be utilized in furnishing opportunities for
free public baths, especially for the people of that section of the
city between the Mall and the Potomac.
The creation of a water park on the upper stretches
of the Anacostia is anticipated as calculated to furnish a much needed
variety in the District park system. Those persons who have visited the
Thames on the occasion of a London holiday will readily appreciate the
enormous use which the people make of that narrow stream, the surface of
which at times seems to be literally covered with the different kinds of
light craft. In Belle Isle park in the city of Detroit, the creation of
shallow lakes and connecting canals developed boating in summer and
skating in winter to such an extent that often tens of thousands of
people daily enjoy an island that for years was little else than a
series of marshes. Given the opportunities for enjoyment the people are
quick to seize upon them; and, once realized, it seems astonishing that
chances for pleasure ha[ve]so long been neglected.
The creation of a water park, with driveways
surrounding it, being the suggested treatment of the Anacostia above the
head of navigation, the lower portion of the stream to its junction with
the Potomac may well be treated as proposed by the Engineers, namely, by
the construction of walls along the borders of the channel and filling
in the flats. The present limited wharf frontage of Washington makes it
certain that as the city increases in size, that portion of the
Anacostia frontage from its mouth to the Navy Yard will be needed for
business purposes. It is important, however, that a broad parkway
connection be maintained along the river in order to connect the
Anacostia park with the Potomac park; and for this work a line of stone
quays, [o]verlooked by terraces, as on the Seine in Paris, may be used
to excellent advantage.
The long island lying between the Washington channel
and the main channel of the Potomac should be treated in such a manner
as to afford shaded drives and walks along the water, with frequent
boat landings so as to make the park accessible to the section of the
city which it adjoins. The work of the Engineers has been of such a
character that the island can be developed at comparatively small
expense; and at the same time a portion of the city in great need of
park space will be well accommodated.
The necessity of rebuilding the frontage on
Washington channel which recently has come into the undisputed
possession of the District of Columbia, makes it necessary to decide as
to the character of the new wharves. The War Department has recently
established the Engineers' College, [on] what is known as the Arsenal
Grounds, and this property will be greatly improved within the near
future. The rebuilding of the wharves should be in keeping with these
prospective improvements; and fortunately the rental value of the
frontage will be sufficient to provide for the ultimate payment of the
cost of permanent work as well as the maintenance of the same.
The ebb and flow of the tide in the channel should
not be impeded by slips that collect refuse; but should be accelerated
by a continuous line of masonry quays, to correspond with the miles of
masonry work already constructed by the engineers to form the river
walls of the Potomac Park. Then as business demands larger space, the
piling should be arranged so as to provide for clear tidal flow. Then
the wide thoroughfare known as Water street may be treated as a driveway
between the Potomac Park and the Anacostia Park.
The valley of Rock Creek forms the natural connection
between the Potomac Park and the Zoological and Rock Creek Parks. The
Commission give[s] alternative plans for traversing the short space
necessary to get from the Potomac park into the valley of Rock Creek,
and either of these plans may be taken, as shall seem most expedient at
the time. There is no question in the minds of the Commission, or of
this Committee, that the most convenient, the least expensive and the
most satisfactory way of treating Rock Creek is to improve the banks,
build roadways along them, and secure such control of the spaces along
the top of the banks as will allow adequate policing.
A stream, even a small stream, running between
picturesque banks, in the midst of a city like Washington, offers
opportunities for park improvement that should not be ignored. The
alternative of arching over the creek and filling in between the banks
for the purpose of constructing a boulevard on a level with the streets
is highly expensive, [and] is dangerous in case of the sudden melting of
snows or of a cloud-burst in the upper valley. In 189_ Captain
(now Colonel) Lusk U. S. Engineer Corps, reported strongly in favor of
the open treatment, from an engineering point of view; and the aesthetic
argument reinforces the engineering position.
A plan for the systematic development of the outlying
parks is absolutely and immediately necessary. Such a plan is what all
progressive American cities have already adopted; and in the matter of
park development the District of Columbia [i]s behind the majority of
the cities of the country. The improvement of the present park areas
should begin at once, and be carried out with energy and
thoroughness.
Such a task the District of Columbia shares with the
cities of the United States. There is, however, a peculiar duty to be
done in Washington, the capital city of the Nation.
When L'Enfant drew the plans of the city of
Washington he anticipated a development of this country only less than
has actually taken place; and he made provision accordingly. The ground
that he laid off for a suitable setting for the Capitol and the
Presidents House. In spite of many encroachments of many divisions of
the territory, of mutually discordant developments of parts of the area
in question, the treatment of the space known as the Mall, can now be
undertaken in a manner such as even L'Enfant could never have
conceived.
The plans of the Commission are both simple and
rational. Starting with L'Enfant's original plan of treating the entire
space as a unit, the Commission recommended certain minor departures
from general plans, and also certain extensions of it.
The general outline of the Commissioners' plan is as
follows: To establish a relation between the Capitol and the Washington
Monument, by such a re-arrangement of the trees in the Mall as shall
create a vista 300 feet in width; and to extend this axial treatment to
the banks of the Potomac, there to have a suitable termination in a
great arch. This arch shall be in itself a point of divergence for the
drive to the Rock Creek valley on the west; to the Potomac Park on the
east; and by the Memorial Bridge to Arlington on the south. The
principle is the same as that in the Arc de Triumph in Paris, from which
the Champs Élysées drive to the Bois de Boulogne, the [blank; streets?]
radiate. This arch should form the Grant Memorial. In honor of the great
General who led the armies of the Union to victory that meant the
preservation of the Republic, and in memory of the brave soldiers who
fought under him, what more appropriate site than one which holds vital
relations on the one hand with the commander of the Revolutionary
armies, and on the other hand with the last resting place of so many
thousands of the brave men who gave their lives in battle for their
country.
Plans for a Grant Memorial have been authorized by
Congress and a competition for the selection of the artist to whom the
commission shall be [e]ntrusted; so that if the site suggested shall be
approved work on this portion of the plan might begin within a short
time. Moreover the sentiment in favor of a memorial bridge to connect
the Potomac Park with Arlington is so strong that the project must soon
be carried out. The memorial bridge plans sent to Congress, with the
approval of the War Department, call for a more elaborate and costly
structure than will be necessary or advisable in case a Grant Memorial
Arch is located as suggested. Indeed the dignified treatment of this
problem is to be found in the construction of a masonry bridge, which
shall derive its beauty from the harmony and proportion of its arches
and the simplicity and solidity of its structure rather than from
superimposed ornament.
The construction of a great bridge demands a suitable
treatment of its approaches. The Grant Memorial at the Washington end,
provides amply for the Washington approach. From this arch the bridge
should point straight for the Mansion house at Arlington, a dignified
and pleasing piece of architectureand the high slopes on which the
house stands should be treated with terraces by which the visitor would
ascend easy grades from the Virginia end of the bridge to his destination
at Arlington. In this way that great reservation would be brought
into close relationship with the Potomac Park, so as to be but an
extension of it. Moreover, the terraces are not only capable of a
treatment intrinsically beautiful, but they will afford the most
beautiful views imaginable of Washington and the Potomac. In this way a
harmonious, thoughtful, systematic and continuous treatment can be given
to a vast area.
The Capitol, the Washington Monument and the Grant
Memorial thus form the main axis. The cross axis is now to be
considered.
Approaching the White House from the north, the great
thoroughfare of Sixteenth street extends in a straight line from the
boundary of the District to Lafayette Square, the White House closing
the vista. The south front of the White House looks out on the
President's Gardens, then across the White Lots and the Monument Grounds
to the Potomac and the Virginia hills. The Washington Monument is not on
the axis of the White House, nor can it be brought into such relation by
any possible treatment; but if the western slope of the hill on which
the Monument stands shall be terraced and the space below shall be
treated as a plaza, then this plaza will be on the White House axis.
Then this axis, where it strikes the Potomac may be terminated by some
large treatment that will engage, without obstructing, the view from the
Executive Mansion. This latter situation may well be reserved for the
memorial that will surely be built to Lincoln; and such treatment would
give the great places to Washington, Lincoln and Grant as the three most
illustrious men in the history of the Republic. Any treatment less
comprehensive must seem inadequate and meager. A more comprehensive
treatment has yet to be proposed.
THE MUNICIPAL BUILDING
The necessity for the erection of a municipal
building for the District of Columbia is so well recognized, both in and
out of Congress, that no argument on the subject is needed.
The District Government occupies a rented building,
constructed for offices, and provided with accommodations for a
comparatively few people during a given time. No citizen enters this
building without feeling that it is inconvenient, unsafe, overcrowded
and shabby. The new building should be large enough to give comfortable
and sanitary work-rooms to the employe[e]s, and to provide the public
with reasonable facilities for the transaction of business. In its
architecture it should harmonize with the best of the Government
buildings, having dignity and expressing the feeling of permanence.
The location deserves very careful consideration.
That is [it] should be constructed on the south side of Pennsylvania
avenue has been settled probably by universal consent, but the exact
location has not been discussed widely. There are considerations which
would seem to point to the space now occupied by the market as the most
desirable site for the building which is to represent the Government of
the District of Columbia as a distinct function of the National
Government. Facing the junction of Pennsylvania and Louisiana Avenues,
the municipal building would hold vital relations with the District
Courts on Judiciary Square, and would occupy a position about midway
between the Capitol and the White House. This point seems to be the
center of the business life of the community and, therefore, perhaps,
the most convenient portion of the city. Moreover, the ample public
spaces on every side provide opportunity for an ample and attractive
setting for the building. Furthermore, for many years the District has
owned the land in front of the market with the view of placing a
municipal building there. Nothing but the smallness of the site has
stood in the way of agreement on this location.
The removal of the market to the squares west of its
present location might be made with advantage to all the interests
concerned. These squares are now occupied with a class of buildings that
must be removed if the south side of the Avenue is to be reclaimed; and
a readjustment of the space might provide for a larger and more modern
market, so constructed that it would be an ornament to the Avenue, while
at the same time the increasing public who frequent it, would be much
better accommodated. Then too, a place should be provided for market
wagons and the streets should be cleared of the present and unsightly
conditions. All this could be accomplished with increased convenience to
the market men themselves; and the public would be benefited in every
way.
PLAY GROUNDS
On visiting the Boston parks the sub-committee was
impressed by the open air gymnasium provided for boys, and the
play-garden for children on the Charles River embankment. The need of
play grounds, especially prepared for the youth, is now recognized in
almost all cities. In the beautiful Borghese Gardens in Rome, boys play
ball on the grass, and on occasions the American game of baseball is
played by the students from this country.
In Paris children build their houses, whip their tops
and play games on the gravel or on the piles in the gardens of the
Tuileries and Luxembourg. Everywhere in the crowded cities of Europe the
parks and gardens are the play-grounds of all ages and classes of the
people; and ornament, if not subordinated to utility, at least goes with
it hand in hand.
In purchasing lands for new schoolhouses the
appropriations should be sufficient to obtain considerable areas for
playgrounds. The advantages of such action will be two-fold. First,
areas for parks will thus be acquired at comparatively small expense,
and as the District increases in population these breathing spaces will
become invaluable. Again, in this way certain choice sites, already
marked out for public occupation on the street extension plans, will be
secured and put into immediate use. If the children were provided with
play space, other than the streets, the present objection from property
owners to the location of schoolhouses in their immediate neighborhood
would be obviated.
Minute on the Life of Charles Moore
ADOPTED BY THE COMMISSION OF FINE ARTS ON JANUARY 29, 1943
In the passing of Charles Moore at Gig Harbor in the
State of Washington on September 25, 1942, the Commission of Fine Arts
lost a devoted friend and inspired leader, and the Nation a scholar and
leader in civic affairs. His years of public service covered a period of
almost half a century. During practically all of these years Dr. Moore
was concerned with the development of the Plan of Washington. Since his
work had a nation-wide interest, he was known in all parts of the United
States and his advice on artistic matters was sought by both state and
city authorities. His influence as a patron of the arts was recognized
at home and abroad.
Charles Moore was born in Ypsilanti, Michigan, on
October 20, 1855, and at his death he was within a month of
reaching the age of 87 years. He was the son of sturdy, patriotic
Americans, who instilled into the boy a love of home and country and a
devout faith in God.
At a very early age he experienced an incident which
seemed to predestine his work in the interest of the National Capital,
to which Dr. Moore devoted so many years. Once, when he was a child, a
visitor from Virginia appeared at his home, took the boy on his knee,
asked him how old he was and said, "When I was your age, I sat on George
Washington's knee." Dr. Moore never forgot that episode and, as he grew
older the experience filled him with the desire to see the City of
Washington and subsequently to act in the interests of its orderly
development.
Dr. Moore received his preparatory education at the
Phillips Andover Academy at Andover, Massachusetts. He matriculated at
Harvard University in 1874 and graduated in the class of 1878, winning
honors in several fields of activity. He gained an appreciation of the
arts from his teacher Charles Eliot Norton, who about that time
introduced at Harvard the first course in the History of Art in the
United States. That was during President Grant's administration, when
the Centennial of the Establishment of the United States was celebrated
in Philadelphia in 1876. It was a period when several museums were
founded, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in
Washington. During these years the National Capital witnessed its first
great period of improvement after a lapse of 50 years, which led
President Grant to state that there were more paved streets in
Washington than in any other city of the United States. At this time Dr.
Moore was a young man of about 22 years and on one of his visits to the
east he saw the City of Washington for the first time.
Upon graduation from Harvard, Dr. Moore chose
journalism as a vocation and entered the employ of the Detroit
Evening Journal as a reporter. He became a skilful writer and a
master in the use of English; his writings were enriched from the Bible,
which was his constant companion.
About the year 1889 Dr. Moore was sent to Washington
as correspondent of Detroit newspapers, where his experience in
journalism was further enlarged. His success as a newspaper correspondent
soon brought him into association with Senator James McMillan of
Michigan, and he became his political secretary about 1890.
Subsequently, by virtue of the fact that Senator McMillan was Chairman,
Dr. Moore became Clerk of the Senate Committee on the District of
Columbia.
Senator McMillan was concerned with several needed
improvements for the National Capital demanded by the increase in the
population of the city, which had grown from 61,000 in 1860 to nearly
200,000 in 1890. Among these improvements were: the establishment of the
Filtration Plant, which became a part of McMillan Park; the
consolidation of the nearly a dozen street car companies (horse-drawn
until about 1890) to two; the reorganization of the charitable
institutions of the District of Columbia; the elimination of the
railroad grade crossings; and the extension of the highway system. As
Clerk of the Senate District Committee, Dr. Moore prepared the reports
on all these projects.
The World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893
gave Dr. Moore a view of a monumental group of buildings built in
accordance with a comprehensive plan in which architects, sculptors,
painters, and landscape architects collaborated. The so-called "White
City" on the shores of Lake Michigan was the impetus which resulted in
bringing about a revival in the Fine Arts in the United States. The
Exposition stirred the whole world as the result of the development of a
beautiful and impressive group of buildings so arranged as to create a
sense of unity in the composition. The landscape effects, the
architecture, sculpture, and mural paintings made a vital impression
upon the public mind and caused the people to recognize new standards
and new ideals of artistic achievements. Thus the Exposition began a
new era in civic development.
The first city to benefit as a result of the
aesthetic achievements of the 1893 World's Fair was the National
Capital. The construction of the Library of Congress, completed in 1897,
brought many artists to Washington. In 1900 a celebration commemorating
the one hundredth anniversary of the establishment of the seat of
government in the District of Columbia was held in the Capital. The
celebration developed an impetus to improve the District of Columbia in
a manner and to an extent commensurate with the dignity and resources of
the United States, which at the close of the Spanish-American War had
become a world power. The population of Washington at this time was
218,196. While the centennial exercises were in progress, the American
Institute of Architects was in session in the City and the subject of
the development of parks and the placing of public buildings was the
important subject of discussion. The tentative ideas of a number of the
leading architects, sculptors, and landscape architects were heard. The
Institute appointed a committee on legislation which met with the Senate
Committee on the District of Columbia and subsequently, in March 8,
1901, the United States Senate authorized the establishment of the
Senate Park Commission; Messrs. Daniel H. Burnham and Charles Follen
McKim, architects, Frederick Law Olmsted, landscape architect, and
Augustus Saint-Gaudens, sculptor, were appointed members of the
Commission. Charles Moore served as secretary.
The plans and written report prepared by the Senate
Park Commission, edited by Dr. Moore, which were submitted to the United
States Senate, constituted the first and most notable proposal
pertaining to city development in the United States advanced up to this
time. It marked an important epoch in the development of the National
Capital and brought about the revival of the L'Enfant Plan of 1791 for
the Federal City, a Plan adopted by President Washington and Secretary
of State Jefferson that had been neglected for three-quarters of a
century. Champions of this new Plan of Washington were opposed by
certain vested interests, but it nevertheless had many friends, among
them President Theodore Roosevelt and the Honorable Elihu Root. As a
result of the Commission's recommendations the railroad tracks were
removed from the Mall, thereby making it possible to restore the central
axis of the L'Enfant Plan. The Union Station was built from the designs
of Daniel H. Burnham, and the White House was restored by Charles F.
McKim to be in keeping with the dignity of the Chief Executive of the
Nation. In all this work Dr. Moore took an active part.
Thereafter a series of difficulties arose; the
McMillan Commission, having submitted its report, went out of existence,
and the Plan was left with no one to guide in executing it. Senator
McMillan died in 1902 and Dr. Moore returned to Detroit to become
Secretary of the Security Trust Company.
In 1909 President Theodore Roosevelt, by Executive
Order, appointed a Council of the Fine Arts consisting of 30 artists,
but Congress denied the Council their traveling expenses. There upon, on
March 21, 1909, President Taft abolished the Council and Congress on May
17, 1910, established the Commission of Fine Arts "to consist of seven
qualified judges of the Fine Arts." Dr. Moore became one of the original
members of this new Commission. It was a fitting recognition not only of
his past services, but also of his pre-eminent qualifications to pass
upon matters relating to the beautification of the National Capital. The
Commission of Fine Arts held its first meeting on July 8, 1910, and
elected Daniel H. Burnham, architect, Chairman. Other members of the
original Commission of Fine Arts, in addition to Dr. Moore, were
Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., landscape architect, Cass Gilbert and
Thomas Hastings, architects, Daniel Chester French, sculptor, and
Francis D. Millet, painter.
The first project to come before the Commission was
the design and location of the Lincoln Memorial, and in this the
Commission reaffirmed the site in Potomac Park on the banks of the
Potomac, in connection with a Memorial Bridge and a Water Gate,
suggested by the Senate Park Commission.
After Mr. Burnham's death in 1912, Mr. French was
elected Chairman and served until 1915. Dr. Moore was thereupon elected
Chairman and served as such during the succeeding 22 years. During those
years Dr. Moore was the guiding spirit of the Commission, and although
he relied on the artist members for decisions on aesthetic or technical
matters, they depended upon him to carry out their ideas and placed the
utmost respect in his judgment. Dr. Moore was influential with the
members of Congress, Cabinet Officers, and other leading officials of
the Government. He was conciliatory, firm when occasions required, but
nevertheless willing to compromise "in everything but the essence". The
projects that came before the Commission of Fine Arts during Dr. Moore's
27 years' service as member and Chairman numbered into the thousands,
and the story of the beautification of Washington has the name of
Charles Moore linked with each one of its important projects. In fact
from 1901 to 1937 Dr. Moore witnessed the transformation of Washington
from a small, run-down community to the most beautiful capital city in
the world.
A most important part in the work of transforming
Washington culminated in the Public Buildings Program of 1926 adopted
during the administration of President Coolidge. The President took up
the problem with Dr. Moore in its earliest stages, and he in turn with
the members of the Commission of Fine Arts. The outstanding result of
the Public Buildings Program was the purchase by Congress of the entire
70 acres south of Pennsylvania Avenue between the Treasury Department
and the United States Capitol and the resultant development of the area
known as the "Triangle". Other important projects were the completion of
Union Station Plaza, the enlargement of the Capitol Grounds with
provision for an additional House of Representatives Office Building,
the United States Supreme Court Building, the Arlington Memorial Bridge
and Water Gate, the completion of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and
the restoration of the Arlington Mansion.
The World War of 1917-1918 brought Dr. Moore from
Detroit to Washington as a permanent resident. In addition to his duties
as Chairman of the Commission of Fine Arts, he became Consultant to the
Librarian of Congress and Acting Chief of the Division of Manuscripts.
He occupied the last named position for nine years, 1918-1927, during
which period he succeeded in securing many valuable documents for the
Library of Congress, in particular the letters and other papers of
presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft.
Amidst his daily duties, Dr. Moore found time to
write a number of books. In 1900 he published The Northwest
Under Three Flags; in 1915 a History of Michigan; in 1921
A Life of Daniel H. Burnham, Architect and Planner of Cities (two
volumes); in 1926 The Family Life of George Washington; in 1929
Life and Letters of Charles Follen McKim, and
Washington Past and Present; in 1932 Wakefield, Birthplace of
George Washington. Dr. Moore was editor of The Plan of
Chicago prepared by Daniel H. Burnham and E. H. Bennett, 1909. He
prepared editions of George Washington's Rules of Civility and
Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and Second Inaugural as well as the
Report of the Senate Park Commission of 1901, heretofore
mentioned, and a Report on the Restoration of the White House in
1902. Dr. Moore fully realized the value of recording subjects of
importance, and his numerous reports and articles pertaining to
Washington, written during a period of more than 30 years, remain as
valuable records.
At the approach of the Bicentennial of the Birthday
of George Washington, Dr. Moore became actively interested in the
restoration of the birthplace of the first President. He was elected an
officer of the Wakefield National Memorial Association, which completed
the restoration of the birthplace in time for the celebration in 1932.
As a part of the celebration, Congress authorized the construction of
the Mount Vernon Memorial Highway, extending from the City of Washington
via the Arlington Memorial Bridge, to the home of the first President at
Mount Vernon. Both parkway and bridge were completed in 1932. Dr. Moore
participated in the Bicentennial by serving as an Advisor in the
publication of the Writings of George Washington, authorized by
Congress, a work comprising 37 volumes.
Because of his advancing years, Dr. Moore began to
feel that his service in behalf of the City of Washington was complete
and he therefore retired as member of the Commission of Fine Arts on
September 29, 1937. He was succeeded in the chairmanship by Mr. Gilmore
D. Clarke, who had been appointed a member of the Commission soon after
completing his service as Consulting Landscape Architect for the Mount
Vernon Memorial Highway and later, after having been reappointed by
President Roosevelt, had been elected Vice-Chairman of the
Commission.
Dr. Moore was the recipient of numerous honors in
this country and abroad. He accompanied the members of the Senate Park
Commission of 1901 on their trip to Europe to visit the leading capital
cities. In 1918 he was appointed a delegate to visit British
universities on a World War mission arranged by London University. In
1923 the Secretary of War appointed him a member of the Commission to
plan for the American War Cemeteries in Europe. He served as Overseer of
Harvard University from 1924 to 1930. He was a life member of the
American Historical Association and its Treasurer from 1917-1930; he was
Vice-President of the Wakefield National Memorial Association; member of
the American Institute of Arts and Letters, the Academy of Arts and
Letters of Cuba, the National Sculpture Society, the American Planning
and Civic Association, and Phi Beta Kappa; he was an honorary member of
the American Institute of Architects, the American Society of Landscape
Architects, the New York Architectural League, and the Institut
Français de Washington. Dr. Moore was an Incorporator and a Life
Member of the American Academy in Rome. He was President of the Detroit
City Planning Commission, 1912-1919. In 1924 he was awarded the Gold
Medal of Honor of the American branch, Société des
Architectes Diplômes par le Gouvernement Français. France
honored him with the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in 1924; in 1928
he received the Friedsam Fellowship gold medal award; in 1927 he
received the New York Architectural League Medal of Honor, and in 1937
the Carnegie Corporation award for services to the Arts in America. In
1890 George Washington University conferred upon him the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy and in 1923 the degree of Doctor of Laws. Miami
University bestowed upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws in 1930, and
Harvard University, his Alma Mater, honored him with the degree of
Doctor of Arts in 1937.
Dr. Moore had a most genial disposition; he was fond
of good stories and enjoyed telling them. Thus his Washington Past
and Present is less a chronological history of the city than it is,
to quote Dr. Moore, "an endeavor to interpret those new plans in the
light of the past....", and he did this entertainingly by telling stories
of his experiences during the years that he was occupied with the
development of the National Capital, during which time the plans were
carried out only after many struggles and discouragements but, through
his constant perseverance, with success. In recent years his fellow
members on the Commission of Fine Arts have given testimony to the fact
that Washington would not be as beautiful as it is today had it not been
for Dr. Moore's untiring zeal and steadfast devotion to the Plan of
Washington, accompanied by much self-sacrifice, for his work on the
Commission was without compensation.
The members and former members of the Commission of
Fine Arts honored Dr. Moore in 1935 on the twenty-fifth anniversary of
the establishment of the Commission by presenting him with a special
Gold Medal designed by Mr. Lee Lawrie, then the sculptor member of the
Commission. Mr. Eugene Savage, painter member of the Commission,
executed a portrait of Dr. Moore for this occasion.
After Senator McMillan's death in 1902, Dr. Moore
established his home in Detroit, where his wife died in 1914. During
that period he became intimately acquainted with Mr. Charles L. Freer,
managing director of the Michigan Car Company, the parent organization
of the American Car and Foundry Company, of which Senator McMillan was
Chairman of the Board of Directors. Mr. Freer acquired a notable
collection of Oriental Art numbering 8,000 objects, and Dr. Moore was
helpful in persuading him to donate this collection to the Smithsonian
Institution and to house it in Washington, an ideal accomplished in the
Freer Gallery of Art, which was opened to the public in 1923. Mr. Freer
stipulated in his will that objects of art acquired in the future for
the Freer Gallery of Art must have the approval of the Commission of
Fine Arts, and the Commission has continuously served in the manner
outlined.
On February 18, 1937, the Washington Society of Fine
Arts gave a dinner in honor of Dr. Moore, at which he summarized his
experiences in the National Capital in one brief paragraph, saying:
"A cloud of witnesses encompass me tonight as the
past rises before me. Dimly through the mists of time I see their
facesnine Presidents, Cabinet Officers, Senators, Representatives,
officials, specialists, high-minded citizens, and a long procession of
artists. Various were their contributions. Combined they are a part of
the great tradition, coming from the past, flowing into the
futuredestined to prepare a Capital worthy of the American
Nation, the city of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln,"
During the last five years of his life Dr. Moore
lived with his son MacAllaster Moore at Moorlands, Gig Harbor, in the
State of Washington. He spent these years writing his reminiscences; he
had begun a history of the District of Columbia. On Friday morning,
September 25th, Dr. Moore was taken ill and, ere his son had time to
call a physician, he had departed. Another son, Colonel James M. Moore,
U.S. Army, also survives. A brief funeral service was held at Bremerton,
Washington, and among the many friends who sent floral tributes were
the President and Mrs. Roosevelt, and the members and former members of
the Commission of Fine Arts.
Dr. Moore will always be remembered and revered for
his illustrious service rendered on behalf of the Capital of this
Nation.
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