Art and science in American landscape architecture: The National Mall, Washington, D.C., 1791-1852

This dissertation concerns the history of the National Mall in Washington which was the site of a series of public and botanic gardens designed from 1791-1852. Although nothing remains of these early gardens, it is possible to study the plans for the Mall through several drawings made by the most important architectural figures in America; Thomas Jefferson, Charles Pierre L'Enfant, Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Robert Mills and Andrew Jackson Downing. This group of drawings, considered together for the first time, is evidence of the conception of the Mall as a profoundly significant symbol of the nation during the first years of its existence. This study of the Mall is organized around three critical points in the early history of the City of Washington; the city's founding, the period just after the War of 1812, and the decades just before the Civil War. It is also linked with the history of the earliest institutions of learning in the capital city: the Columbian Institution, the National Institute, and the Smithsonian Institution. Through a review of contemporary landscape aesthetics, design theory and a survey of American gardens, this dissertation provides a background of garden history against which to study the Mall. In addition to establishing the location, purpose and form of these public grounds it also considers the extent to which landscape aesthetics, natural sciences, and the politics of Washington in the period influenced the design and meaning of the first national gardens.;In order to assert itself in the minds of Americans as a permanent, stable and urbane seat of government early designers used English and French landscapes and town plans as models that were "Americanized" to meet current notions of environmental appropriateness and nationalistic distinction. The first several years of the city of Washington tells a story of driving aspiration and repeated attempts to create a physical environment that celebrated the natural gifts, cultural acumen and political vitality of the nation.