One of the most impressive things about the DC lanscape, besides the genius implied in the intricacies of the initial design project, is the effort that has been required to carry out the designers plans.

Comparing the planning map with a modern day one, you can see that quite a bit of swamp land had to be recovered before the Jefferson and Lincoln M'ml. could be built. But beyond that, some sort of mechanism had to have been in place, for over 200 years, to assure that things were done according to The Plan; like the positioning of the Washington Monument, the Jeff. Mml., and the House of the Temple.

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1800

As of 1800, the Washington DC Plan still looked like this. The only recognizable modern elements that existed at the time were the White House and Capitol Building, both of which were under construction, as well as Pennsylvannia Avenue. The position of the monument for President Washinton that L'Enfant had planned for the location south of the WH and west of the CB, was marked by a stake in the ground and later a small marker.

Had the Washington Monument been placed there, it would have marked the third corner of a right triangle that had a 19.5 degree angle at the CB. Note that the sine of 19.5 degrees is .3333, or 1/3, meaning that the line segment between the WH and WM would have been 1/3 that of the segment between the WH and the CB.

The exterior of the Washington Monument was completed on December 6, 1884, and it was opened to the public on October 9, 1888, after the interior was completed. However, it was not placed where L'Enfant had supposedly intended, but was sited 372 feet east and 123 feet south of that position.

As of 1876, the DC landscape looked like this.

1901

The 1901 plan for Washington, DC was seen as a reworking of L'Enfant's plan, focusing on the Mall. Note especially the cruciform shape, the "heavy handed" attempt to restore symmetry to the landscape, and the Circle south of the White House.

All in all, the plan looks not unlike the "fatboy" atomic bomb.

The symmetry "problem" arises from the placement of the Washington Monument, which (as mentioned above) is east of the north-south axis of 16th Street centering on the White House, and south of the east-west line centering on the Capitol dome. The McMillan Plan intended that a monument of some kind be placed in line with the 16th Street axis, while extending the alignment of the CB and WM by the placement of the Lincoln Memorial in the west.

As you can see from the image below, the McMillan Plan never really took hold in DC, for what reasons, we may never know. Notice that the figure "below" the White House is now an ellipse, and not a circle as depicted in many planned recommnedations. The Jefferson Memorial is also further south now than it was in the plan.

The (calvary) cross, which is visible more than once in the Mc Millan plan, is nowhere to be seen the the current DC landscape. It appears that there were forces at work which blocked much of what the Commissioner had planned.

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