Maryland Avenue, NE corridor: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, National Capital Parks-East
Lester M, Volchok E, Garrison S. 2020. Maryland Avenue, NE corridor: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, National Capital Parks-East. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 600250. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. National Capital Area Office, Washington, DC / CRIS-CL Database
Landscape/Component Landscape Description: Maryland Avenue NE is a cultural landscape in northeast Washington, D.C. Located in the northeast quadrant, the segment of the avenue included in this cultural landscape inventory runs diagonally, southeast to northwest, for approximately 1.4 miles, between 2nd Street NE and 14th Street NE. The landscape is comprised of ten reservations, including Stanton Park, that are managed by the National Capital Area, National Capital Parks – East. The reservations are all small parks, many of them triangle-shaped or quasi-triangular. Maryland Avenue NE remains extant as one of the primary public avenues envisioned in the 1791 plan for Washington, D.C. prepared by Pierre L’Enfant. The Maryland Avenue NE cultural landscape is located within the boundaries of the National Register-listed L’Enfant Plan of the City of Washington, District of Columbia nomination. Listed in the National Register in 1997, the nationally significant structure is significant under Criteria A, B, and C. The period of significance identified in the nomination begins in 1790 and extends to 1942. The southwest portion of the cultural landscape is also located within the boundaries of the Capitol Hill Historic District, which was listed in 1976 (with a boundary increase in 2003). This CLI recommends that the Maryland Avenue NE cultural landscape’s significance encompass the following five periods: 1. 1791-1792, with national significance under Criteria A, B, and C, based on the association with the L’Enfant Plan and Andrew Ellicott’s modified plan; 2. 1814, with national significance under Criterion A, for its association with the events of the burning of Washington, D.C. during the War of 1812; 3. 1871-1915, with local significance under Criteria A and C, for the period of OPBG construction and improvement of the small parks; 4. 1933-1936, with local significance under Criterion A, based on the Works Progress Administration’s improvement projects in at least two Maryland Avenue NE reservations during the New Deal; and 5. 1963-1969, with local significance under Criterion A, based on the mid-century redesign of Stanton Park and the beautification projects undertaken in several small parks as part of Lady Bird Johnson’s landscape priorities in Washington, D.C.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Lester, Molly; Volchok, Elizabeth; Garrison, Shannon
- Date of Issue
- 2020-09-10
- Publisher
- U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
- Units
- NACE , NCR
- Keywords
- Andrew Ellicott, architecture, Baroque City Planning, Beautification program, Capitol Hill Historic District, commerce, Community Planning, entertainment and recreation, L'Enfant Plan, Local Neighborhood History, Military, Nathaneal Green, New Deal, Office of Public Buildings and Grounds, parklet, Pierre L'Enfant, redesign, reservation, Stanton Park, transportation, War of 1812, Washington D.C, Works Progress Administration, WPA