Plans to Landscape Mall Include Smithsonian

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Summary

With an appropriation from the U.S. Congress, the public grounds, including the Smithsonian grounds, commonly called the Mall, are laid out anew under the direction of Andrew J. Downing. His plan for converting the entire Mall into an extended landscape garden includes graveled walks and carriage drives, along which are planted labeled specimens of all varieties of trees and shrubs which will flourish in this climate.

Subject

  • Downing, A. J (Andrew Jackson) 1815-1852
  • United States Congress

Category

Chronology of Smithsonian History

Notes

  • Goode, George Brown, ed. The Smithsonian Institution, 1846-1896, The History of Its First Half Century. Washington, D.C.: De Vinne Press, 1897, p. 834.
  • Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution for the year 1850, p. 63.
  • Rathbun, Richard. The United States National Museum: An Account of the Buildings Occupied by the National Collections, Washington, D.C., 1905. Reprinted from the Report of the U.S. National Museum for 1903, pp. 177-309, p. 188.

Contact information

Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Institution Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu

Date

September 30, 1850

Topic

  • Landscape architecture
  • Horticulture
  • Finance
  • Grounds
  • Expenditures, Public

Place

Mall, The (Washington, D.C.)

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