page_title: McMillan Plan
section_title: The National Mall and the "monumental core"
hierarchical_section_title: McMillan Plan / Description of the plan / The National Mall and the "monumental core"
caption_attribution_description: English: Looking northeast across the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in the United States circa 1900. The Mall exhibits the winding pathways and random planting of trees created by the 1851 landscape design of Andrew Jackson Downing. The area depicted is approximately between 9th and 6th Streets NW. Center Market is the low building to the left. The Baltimore and Potomac Passenger Railroad Station, marked by the Victorian-style tower, is in the middle-right. The United States Capitol building is not shown, but would be further to the right.
context_page_description: The McMillan Plan is a comprehensive planning document for the development of the monumental core and the park system of Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. It was written in 1902 by the Senate Park Commission. The commission is popularly known as the McMillan Commission after its chairman, Senator James McMillan of Michigan.
  The McMillan Plan proposed eliminating the Victorian landscaping of the National Mall and replacing it with a simple expanse of grass, narrowing the Mall, and permitting the construction of low, Neoclassical museums and cultural centers along the Mall's east–west axis. The plan proposed constructing major memorials on the western and southern anchors of the Mall's two axes, reflecting pools on the southern and western ends, and massive granite and marble terraces and arcades around the base of the Washington Monument. The plan also proposed tearing down the existing railroad passenger station on the National Mall and constructing a large new station north of the United States Capitol building.
context_section_description: The report proposed turning the National Mall into the core of the growing city. A cruciform design for the Mall was proposed.  The United States Capitol building anchored the east end of the east–west axis, and the White House the north end of the north–south axis. In the center was the Washington Monument. The recently completed West Potomac Park would be the anchor for the west end of the east–west axis. The commission suggested the recently authorized Lincoln Memorial be sited in the park, while proposing that the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial be moved to a new plaza to be constructed directly west of the Capitol. The recently created East Potomac Park would anchor the southern end of the north–south axis, and be occupied by a vast complex of recreational facilities ("Washington Commons") as well as a possible new memorial (to the Founding Fathers or great inventors, the report suggested). Andrew Jackson Downing's winding Victorian landscape design on the National Mall would be replaced with an open vista of grass flanked by formal rows of trees similar to the landscape design at Vaux-le-Vicomte and the Palace of Versailles in France. The width of the Mall, determined after extensive on-site measurements, would be narrowed to just 300 feet (91 m). The north and south sides of the National Mall were to be lined with low public office buildings, museums, and cultural attractions (such as theaters).  The plan also suggested constructing a low, Beaux-Arts bridge linking West Potomac Park with Arlington National Cemetery. Around the base of the Washington Monument, new formal gardens and terraces would help to frame the base of the monument. The Pennsylvania Railroad's Baltimore & Potomac (B&P) Railroad Passenger Terminal, located on the National Mall at what is today New Jersey Avenue NW and Constitution Avenue NW, would be torn down and a new, modern train station with a grand court and massive passenger waiting and service areas would be constructed north of the Capitol.  Two new reflecting pools (or "canals") would be constructed on the National Mall.  One (cruciform in shape) would extend from West Potomac Park to the Washington Monument.  The other would extend from East Potomac Park north to the Washington Monument. The Ellipse would remain open space in order to preserve the vista from the White House south to the Washington Monument and the Potomac River.
  The L'Enfant Plan's diagonal streets formed the great boundaries of the city's new "monumental core".  Pennsylvania Avenue NW, already an important thoroughfare, formed the northeast boundary linking the Capitol with the White House.  The report asked the federal government to tear down the vast slum Murder Bay and replace it with a group of monumental federal office buildings similar to Westminster in London or the Louvre Palace in Paris.  Lafayette Square north of the White House would also be razed, and new federal office buildings in the Neoclassical style built there.  New York Avenue NW would be extended in a southwesterly direction past the White House to link with the new memorial in West Potomac Park. Maryland Avenue SW, extending from the Capitol to East Potomac Park, would form the southeastern boundary of this new monumental core, while the Potomac River formed the southwestern boundary.  The commission suggested that taller federal buildings and museums be constructed in areas not immediately adjacent to the National Mall.
caption: The McMillan Plan successfully proposed eliminating National Mall's Victorian-era landscape design (shown here circa 1900).
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