Adopt an Artifact: 1932 Federal Plan Model

Every year, approximately 36 million people visit the National Mall, and its iconic structures define the image of Washington, D.C. While images of the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, and Smithsonian Museums are now synonymous with D.C., this landscape has changed greatly since the city’s establishment in 1792.

This model from the National Building Museum’s collection dates to 1932 and represents a moment when the city’s master plans were both upheld and questioned by urban planners and civil engineers of the time. It represents the vibrant potentiality of the city’s intersecting visions, when officials had yet to come to a consensus about how to develop the city into the one we know today.  

D.C. is not defined by a single scheme, but by the intersection of several distinct master plans whose overlapping visions – both realized and unbuilt – influence the fabric and beauty of the city. The first of these proposals is the L’Enfant Plan, outlined in 1792 by artist, engineer, and Revolutionary War veteran Pierre “Peter” Charles L’Enfant. Appointed to oversee the creation of the new federal capital as power shifted from Philadelphia, L’Enfant envisioned a city built from the ground up according to rigorous geometric order and monumental scale. His basic grid of east-west alphabetic streets, north-south numbered streets, and wide diagonal avenues remains the basic scaffold of Washington, D.C. These avenues established sightlines that still orient travelers towards the White House and Capitol Building, both of which occupy sites originally selected and laid out by L’Enfant.

The nineteenth century saw L’Enfant’s vision expand to include features both familiar and foreign to contemporary Washington. The Civil War left a ring of forts around the city perimeter, while Reconstruction in the late nineteenth century saw the establishment of Rock Creek Park and a Victorian-style garden landscape along the Potomac waterfront.

It was these gardens that were targeted by D.C.’s second major plan: the McMillan Plan of 1902. This plan viewed these gardens as an obstacle to circulation rather than a hub for circulation, and sought to replace them with what would become the National Mall. Landscaped hills were eliminated in favor of grass lawns, flanked by public institutions like the Smithsonian Museums. The remaining green spaces were managed by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., who turned to his prior work in the Boston Metropolitan Park System for inspiration. His designs connected the Potomac River, Rock Creek, and Civil War forts into a continuous belt of green space, and reintegrated the Anacostia River into the city’s broader connection of public recreation.

Over the course of the twentieth century, the McMillan Plan solidified as the new standard for D.C.’s development, but its implementation has never been exact. Much has been revised, altered, or simply unbuilt, but via the oversight of the National Capital Park and Planning Commission, it remains the hand that steers D.C.’s expansion. William T. Partridge was a member of this commission, who helped disseminate new visions for what Washington’s landscape could represent in the 1930s and beyond.

Partridge’s 1932 model represents some of the Commission’s most daring proposals, including a flooded reservoir that transforms much of the existing mall into a landscape of canals and waterfront views. The model consists of 15 interlocking pieces, and was quite successful in its day, displayed at the Corcoran, Department of Interior, and other institutions nationwide. Unfortunately, it was damaged in a flood before it was donated to the Museum in 2011 and now requires the Museum’s specialist attention to conserve its unique materials and construction.

Help us preserve this history!

Click here to Adopt an Artifact and help protect this legacy.

The National Building Museum is home to the nation’s foremost archive of American architectural and design heritage. The Adopt an Artifact program allows you to directly support the proper care and preservation of objects with critical conservation needs, helping the Museum continue its mission to inspire curiosity about the world we design and build. To support this initiative, click here.