6827 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924024422648 .,._ Cornell University Library NAC 6827 .W27BS7 3 1924 024 422 648 THE DEVELOPMENT OF WASHINGTON CITY I X the early period of our history the people appreciated and demanded beauty in civic planning and development. We find Annapolis laid out on the lines suggested by Sir Christopher \A'ren for rebuilding London after the destruction of that city by the great fire of 1666. The suggestion of an imposing capital city may be found in \\'illiamsburg, Va., with its principal street 200 feet wide, with a dignified vista of the Colonial Capitol at one end and William and Mary College at the other. The Governor's palace, with its extensi\'e ^Nlall and the Public Square in the center of the city, showed an appreciation of both dignity and beauty. L'Enfant proved his artistic ability in the scheme for Buffalo, with its radial streets, while Xew Orleans with its fan-shaped plan, laid out bv Bienville, had many points to commend it to our attention. This interest of our forefathers culminated in efl:'orts to obtain the highest type of beauty and utility in their capital city. AA'ashington and Jefferson exhibited an active per- sonal interest in the plan of Washington City, and I^'Enfant presented a great artistic com- position in his design with its proposed park treatment, radial streets, beautiful vistas, reciprocity of site between points of interest and grouping of Federal buildings. It seems strange that with this earh' tendency we, as a people, should have ceased to appreciate the value of a beautiful composition and the necessity for growth under artistic guidance. It is only in recent years that travel, culture and leisure have again called the attention of our people to the pleasure and cultivation derived from beautiful surroundings. l„,l (a I. Ill rr. rrnni', rrrrr?r\ ^^ u.' I'.rrrrrr— rX Fwii,-. ^v^irr— r^r ■ — i- E^ccpFf rr^rrrrrt rrrr/ rr c:^ — rr«''"rrr/rrrirr i-a;i rr^r^Trrrrrr -rr rrrrt- ^rr rrrrrCr -T"- F/^r~rrrr ■ /nnrrrr/i : ^^/'^r^ rrrrr/rrrrr nrrr',rrFrc>-rjr Pffrrr? '-■r/rFrrrrrrri .-r rrrrrrrrrrr^ rr r-Trrrrrrr- ri r" /rri rrrrrrr r ir\ rrrrrrr rr\ rrrrrrrrrr rrrm n rrrrf— r— rri rrrrrrrmr"^ rrrrrrrrrrrc-T- I — rrrrrrrr'-^i-f—r nr^, rr^rprrr^rrp-rTrrrrrrr/ ^ rrrrrrrvTrr/r— .r(-r-r-r[— (— r M I) I ( r. - rrr-i^r-,' 'rrrrrrrrp-' rf^rp-fi -;'^r[;rrrrrrrr''r vr ;Fprp^;;f"rFr;2rpr < .v>>'^ lllu,ii)tli ..I ih. S>tifrl9. Figure 1. L'Enfant's Plan for Washington. The Development of Washington With special reference to the Lincoln Memorial Address hy GLENN BROWN Secretary American Institute of Architects, before the Washington Chamber of Commerce, December 13 1910 ^Z Published by the CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF WASHINGTON, D. C. PRE38 OF BVRON S. ADAMS, WASH., D. C. AC QQZI The report of the Park Commission on the future development of Washington City, secured by the efficient management of Senator MacMillan, was a spark which Hghted a fire of enthusiasm that has spread North, South, East and West. In this movement culture and business go hand in hand. While culture is striving to attain the ideal in the elevation and refinement of life, business has been quick to appreciate the monetary value of beauty. To indicate the magnitude of this movement, it may be well to mention as among the cities and towns which have taken active steps to procure a systematic and artistic growth : Cleveland, Bufifalo, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, New Orleans, Hartford, New Haven, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles St. Paul, Denver, Chicago and Cincinnati. This movement, which shows a keen appreciation of the value of beauty, is not confined to the United States. It appears to be a wave that has spread over the world. London is spending millions in building the Victoria Memorial, with extended approaches, formal parks, and architectural surroundings, in cutting new streets and widening old streets. Paris, having spent two hundred and sixty-five million dollars on the Haussmann plans, is now contemplating an expenditure of two hundred and thirty-six million dollars on new artistic improvements. Rome, Berlin, Vienna and other European cities are expending vast sums in beautifying their cities. Australia, Japan and Johannesburg have commissions or artists studying schemes for the artistic growth of their cities. The magnitude of work contemplated and in actual progress in our cities and the possi- bilities of its refining influence upon our citizens is worthy of attention and encouragement. Senator MacMillan with his knowledg'e of public affairs, thorough acquaintance with the District of Columbia and its needs, having managed large industries, fully appreciated the value of expert advice when he secured the appointment of a commission to study and re- port upon the future development of Washington City. The Commission, Charles F. Mc- Kim, D. H. Burnham; Augustus Saint Gaudens and F. L. Olmsted, were artists of educa- tion, experience and refinement, as well as men of executive ability, who had shown their Figure 2. Model of City As It Will Be, Looking From the Capitol to Lincoln Memorial. capacity in executed work. The Commission were neither acquainted with the officials with whom they were to act nor with the problem which they were to solve. The officials were found to be broad-minded and exceptional men who aided and encouraged thorough inves- tigation and study of the subject. The topography of the city and its surroundings was quickly appreciated by the Commission as the wealth and manificent possibilities of its future development unfolded. The city, encircled by two beautiful rivers, nestled in an amphi- theater of hills ; nothing could be more inviting to an artistic mind. After a careful study of existing work in Europe and colonial work in this country they were ready to begin the prepa- ration of their report. The Commission was surprised to find how broadly and thoroughly Washington and L'Enfant had grasped the subject, and, after a careful study, thought it best to adopt the broad principles of the original plan; at the same time ample problems remained for original solution, in the increased park areas, park connections, and the selection of stat- uary, the erection of buildings, and the treatment of waterways. The Park Commission's report on Washington City was presented January 15, 1902. The recommendations for the future development of Washington consisted in suggestions for the grouping of future Federal buildings and important monuments in the center of the city, for new park areas necessary to preserve features of natural beauty or to en- hance the natural landscape, and lastly suggestions for the most feasible and artistic con- necting links between the parks. The report forms an admirable type for other communi- ties to follow as its strength lies in offering a broad and comprehensive composition in which each detail is given its relative value. Two models were presented by the Park Commission with their report; one showing the city as it is, the other showing the city as they suggest it should be. The model of the city as it is shows how a want of sympathy in well-meaning people has nearly destroyed the great composition left us by the Father of the Country. Since the days of Madison, each park, building and monument has been designed as an individual Figure 3. Model of the City As It Will Be, Looking From the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol. entity without relation to the other; thus the dignity of the composition has been lost. Look- ing from the Monument to the Capitol, one sees a tangle of trees, a jumble of unrelated buildings, jarring one with the other. The unsightly Botanical Gardens and the Pennsyl- vania Railway Station are prominent and unpleasant objects always in plain view of the Capitol. This model graphically displays the want of judgment in the disposition of Fed- eral buildings without uniformity of design or grouping, and the thoughtless destruction of the beautiful vistas which constituted the fundamental and distinctive features of the origi- nal plan. The model of the Mall, which illustrates the proposed reinstatement and development of L'Enfant's design, demonstrates what may be accomplished by directness, simplicity and dignity in park treatment and grouping of classic structures. The composition contemplates two principal axes, one east and one west, beginning with the Capitol, having as its central feature the Washington Monument, and ending with the Lincoln Memorial; the other be- ginning with the White House, having as its central feature the Monument Garden, ends with the Monument to the Constitution makers. The planting and roadways of the parks, the architectural adornments and the disposition of new buildings, are designed to empha- size these axes and enhance the dignity of the Capitol, the White House, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and the Memorial to the Constitution makers, which are the principal points of interest and beauty in the composition. (Figures 2 and 3.) While the general arrangement is the foundation of the scheme many of the details of this composition are well worthy of attention. It is proposed that the Federal buildings for legislative purposes should be grouped around the Capitol, the Executive Department build- ings around the White House and the Scientific Departments of the Government should face the Mall. The center of the Mall from the Monument to the Capitol will be a carpet of green three hundred feet wide bounded by four rows of stately elms on the north and south. Be- yond the elms may be seen white classic buildings. Between the Washington Monument and Capitol. Washington Monument. Lincoln Memorial. FiGUKE 4. General Plan of Mall, the Lincoln Memorial is a broad canal two hundred feet wide flanked on either side by dense forests. (Figure 4.) In addition to the enclosure of the Capitol Grounds by classic structures on three sides, a terrace is proposed on the west facing Union Square where the Mall terminates. From the center of the present terrace a fountain is brought to the new terrace by a series of cascades to a basin of no mean dimension in which fountains will play and around which the steps with richly treated balustrades will wind. (Figure 5.) Union Square, in which the Mall terminates, is an important detail of the composition. It will have the new marble terrace of the Capitol on the east, classic white buildings on the north and south, and the Mall with its vistas, lawns and trees on the west. This square is one of the conspicuous and imposing points of the general scheme and in the center of it is placed the monument to General Grant. We feel that the opening of Union Square in accordance with the Park Commission's plan is most important so that when Grant surmounts his pedestal he may overlook a dig- nified and adequate site, and so that the people may appreciate the beauties of the statue and the importance and propriety of the location. (Figure 6.) When the rows of elms which form the boundary of the tapis vert on the Mall reach the Washington Monument, the plan broadens into the form of a Greek Cross. A base line, which is so much needed, is given to the Monument by the marble terraces depicted. The east terrace is a little above the surface of the park, while the west terrace is forty feet high and has a broad and imposing flight of steps leading from the formal garden on the lower level to the plaza around the great shaft. (Figures 7, 8 and 9.) From the pavilions on the plaza, embowered in elms, visitors will be able to obtain many enjoyable views of the Monu- ment, its garden and the canal, as well as distant vistas of the Capitol, White House and Lincoln Memorial. The Lincoln Memorial, a classic portico, charming in its refinement and dignified in 11 r** rir"'4SU'^'iJ-' z^ Figure S. Tekracks at Foot of Capitol Grounds. its simplicity, on the east, overlooks the basin of the canal, which is adorned by fountains and terraces. It will form a center from which, on the west, the riverside drive and Memorial bridges to Arlington will radiate. When viewed from the Monument, the Lincoln Memo- rial will stand, serene and restful, at the end of the vista, with the broad canal in the fore- ground flanked by a dense growth of trees and the broad Potomac and Virginia hills as a fitting background. The vista from the White House ends with the Memorial to the wise patriots who drew our Constitution. The simple, classic structure which is suggested is intended to face, on the north, a broad, level, green field, which may be used for athletic sports, and to overlook a broad water basin on the south where aquatic sports, such as boating for summer and skating for winner, may be indulged. When completed, this vista will form a charming \ iew from the White House: the great circle in the foreground; the Monument Garden in the middle distance, ended by the classic structure with the Broad Potomac and pleasing hills of Virginia as a background. The Commission presented well-considered schemes for the acquisition of new park areas which are necessary to round out the present parks, to preserve the palisades of the Potomac, to reclaim marshes, and make a water park on the Eastern Branch and to acquire various links so as to connect the park systems. Anacostia River, or the Eastern Branch of the Potomac, at the present time being largely a marsh, is a very disreputable-looking sheet of water. It is proposed to form a dam in this river and reclaim the portions of the marsh land which will not be cov- ered by the new body of water. This sheet of water and the reclaimed land will make a most beautiful and effective water park and the healthfulness of this section of the city will be improved. On the west of the city Rock Creek empties into the river. The rocky and wooded banks and effective valleys of this stream lend themselves readily to effective park treatment. 13 Figure 6. Union Squark With Statue to General Grant in the Center. Driveways and walks are proposed on both sides of the creek, the banks being terraced except where they run into the valleys. By utilizing the natural landscape a beautiful park will be formed between Washington and Georgetown which will form the best and the natural communication between the Mall and the Zoological Park. The city has already acquired the tract along this stream from the Zoological Park to the District Line, and utilized it as the Zoological Park of 168 acres and the Rock Creek Park of 1,600 acres. (Figure 11.) Another important feature of this proposed system is the parking of Piney Branch from the Rock Creek Park to the Soldiers' Home. It is proposed to park the valley between the Soldiers' Home and Kendall Green and between Kendall Green and the water park on the Anacostia River, then by an elevated roadway along the Anacostia Ri^•er to the Arsenal and back to the Mall. This will form a continuous driveway including the Mall, Rock Creek Valley, the Zoological Park, Piney Branch Valley, Soldiers' Home to the water park along Anacostia RiA'er, and along the Washington Channel back to the Mall. A large circle of parked driveways is proposed, taking in the shore of the Potomac as far as the observatory grounds and Rock Creek Park, connecting the forts on the heights which surrounded Wash- ington during the war. This outer circle of the park driveways will also connect the larger parks already mentioned. The original purchase of Rock Creek and the Zoological Parks did not include some of the most picturesque hills and valleys adjoining their boundaries. The Park Commission, after a careful study of the situation, have mapped out what they con- sider should be acquired to preserve these natural beauties and to enhance the present beauties of these important parks. It is very important for the future beauty of the city, the pleasure and healthfulness of its citizens, as well as all who visit it from this country and abroad, that some steps should be taken immediately to acquire this property, consisting of natural val- leys and waterways which will complete the park system of the District, as at the present time real estate speculators seem to be taking very active steps to mar and destroy their IS 155.- ■wf:,*^-**. Figure 7. Monument Garden and West Terrace, natural beauties by blasting out the hillsides, cutting down magnificent trees, and making hid- eous red clay banks without thought or care as to the irreparable damage they are doing. At the present time there are few of the sections indicated in the Park Commission's report which may not be saved from ruthless destruction, but if many years are allowed to pass damage will be done which will be irreparable. The enthusiasm produced by the Commission's report throughout the country has shown the interest of the people in the Capital City and their desire to see it the most beautiful in the world. The moral effect of this movement has been reflected in the work executed since the report was made public. The great terminal station, the Agricultural Building, the new National Museum, the office buildings for the Senate and House of Representatives, the Municipal Building, the buildings for the Bureau of the American Republics and the Daughters of the American Revolution, as well as the monument to General Grant, have all been located and designed to conform with the new plan for the development of Washing- ton City. The ground has been purchased between the Avenue and the Mall from 14th to 15th Streets by the Government, and the designs for three new buildings authorized — the Depart- ment of State, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Commerce and Labor — which will conform with the Park Commission plan in width, location and design. The suc- cess of obtaining this orderly and harmonious grouping of Government buildings, in value amounting to about $25,000,000, will enhance the future of our Capital City and rebound to the credit of the nation. There are three elements, important factors, in this great scheme which have not been authorized by Congress, which I consider vital to the future welfare of the city and which I am going to urge your Chamber of Commerce to exert your whole energetic influence in ob- taining for the benefit of our city : the preservation of the palisades of the Potomac ; the parking of Rock Creek Valley from the river to the Zoological Park and the definite loca- 17 #*^- FlGURE 8. Monument Garden, Looking Toward the White House. tion of the Lincoln Memorial on the site and in harmony with the design advocated in the Park Commission's report. The cities of Europe where they have rivers or streams seize the attractive elements obtained from running water, wooded banks, conserve, cultivate and open them for the pleasure and enjoyment of the people. It would be difficult to find a more beautiful and imposing river than the Potomac, with its wooded hills, chffs, picturesque rapids and imposing falls. Its beauties are lost to the people, its banks are being despoiled, we will need its forests, and its hills should be pre- served from ridge to ridge with walks and drives. Its surface should be filled with pleas- ure boats. The health and pleasure of future inhabitants will demand nothing less. While I am urging the acquisition of this territory I wish to lay most stress upon the two other elements mentioned— Rock Creek Valley and the Lincoln Memorial. We have be- tween Georgetown and Washington a stream of water once most charming, still beautiful in many places, now easily made attractive from the river to Rock Creek Park. It opens into a broad, beautiful river, with the wooded Analostan Island in the foreground and the pleasing hills of Virginia in the distance. All that is necessary to make this most attractive is to clean away the rubbish dumps, broken-down sheds and stables, and plant a few trees, given an entrance by walks or drives, and this section below Pennsylvania A\enue and the river would be a park of which any city would be proud. •From Pennsylvania Avenue to P Street the banks of Rock Creek have been used as a dump heap. Refuse of all kinds — bottles, stoves, cans, scrap iron, paper, rags, straw, ma- nure — has been dumped upon its banks. It has become so unsightly that few can see any possi- bilities of beauty in it; the wish is to cover it up, and get it out of sight. It is a menace to health. As a matter of fact, a little grading, a little planting, a drive and walks would make this one of the most attractive features of our city. Recently I walked from Pennsylvania Avenue to the P Street bridge down in tlie valley. IQ /- \ Figure 9. MoNUMKNT Garden, Looking Toward the Capitol. scrambling over refuse, cutting my way through underbrush. In spite of what man had done, I was surprised at the beauties of the stream from one bridge to the other ; the wild growth reflected in the water ; the seclusion — lost to the city — views offered one after the other charming bits of landscape. Above the P Street bridge it opens out into the Old Lyons Mill Valley. Here we have many large fine trees and natural growth that cannot be acquired by money, level surface, small rapids, a park already — if there was only means of access. Let the city not lose this opportunity to acquire it for the good of the citizens. From Massachusetts Avenue all the way to the Zoo, we have valleys and hills, mag- nificent trees — no more beautiful natural park could be found. The view from the Connecti- cut Avenue bridge is a joy to all, but we do not own it, and in a few months hills may be leveled, trees felled, its natural beauty destroyed, never to be restored. I would urge you to obtain this valley from ridge to ridge, the only way to preserve its beauty and seclusion. The valley of Rock Creek from the river to the Zoological Park is needed as the con- necting link in the park system, as a pleasure ground for the people and to preserve the health of the community. I hope the Chamber of Commerce will urge its acquisition. THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL The most important element in the Park Commission Plan still unsettled is the location of the Lincoln Memorial and I wish to place before you the three bills which are now before Congress and may be acted upon at any time. A Memorial to Abraham Lincoln appeals strongly to our imagination, as we see it ex- pressing in form and proportion our appreciation for the simple, lovable man and wise, far- seeing statesman. Such a memorial should be placed within ample grounds to give it indi- viduality. It should have a site second in importance to none on the city plan. It should have beautiful natural surroundings to emphasize its attractiveness. It should embody the 21 FiGUKE 10. .NfONUMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION MaKERS. greatest skill and thought of our best artists. It should represent the highest culture and taste of our civilization. It should suggest to our mind the character, life and accomplish- ments of Lincoln. His name is one of the few of the first magnitude in our history and his Memorial should present this clearly. No structure should compete with it, no monument or building should encroach upon it, nothing should combine or conflict with it. From far and near it should express our veneration for Lincoln. The design should be as simple as his life, as beautiful as his character, as refined as his nature, as dignified as his bearing, as pure as his thoughts, and as noble and great as his life work. Three bills are before Congress for a Lincoln Memorial : the McCall Bill for a structure on the ground adjoining the Union Station ; the Lafean Bill for a highway from Washington to Gettys- burg; the Newlands Bill for a memorial in accordance with the Park Commission's recom- mendation. The McCall Bill offers neither a definite design or site. The Memorial is to be some- where and of some form on an irregular forty-acre tract. Among the schemes favorably under consideration was a peristyle encircling the plaza of the Union Station; in the center of this plaza is to be the Columbus Memorial. Thus the Memorial to Lincoln becomes a part of the station ; a vestibule guiding to the greater structure, and forms a background to the Columbus Memorial, an admirable embellishment for the Station but wanting in the individuality and distinction necessary to commemorate Abraham Lincoln. A suggested colonnade on Delaware Avenue was another effort to attain an approach to the Station and call it a Memorial to Lincoln. A further plan is a great triumphal arch. Such arches remind us of triumphal proces- sions, commemorating great battles, troops of warriors with their captives chained to their chariots, all pomp and ceremony, certainly not a fitting form for a tribute to our simple American. A location on the station site would thrust the hurried, tired and confused pilgrim upon 2.3 FiGUEE 11. TREATMENT OF RoCK CrEEK ValLEY BETWEEN THE RiVER AND MASSACHUSETTS AvENUE. sacred ground amidst the hurry and bustle of the station, the whirr and clash of the electric cars, the toot of the motor horn, and the rattle of the cab, certainly not reposeful conditions under which to view with reverence and pleasure the Memorial to one of our greatest men. The location on the station site precludes the attainment of this end. The site is neither of sufficient size nor proper form for imposing landscape. It is overshadowed by large, dominating buildings and is not one of the important focal points on the city's plan. What Secretary Hay said in approving the site selected by the Park Commission is convincing — "No monuments or buildings should be near the Immortals." 'h-^ Another form of Memorial to Lincoln is presented in the Lafean Bill, which calls for a highway two hundred feet wide from Washington to Gettysburg. An imposing idea when first presented, but which, upon further thought, does not seem worthy of serious con- sideration. It is wanting in simplicity,, directness and individuality. It would require a trip of fifty miles to view it and a hundred miles of stately structures, commemorating others, to make it imposing. How hideous such a highway might become only requires a visit to one of our popular cemeteries. To make such a highway effective would easily cost in the hun- dreds of millions and the cost of maintenance would be impossible to calculate. Senator Newlands introduced a bill for the Lincoln Memorial in accordance with the Park Commis- sion Plan, January 28, 1909. This bill gives the ideal site and form of Memorial. This site should appeal to the artist, the business man, and to the sentiment of the com- munity. To the artist it appeals because of its beauty and fitness, because it is a focal point of interest, because of its harmonious relation to the great plan, its orderly relation to the Capitol and the Washington Monument, because it is so separated as to be independent of, and still equal in importance with, these great monuments. The suggestion of a great clas- 25 Figure 12. Parking the Banks of the Potomac. sic portico as the character of design gives an opportunity for the most simple and refined treatment so typical of Lincoln's life and expressing forcibly the dignity shown in his char- acter and the grandeur of his accomplishments. (Figures 14 and 15.) The river hills of Virginia and proposed planting of the landscape, providing beauti- ful landscape vistas, noble lagoons and approaches as indicated in the Park Commission's plan, will enhance and make more imposing this important Memorial. This plan appeals to the practical business mind in three ways — the ability of the men who presented it, the cost of the proposed Memorial and the results of the completed struc- ture. The men who formulated the plan — Charles F. McKim, sensitive, refined, honored in this country and Europe, acknowl- edged as producing the highest type of design, after years of thought and study, favors enthusiastically the location and character of design recommended by the Park Commission. Augustus Saint-Gaudens, the great artist of the United States, one who loved the memory of Lincoln and who depicted as only he could Lincoln's character and nobility in his two great statues, was most earnest in his advocacy of the fitness of the site and the character of the Memorial to be erected. D. H. Burnham, who has had so much to do with great schemes for the development of cities, and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., who has had a hand in fashioning all the great parks of the country — both have given in the report of the Park Commission their unquali- fied recommendation of the site. The wise business man with great problems to solve advises with those most capable of giving an intelligent solution. Here we have a recommendation of broad-minded men, after long study, the most capable commission to be found in the country, who have selected 2J r in f ■^'^^ f r~I r:^\ Figure 13. Lincoln Memorial As Seen Feom the Monument Terrace. a site and suggested the character of design. There could be no stronger appeal to the common-sense of our people. President Taft, when Secretary of War, said, in connection with a suggested change in the Park Commission's plan : "When capable experts have stud- ied a scheme and made a recommendation, their recommendations should be followed." The site selected by the Park Commission belongs to the United States and will cost nothing. All the money appropriated can thus be spent on the Memorial and the treatment of its surroundings. It is not necessary on this site to spend three million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for ground on which to place the structure. The fact that the best site costs nothing will appeal to the common-sense of our people. The final results to be obtained by the Park Commission's site will make the Memorial a legitimate, harmonious and imposing part of the city development, producing the highest practical and artistic effects. The site of the Memorial appeals to the sentiment of the community. Those who love and appreciate the memory of Lincoln desire a site for his Memorial which, without thought, will convey to the mind Lincoln's prominent place in history. The Park Commis- sion's Plan provides such a site. The principal axes of the city as left us by Washington are not mere imaginary lines. The Capitol has one important focal point, the Washington Monument another. There is only one site en this, the most important, axis, vacant, and this point has been selected by the Park Commission as the only one of sufficient import- ance for a Memorial to Lincoln. Those who appreciate Lincoln should demand nothing less than a site which would be of equal importance with the ones given to the Capitol and the Washington Monument. The character of the design suggested appeals strongly to sentiment. Its simple out- line, refined, noble proportion, great dignity, all express so clearly the life, character and work of Lincoln that it intuitively suggests an appropriate Memorial. The Newlands Bill in the Senate calls for a Memorial on the site selected by McKim, 29 niiiffiiirfiiK , M W'^'J^^*' Figure 14. Lincoln Memoeial, East Front. Burnham, Saint-Gaudens and Olmsted, and enthusiastically approved by the late Secretary Hay. I feel that all who venerate Lincoln, who appreciate the plan of the city as left us by George Washington, who believe our Capital should represent the highest culture, who be- lieve in the elevation of life by the expression of beauty, who believe in a business-like way of executing work, should see that no material or thoughtless consideration should prevent the carrying out of the measure as formulated in this Bill. Xow the issue is sc[uarely before the public — which will they have? A Memorial forming an approach to a railway station and a background for another monument, a Memorial that must clash with and be out of harmony with its surroundings, a Memorial in an undignified and cramped location, a Memorial not expressing the character and life of Lincoln ? Will they have a triumphal arch universally recalling wars, victories and triumphal pro- cessions to commemorate the noble life of the simple great American? Will they have a great highway not tangible, lined with Memorials to other people, costing in the building and maintenance untold millions, suggesting nothing of the charac- ter or work of Lincoln? Will they have a Memorial located on the most important site, with most beautiful sur- roundings, where it will be one of the most conspicuous and imposing features in the city, designed to typify his simple, dignified and noble life? Will they have a Memorial which when completed will stand as a center from which will radiate walks and driveways to Ar- lington over the Memorial Bridges, to the beautiful Park by way of Rock Creek Valley, to the Monument on the principal axis, with the Capital in the distance and through the shaded trees to many charming bits of nature? (Figure 16.) The Memorial is presented as a portico, charming in its refinement, dignified in its simplicity, on one side overlooking the lagoon, on the other facing the broad Potomac and' Virginia hills. From the Monument it will be seen, serene and restful, with its beauties reflected in the lagoon. From Arlington 31 Figure IS. Lincoln Memorial. West Front, Memorial Bridge to Arlington. it will stand stately and dignified, and, from the Potomac, imposing in its purity. Charm- ing distance views will keep its sacred character in view up and down the Potomac, from the hills of Maryland and Virginia. Through the park vistas, from the Capitol and other city heights, it will stand alone, stately and pure, to the memory of Abraham Lincoln. 33 Figure 16. Lincoln Mkmomal, Bird's-Eye View. Joint Committee to co-operate with the the Park Commission: Glenn Brown, Chairman NVm. E. Shannon^ P' ice-Chairman Thos. Grant, Secretary C. J. Bell S. C. Bone Hon. Richard Bartholdt Ira E. Bennett Emile Berliner Miss Mabel Boardman Appleton p. Clark, Jr. Wm. McK. Clayton W. S. Corby D. J. Callahan John Dolph E. H. Daniel W. W. Finley H. B. Davidson B. B. Earnshaw Wm. John Eynon A\'. T. Galliher W. F. GUDE Julius Garfinkle R. H. Goldsborough R. N. Harper Bishop Harding M. C. Hazen W. D. Hoover Rev. J. J. HiMMEL Hennen Jennings Major W. V. Judson Genl. John A. Johnston Louis Kann Dr. Geo. M. Kober A. Lisner A- M. Lothrop Hon. Franklin MacVeagu T. Rush Marshall American Institute of Architects in the flans of Hon. H. B. F. Macfarland Dr. James Dudley Morgan A. C. Moses Frank D. Millet Mrs. Ellen Spencer Mussey Saml. Maddox Hon. Chas. D. Norton Frank B. Noyes Thos. Nelson Page Hon. Henry Kirke Porter cl.a.rence norment Capt. Jas. F. Oyster F. B. Pyle Hon. M. M. Parker Father Russell Hon. Cuno H. Rudolph W. P. Richards Judge W. P. Stafford E. D. Shaw B. F. Saul A. Leftwich Sinclair Albert Schulteis Rear-Admiral Chas. H. Stockton Rev. Thos. J. Shahan Hon. Frank P. Slayden Gen. Geo. M. Sternberg Geo. Stuart A. Tweedale J. S. Tyree Mrs. Herbert Wadsworth Hon. Henry L. West George White John L. Weaver Simon Wolf T. Louis Willige Mrs, S, a. Willis m 'Mt m 1^.1 V, ,^^ ^m vy .^«■.•••■<^ >ft: