The Washington That Might Have Been

The Washington That Might Have Been

A planned city from the beginning, Washington, DC, has borne the distinct stamp of generations of urban planners and architects, going back to Pierre L’Enfant in the 18th century. But no single entity has ever been able to implement a unified and predetermined design agenda on the nation’s capital, and its architectural history is filled with false starts, intriguing detours, and missed opportunities, all illustrated in an upcoming exhibit at the National Building Museum. <em>Unbuilt Washington</em> runs from Nov. 19 till May 28, and examines how political power, evolving urbanism, and democracy have arbitrated what the District of Columbia looks and feels like. Above, planned improvements to the Washington Monument and National Mall designed by B.F. Smith in 1852. This image shows a variation on the circular colonnade that was part of the original design for the Washington Monument, but was never executed. It also shows a proposed suspension bridge across the canal adjacent to the Mall. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-31534.

Proposal for “Housing on the Avenue” by Hugh Newell Jacobsen, FAIA, in 1974. This project would have been located on the current site of Market Square, along Pennsylvania Ave., NW. The terraced design was inspired by Italian hill towns. Image courtesy of Jacobsen Architecture, LLC.

John Russell Pope‘s 1912 proposal for the Lincoln Memorial. This was one of several proposals by Pope for the Lincoln Memorial, all in widely different styles. Image courtesy of the National Archives.

A 1900 design for the National Galleries of History and Art by Franklin Webster Smith. The project would have stretched from 17th Street, near the White House, all the way to the Potomac River. Image courtesy of the National Galleries of History and Art: The Aggrandizement of Washington (F.W. Smith, 1900).

Proposed Memorial Bridge in Honor of General Ulysses S. Grant designed by Smithmeyer & Pelz, 1887. The proposed site was roughly the same as the current site of the Memorial Bridge. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-31532.

A proposed Executive Mansion on Meridian Hill by Paul J. Pelz, designed in 1898. Mary Foote Henderson, wife of a former U.S. senator, commissioned Pelz to design this palatial replacement for the White House for a site directly across the street from the Hendersons’ own mansion. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-31528.

Planned extensions to the White House designed by Robert Owen in 1891.This was one of several proposals in the late 19th century for expanding or relocating the White House to provide more space for a growing government. Owen proposed creating two approximate replicas of the original building rotated 90 degrees in plan, and placed to either side, forming an open court with a greenhouse at the south end. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-USZC4-7736.

Robert Mill’s 1846 winning competition entry for the Washington Monument. Mills’ original proposal called for an obelisk anchored by a circular, Greek-inspired temple at the base. The base was never executed, and the proportions of the obelisk itself were changed when the structure was finally completed nearly four decades after this drawing was produced. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-pga-03714.

Edward Durell Stone’s preliminary 1959 proposal for the National Cultural Center (later named the Kennedy Center). Stone’s curvilinear original design contrasts sharply with the boxy plan that was executed. Image courtesy of the Edward Durell Stone Collection (MC 340), Box 104, Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville.

The main elevation of a U.S. Capitol Building design competition entry by James Diamond, 1792. Many entries for the “Congress House” were by amateurs, including this one, notable for its crudely drawn weathercock. Image courtesy of the Maryland Historical Society, 1976.88.51.

William Thornton’s 1797 proposal for the U.S. Capitol. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-19858.

A 1792 competition entry for what would become the White House, by “A.Z.” but attributed to Thomas Jefferson. Image courtesy of the Maryland Historical Society, 1976.88.6.

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