In 1935, concrete sidewalks were built along the outer edges of the Mall Vista Drives (NPS, from CLI).
Recently-renovated turf on the Mall near the Smithsonian Castle (NPS, 2016).
The slope from the Mall up to the Smithsonian Castle is apparent in this 1860 image of the facade, showing newly planted trees and flowers in the foreground (National Archives, from CLI).
View east from the Washington Monument, 1934. Some elms have been planted, and trees remain on the Smithsonian Grounds where grading is still to be carried out (NPS, from CLI).
A view of the U.S. Capitol from the Mall (NPS, December 2016).
At the National Mall: A Cultural Landscape Perspective
The National Mall has been the venue for some of the nation’s most significant events,
gatherings, visits, and decisions. As eyes turn to Washington today, we are looking beyond the immediate energy,
crowds, and symbolism of the present day to the history of the Mall cultural
landscape.
Where does the term “Mall” come from?
The use of the name “Mall” to refer to the axis
extending west from the Capitol appeared on an 1802 map of the area. The name came from the French game Paille Maille, meaning “ball-mallet,” a game that might be compared to a cross between golf and croquet. It was played on a long, narrow lawn lined by walls or trees.
The game was imported to England in the seventeenth century as Pall Mall, where Charles II played ball mallet in St. James’ Park. A nearby road was renamed Pall Mall, and hence the word “mall” took on the connotation of a pleasure drive.
The Nation’s Mall: Designed for Democracy
In late 1790 or early 1791,
Washington hired the French engineer and architect Pierre (Peter) Charles
L’Enfant to lay out the new city. In only a few months, L’Enfant created a
unique city plan that overtly symbolized the expectations of the American democracy
using European (specifically French) Baroque models.
At least four drawings of the plan
were prepared by L’Enfant. The only one to have survived is a version he gave
to Washington in August of 1791, which has greatly faded; a facsimile of it was
prepared in 1887. In one of three primary sources with details on L’Enfant’s intentions
for the Mall, in a letter to George Washington dated June 22, 1791, L’Enfant
first described the Mall:
… I placed the three
grand departments of States contiguous to the presidial [sic] palace and on the
way leading to the congressional house the gardens of the one together with the
park and other improvement on the dependency are connected with the publique
walk and avenue to the congress House in a manner as must [most] forme a whole
as grand as it will be agreeable and convenient to the whole city … (Scott 1991:40; from The Mall Cultural Landscape Inventory report).
At the center of his plan, L’Enfant placed two visual axes representing the relationship between the executive and legislative branches. Though the area’s boundaries were delineated, it was many more decades before the Mall took
shape. (Detail from 1887 facsimile of the L’Enfant Plan, from Reps 1997:21; see The Mall Cultural Landscape Inventory report for full citation).
All buildings on the Mall would
have featured views of the river to the west, symbolizing the source of the
country’s future wealth. The view of the river:
…would “acquire a new Swe[e]tness
being had over the green of a field well level and made bri[li]ant by shade of
[a] few tree[s] Artfully planted.” (Scott 1991:42 and note 30; L’Enfant to
Washington, June 22,1791; from The Mall Cultural Landscape Inventory report).
L’Enfant used the site’s existing
topography for dramatic and architectural effect. He placed the Capitol on an
elevation, Jenkin’s Hill, about a mile from the river. He set the President’s
House on another rise, and connected these two governmental centers with a
broad tree-lined boulevard named for the state where the constitutional
conventions had been held and where the federal government was now sitting (Pennsylvania Avenue).
The
reciprocity of views between important structures was a major theme of the
plan, visually and symbolically tying the city together. The Mall was designed
to be a meeting place for people of all states of the Union and of all
countries, as well as a provision for the health and beauty of the city.
In those early years, other areas on the Mall were used
for private purposes. People raised produce in small gardens; grazed
livestock; and stored lumber, firewood, and trash.
During the Civil War, the Armory Hospital complex stretched across the center of the Mall between 6th and 7th Streets. The Armory Building served as the nucleus of a group of structures containing 50 wards (barracks); a morgue; a church; and quarters for nurses, a chaplain, and escaped slaves. (Photo from Junior League 1992:218; see The Mall Cultural Landscape Inventory report for full citation).
Periods of Significance
The conception of the 1791
L’Enfant Plan called for a broad promenade lined by fine buildings and gardens that
would form the center of the capital city’s cultural and social life.
The historic designed landscape’s periods of significance extend
from 1791-1792, marking the date of the L’Enfant Plan and its revision by Andrew Ellicott, and 1902-1975, from the date of the McMillan Plan to the year when the last tree panel on the Mall was
planted, following the removal of the last temporary military buildings in 1971.
(You can learn more about each period of the Mall’s history in the Cultural Landscape Inventory report, below.)
A view of the Mall from the Washington Monument in 1977 shows the new inner walks and the Metro entrance at center right. All the elms had been planted. By this date, the Mall landscape was complete (NPS Photo, in The Mall Cultural Landscape Inventory report).
Preservation Challenges
Primary problems affecting the National Mall landscape are soil compaction and chronic wear and tear on the turf caused by visitor use (both passive, individual use and large, organized
activities). Additionally, there is unevenness of the elm canopy caused by later in-fill
plantings, construction activities, over fifty years of Dutch elm disease
losses, and the incompatible form of some replacement elms.
If you visit the National Mall, there’s a good chance you will see a National Park Service presence. In addition to the more visible interpretive rangers, maintenance staff, and park law enforcement, there are historic landscape architects, planners, turf specialists, and others working behind the scenes to help maintain the Mall and other landscapes of the National Mall and Memorial Parks for all to experience. These resources, deeply connected to the nation’s past, continue to play a vital role in the nation’s present.
This scene from the 2015 March for Women’s Lives at the National Mall is an example of the crowds that can fill the space during large events (NPS Photo).
The covering on the Mall’s surface during the 2017 Inauguration was translucent, allowing light to reach the recently-renovated grass and protecting it from being compacted. Learn more from Turf Specialist Mike Stachowicz.
Want to know more about the Mall landscape?
For example, did you know that there was once a market with over a thousand stalls at the site of what is now the National Archives?
- Take a look inside The Mall Cultural Landscape Inventory report
Source: Fanning, K. 2006. The Mall: Cultural Landscape Inventory, National Mall, National Park Service. NPS National Capital Regional Office. National Capital Regional Office/CLI Database
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