5 the McMillan commission, as it was known, produced one of the most comprehensive city planning reports in American history It laid out a grand redesign for the Capitol grounds, the Mall and monuments, a relocated rail hub (which became Union Station) and a park-and-boulevard system As these plans were realized, Washington’s public spaces began to embody the City Beautiful ideal 13 Fig. 4 The commissioners published maps of trees planted each year. This section from the 1880 map shows double rows planted along Mass Ave crossing Dupont Circle to Boundary Street. The arrow connects the tree on this map with the one in the 1884 engraving. Fig. 5 Illustration from Picturesque Washington in 1884 shows fashionable people chatting at the muddy intersection of Mass Ave and 20th Street, by the home of James G. Blaine at 2000 Mass Ave. began immediately, as plats were drawn and land heirs began counting their future wealth Washingtonians took Sunday carriage rides to watch the road’s construction; it was mostly graded by 1891 11 The end of the 19th century saw the spread of a new design philosophy called the City Beautiful Movement in many fast-growing US cities Its powerful mix of Neoclassical and Beaux Arts architecture with naturalistic landscape was exhibited with much fanfare in a temporary “White City” at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair Daniel Burnham was the movement’s premier architect; Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr, was its pre-eminent landscaper Charles Mulford Robinson was its prolific promoter 12 To drastically advance L’Enfant’s vision for the nation’s capital, a commission was formed, principally of Burnham, F Olmsted, Jr, and architect Charles McKim In 1902,
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