Union Square: Cultural Landscape Inventory, National Mall, National Park Service
NPS National Capital Regional Office and Fanning K. 2006. Union Square: Cultural Landscape Inventory, National Mall, National Park Service. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 975261. National Capital Regional Office/CLI Database
Union Square is the section of the Mall located between 1st and 3rd Streets, N.W. and S.W., Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. and Maryland Avenue, S.W. The wedge-shaped site lies at the foot of Capitol Hill and functions as an intermediate landscape between the Capitol Grounds and the Mall. The enormous memorial to Ulysses S. Grant (installed 1922) extends for 250+ feet across the site’s east end, parallel to and a short distance from 1st Street. The memorial comprises a raised marble platform with balustraded ends at north and south and long flights of stairs to east and west. The bronze figure of Grant sitting quietly on his horse occupies the center. The figure, on a high marble pedestal, is flanked at the north and south ends by bronze groups of men and horses, representing Cavalry and Artillery respectively, which, in contrast to the still figure of Grant, depict violent action. Planting beds at the ends of the platform help tie it visually to the ground. Tall hedges of yew and a few boxwood also anchor the sculpture group and screen views of the traffic along 1st Street. Groups of trees beyond the hedges in the park’s northeast and southeast corners help frame the composition; several of these trees are remnants of the nineteenth-century Botanic Garden plantings. A six-acre wedge-shaped pool, with a broad, simple limestone coping, occupies the central third of the site and is set slightly below ground level. The pool and its circulation system were designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and installed in 1969-1971. Stairs lead down to the pool and its surrounding pavement on three sides. West of the pool is a large limestone and concrete plaza, demarcated by tall concrete bollards and Bacon Twin Twenty lights at the west end. Union Square’s western end is occupied by a grass panel, crossed by two asphalt walks parallel to the diagonal lines of Pennsylvania and Maryland Avenues, which divide the panel into three sections. Large old trees, including more remnants of the Botanic Garden planting, and a number of younger trees occupy the other grass panels; the groupings themselves are remnants of the trees landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. used in his design for Union Square. Sidewalks surround the square on all four sides.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- NPS National Capital Regional Office; Fanning, Kay
- Date of Issue
- 2006-08-04
- Units
- NAMA , NCR
- Keywords
- Andrew Ellicott, art, Beaux Arts, Botanic Garden, Capitol Hill, Capitol Reflecting Pool, Community Planning and Development, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. Public Works Administration, Grant Memorial, Historic Designed Landscape, Landcsape Architecture, Leisure, L'Enfant Plan, McMillian Commission, Outdoor Sculpture, Plaza, Public Space, Realism, Recreation, Scenic Landscape, Skidmore Owings and Merrill, Statuary, The 1930's Era of Public Works, The City Beautiful Movement, The Early National Period, United State Capitol Building, Urban Park, Vista