1915 National Geographic View of the National Mall, Washington, D.C.

A lovely 1915 bird's eye view of Washington, D.C., originally drawn by architect Francis L. V. Hoppin and republished in National Geographic. Among other features, it presents a view of the nation's capital (here dubbed 'Ultimate Washington') as envisioned by the McMillan Plan, a never-fully-realized scheme to remake and beautify the city.

A Closer Look

This view is oriented towards the northeast, overlooking the Potomac River and the National Mall, the with Washington Monument, Lincoln Monument, White House, Capitol Building, and other landmarks easily identifiable. The city's grand boulevards which meet at central points such as Washington and Dupont Circles (at left) can also readily be located. As the text below the view explains, the offices of National Geographic at center-left are indicated with an arrow.

Other aspects of the map would appear unusual to a modern resident or visitor to Washington, D.C. Most notably, the additional gardens around and to the south of the Washington Monument, as well as a 'Washington Commons' on the south side of the Tidal Basin, were not constructed. The commons were meant to include bathing and athletic facilities as well as an unspecified memorial. Though these plans were not realized, in the 1940s some of the area was used for the Jefferson Memorial.

The McMillan Plan

The McMillan Plan, unveiled to the public in 1902, was a comprehensive planning document meant to guide the development of the park system and monumental core of Washington, D.C. The report was written by the Senate Park Commission, popularly known as the McMillan Commission after its chairman, Senator James McMillan of Michigan. Charged with reconciling competing plans for rejuvenating the 'mediocre architecture and poor-quality public spaces,' among the commission's members were landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead, the designer of Central Park in New York, architects Charles F. McKim and Daniel Burnham, and renowned sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens. The commission (except for Saint-Gaudens, who was fighting cancer at the time) spent nearly three months in Europe touring the Old World's grandest manor homes, urban landscapes, and gardens.

This 'grand tour' resulted in a 171-page report, formally known as 'The Report of the Senate Park Commission. The Improvement of the Park System of the District of Columbia'. Seventy-one pages were dedicated to the National Mall, and the remaining hundred pages detailed the commission's suggestions for improving the city's park system in general. The National Mall proposals received the most detailed work. Some of the suggestions included the construction of public museums, office buildings, and other attractions along the north and south sides of the National Mall, the construction of a Beaux-Arts bridge between West Potomac Park and Arlington National Cemetery, and formal gardens and terraces around the base of the Washington Monument.

The complete proposal was never formally adopted due to opposition by Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon, who was offended that the Senate had not included the House in the commission. Nonetheless, many of the McMillan Plan's elements have been implemented across the city, including the public museums and office buildings, as stated above. The gardens and terraces around the Washington Monument were deemed unsafe, as they would likely have destabilized the Monument. The bridge between West Potomac Park and Arlington National Cemetery was finally approved, after President Warren G. Harding got stuck in traffic for three hours during the dedication of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The McMillan Plan still influences construction projects in Washington, D.C. to this day.

Publication History and Census

This view was created by Francis L.V. Hoppin to accompany the text of the McMillan Plan prepared by the Senate Park Commission (later the Commission of Fine Arts). The view was then reduced and published in the March 1915 edition of National Geographic Magazine. Four examples are cataloged in OCLC and are part of the institutional collections at the Library of Congress, the Rochester Museum and Science Center, Ball State University, and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.