Montrose Park: Cultural Landscape Report, Rock Creek Park, National Park Service

architrave p.c., contractor

This Cultural Landscape Report (CLR) for Montrose Park has been prepared to provide a thorough documentation and analysis of the site and be the basis for future treatment of the park. This effort includes a record of the site history and the changes to the landscape over time, a detailed survey of the park.s existing conditions, an analysis comparing what was present historically with what currently remains, and a set of recommendations for future treatment and use of the property. In addition, this report addresses the significance and integrity of the Montrose Park landscape according to the National Register criteria. Through this process of research and evaluation of the park.s landscape features, recommendations for the preservation of the property can be made that are consistent with the landscape.s significance, condition, and use. Primary sources included extensive drawings of the existing conditions and designs of new features for Montrose Park by George Burnap, Horace Peaslee, and other landscape architects of the Office of Public Buildings and Grounds, as well as later drawings by the National Park Service. In addition, the team consulted: Commission of Fine Arts correspondence between Daniel Chester French and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr, about the early design development of the park Correspondence between Colonel Harts of the Office of Public Buildings and Grounds and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. Commission of Fine Arts meeting minutes concerning Montrose Park, dating from 1912 to 1954. Annual reports completed by the Office of Public Buildings and Grounds under the War Department, dating from 1911 to 1933. United States Congressional resolutions creating Montrose Park in 1911 and authorizing the Sarah Louisa Rittenhouse Memorial in 1953. George Burnap's 1916 book, Parks: Their Design, Equipment and Use, in which Burnap detailed his philosophy of park design. Office of Public Buildings and Grounds correspondence. National Park Service correspondence and memoranda. The principal historical records for the analysis and evaluation of Montrose Park included the following repositories: The Rock Creek Park Cultural Resources, Vertical and Historic Photograph files, Rock Creek Park, National Park Service. National Capital Region-Lands, Resources, and Planning (Reports, Reservation Files, and Plans and Drawings Collection) and the files of the Office of Maintenance and Design. The Washingtoniana Collection at the Martin Luther King Memorial Library (clipping files, photograph collection, and Washington Star newspaper collection. The Peabody Room, Georgetown Branch of the D.C. Public Library (maps and vertical files on Washington, Georgetown, Montrose Estate, and Montrose Park). Additional repositories consulted include: The Library of Congress (general collection, periodicals, Prints and Photographs Collection, and Geography and Map Division). The National Archives (records of the Office of Public Buildings and Grounds). The Historical Society of Washington's Research and Collections Library was not open to the public during the research phase of this project. Historical maps, such as the 1856-59 Boschke map and the 1892-94 United States Coast and Geodetic Survey map (both located in the Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress), proved particularly helpful in assessing the historic character of the site and its resources in the nineteenth century.

Montrose Park: Cultural Landscape Report, Rock Creek Park, National Park Service

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