Marconi Memorial, US Reservation 309 A: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Rock Creek Park - DC Plan Reservation, National Park Service

Stevens, Christopher; Simpson, Andrew

The landscape is located within the Mount Pleasant Historic District, which was listed on the National Register on October 5, 1987. The district is roughly bounded by 16th and Harvard Streets, Rock Creek Park, and Adams Mill Road in northwest Washington. The district is significant at the state level under National Register Criterion C in the areas of Architecture and Community Planning and Development with a period of significance of 1870 to 1949. The Marconi Memorial (statue and base), located within US Reservation 309 A, has been found to be significant in both the Guglielmo Marconi Memorial National Register of Historic Places Registration Form and the Memorials in Washington, DC National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form, both approved by the Keeper in October 2007. The memorial itself has been found to be significant under National Register Criterion C in the area of art with a 1941 period of significance, the year of its installation and dedication. The most prominent feature of Reservation 309 A is the statue of Guglielmo Marconi. According to the National Register nomination for Memorials in Washington, DC, the Marconi Memorial is the focal point of the reservation and is made of gilded bronze and granite and employs Academic Abstraction design elements, using Art Moderne stylistic details that were popular during the 1930’s. Prior to the installation of a Marconi memorial, the reservation was landscaped primarily with grass and shrubs. Following the memorial’s installation, the integral landscape design was established. The Marconi Memorial is the work of prominent sculptor Attilio Piccirilli. The majority of the landscape features were designed by landscape architect Joseph Gardner and included vegetation, bituminous concrete walkways, and a central area of turf. The Reservation 309 A property is likely eligible for listing on the National Register under Criterion C in the area of Community Planning and Development. The upper 16th Street Corridor and Mount Pleasant grew further as a result of the streetcar and suburban development in Washington, DC. The street car enabled middle class residents to move from the central city to the suburbs in an attempt to recreate the bucolic villages of the past in an urban environment. Mount Pleasant was one of Washington, DC’s earliest streetcar suburbs. Reservation 309 A was created as part of a grand plan advanced by Mary Henderson, the wife of Missouri Senator John Henderson, and guided by the 1902 McMillan Commission Report. Streets constructed after 1902 were heavily influenced by the McMillan Commission which intended to extend the Beaux-Arts city past the monumental core and into Washington’s neighborhoods. 16th Street was important not for being the heart of the old village of Mount Pleasant, but because it played an important role in the vision of a new Washington. US Reservation 309 A retains integrity for its period of significance, 1903-194, which begins with the extension and improvement of 16th Street past Florida Avenue in 1903 and ends with the installation of a memorial to Guglielmo Marconi in 1941. The landscape of 309 A remained relatively unchanged until 1988, when the vegetation was updated with disease-hardy and pest-resistant plants, and the circulation pattern was modified. Despite some deterioration, the results of the1988 rehabilitation are still clearly evident. While making some changes to the historic landscape, especially with regard to materials, the plan was sensitive to the original design intent. The vegetation massing and circulation still frame and highlight the memorial.

Marconi Memorial, US Reservation 309 A: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Rock Creek Park - DC Plan Reservation, National Park Service

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