Cultural Landscape Report for the Memorial Amphitheater Grounds Arlington National Cemetery
Auwaerter J and Tiburzi A. 2025. Cultural Landscape Report for the Memorial Amphitheater Grounds Arlington National Cemetery. Cultural Landscape Report. National Park Service, Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation. Boston, Massachusetts
This Cultural Landscape Report (CLR) was prepared for the Office of Army Cemeteries which administers Arlington National Cemetery. The report documents landscape history, existing conditions, and significance of the Memorial Amphitheater grounds in Arlington National Cemetery and provides recommendations to preserve and enhance its historic character and contemporary function. The report is organized into four chapters: Site History, Existing Conditions, Analysis and Evaluation, and Treatment Recommendations. A resource list and appendix containing important historical documents, graphics, chronology, and list of repositories consulted are included at the back of the report. The CLR project area encompasses approximately twenty-four acres surrounding Memorial Amphitheater, extending from Roosevelt Drive on the east to beyond Memorial Drive on the west, and from Wilson Drive on the north to Porter Drive on the south in Arlington, Virginia. This report focuses on the designed grounds that correspond to a 250-foot perimeter around Memorial Amphitheater where burials and memorials were excluded according to a 1921 law, along with the approaches to the Tomb from Roosevelt Drive. The viewsheds to Washington, D.C. from Memorial Amphitheater and to features within the cemetery, notably the U.S.S. Maine Memorial, are addressed to the extent that they contribute to the historic character and significance of the Memorial Amphitheater grounds. Memorial Amphitheater, located on a ridge overlooking the Potomac River and Washington, D.C. with the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at its eastern entrance, is the ceremonial heart of Arlington National Cemetery, which is one of two national cemeteries administered by the Office of Army Cemeteries. The Beaux-Arts neoclassical-style building was constructed between 1915 and 1920 to provide a large assembly space for Memorial Day ceremonies, to honor America’s military history, and to commemorate those who gave their lives in defense of the nation. Its grounds were historically designed to reflect the formal and solemn character of the building while also integrating with the surrounding cemetery landscape. Memorial Amphitheater was the first major addition to Arlington that reflected the tenets of the City Beautiful Movement, which had been shaping public space design in Washington, D.C. since the turn of the century. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and its approaches, completed in 1932, physically tied Memorial Amphitheater to the grand civic monuments of the nation’s capital via the newly completed Memorial Bridge.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Auwaerter, John; Tiburzi, Anna
- Date of Issue
- 2025
- Publisher
- National Park Service, Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation
- Keywords
- Amphitheater, Arlington National Cemetery, Beaux-Arts, Cultural Landscape Report, cultural landscapes, memorials, monuments, national cemeteries, national cemetery, Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation, Viriginia, Washington D.C.