Titanic Memorial Park: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, National Mall & Memorial Parks
Torkelson J, Garrison S, Lester M. 2021. Titanic Memorial Park: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, National Mall & Memorial Parks. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 976167. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. National Capital Area Office, Washington, DC / CRIS-CL Database
Inventory Unit Description: The Titanic Memorial Park cultural landscape (Reservation 717) is a 3.06-acre, L-shaped urban park in the southwest quadrant of Washington, DC. It is bounded by the Washington Channel of the Potomac River and Water Street SW to the west, Fort McNair to the south, apartment buildings along 4th Street SW to the east, and N Street SW to the north. The cultural landscape is named for the Titanic Memorial sculpture located at the southwest corner of the cultural landscape. The Titanic Memorial sculpture was moved from its former location along the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway to the southwest waterfront in 1968. The park is managed by the National Park Service, National Mall and Memorial Parks. The Titanic Memorial Park cultural landscape derives local significance as a park designed and planned under the District of Columbia’s Southwest urban renewal program in the mid-20th century. The cultural landscape is named for the Titanic Memorial sculpture located at the southwest corner of the cultural landscape. The sculpture was previously listed in the National Register of Historic Places on October 12, 2007. The period of significance for the Titanic Memorial sculpture is 1916-1930, a span that begins with the completion of the sculpture in 1916 and extends through 1930, when the sculpture and its base were installed at its former location along the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway. The Titanic Memorial sculpture is listed under Criterion C for its national significance in the area of Art, as part of the collection of commemorative sculptures located in Washington, DC. The Titanic Memorial sculpture is listed with Criteria Consideration B, as it was moved from its former location along the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway to the southwest waterfront in 1968. For the purposes of this CLI and the Titanic Memorial cultural landscape, this CLI recommends additional eligibility or consideration for inclusion on the National Register under the following criteria: 1. 1967-1968, with local significance under Criterion A, based on the Titanic Memorial cultural landscape’s local significance as a park designed and planned under the District of Columbia’s Southwest urban renewal program in the mid-20th century; 2. 1967-1968, with local significance under Criterion C, based on the cultural landscape’s 1967 design as a Modernist waterfront park envisioned by famed landscape architecture firm Sasaki, Dawson & DeMay.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Torkelson, Jacob; Garrison, Shannon; Lester, Molly
- Date of Issue
- 2021-09-28
- Publisher
- U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
- Units
- NAMA , NCR
- Keywords
- art, Chloethiel Woodward Smith, commemorative sculpture, Commission of Fine Arts, community planning and development, entertainment - recreation, flood, Gertrude Vanderbilt, landscape architecture, modernist, Potomac River, recreation, relocated, Reservation 717, Sasaki Dawson & DeMay, sculpture, urban planning, urban renewal, Washington Channel, Washington D.C., waterfront