4 Post-Civil War city leaders generally favored parks over paved, plaza-type public space They landscaped the high elevation “pauses” in L’Enfant’s design as “pleasure grounds” for the public: grassy, shaded parks, sometimes with fountains and even zoos The long sightlines, about half a mile each, were strengthened by rows of same-type trees, and on many avenues, double rows formed allées on each side Following the optical principles in European city design, a statue was placed at the precise visual focus where the axes of L’Enfant’s avenues intersected As in European grand avenues, statues were chosen to aid navigation across town, and symbolically to edify people or remind them of state authority In Washington, most of these focal statues were of Union military heroes 8 Though some individuals were very influential, no one person dictated the design of Washington’s streets after the Civil War The engineers, the parking commissioners, the mayor and many congressmen shared a consensus: miles and miles of major trees could relieve congestion, lower Washington’s summer heat and improve health, while making the capital as imposing as Europe’s—and could raise property values By the late 19th century, Washington had several impressive residential avenues: Mass Ave near downtown, H and K Streets near Lafayette Square, and Pennsylvania Avenue east from the Capitol Retired Senator John Henderson and his wife Mary sought to make 16th Street the address for foreign legations and Washington’s elite But from the 1880s on, most new, lavish homes were built near Dupont Circle, where the new British legation attracted high-ranking guests The new residents were mining magnates such as Curtis Hillyer or prominent politicians such as James G Blaine 9 Urged by land speculators (many of whom were congressmen), Congress in 1886 passed the Mahone Bill authorizing the extension of Mass Ave 1 8 miles west from Boundary Street to Tenallytown Road (now Wisconsin Ave) The bill adopted the engineer’s plan to cut a straight swath through the hillside and build a new bridge across Rock Creek 10 Construction Fig. 3 In 1868 General Montgomery C. Meigs and Major Nathaniel Michler used an engraving of the Champs Elysées to show how 160-foot-wide Mass Ave could be “parked” with double rows of trees. Burying utility lines in the "parking” would allow repairs without costly pavement removal. For jurisdiction in the “parking,” see Fig. 33.
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