Washington D.

C & Paris
History of Town Planning

Prepared by :
Reshmi R
Praleen Priyakumar
Dhanya Poduval
Oshin Nair
Roshan Raghunathan
Anjaly elizabath Paul
Shrishti Shetty
Akash John
Pranjali Thakre
Sarvesha Zaparde
Pooja Sawant

Paris

Historical background
3rd century
B.C.
Settlement by a
Celtic fishermen.

52 B.C.
Julius Caesar seizes
the city.

Around 250
A.D. Paris

4th-9th
centuries:

Christianised.

Frankish and
Norman invasions.

1163:
Construction of theNotre
Dame Cathedralbegins.

Late 14th century

Black Death.

July 14, 1789

French revolution
Fall of bastile

Evolution of planning

1.The first medieval town wall,

built around 1200.
2. The second medieval wall
from the end of the fourteenth
century, which under Louis XIV
made way for the promenades.
3. The tariff wall of 1780,
demolished in the 1860s. 4.
The ring of fortifications of the
1840s, later in 1860 to become
the municipal and tariff border

Paris was born with the development of the villages on La Cite. But it got its name
Paris, only in the 4th century from its former name Lutetia.
Early Parisians were fishermen, farmers, foresters, herdsmen and boatmen who
had prospered on the banks of the river Seine. In 51 B.C. the Romans conquered
Lutetia.
Under
the Roman Empire the region had prospered as a junction between the
North-South and the Seine. La Cite was enclosed in a wall due to persistent attacks
from the barbarians.
The Roman Empire collapsed in the fifth century and the Merovingian's and the
Carolingians came into power.
In the 9th century Paris was pillaged and ransomed by the Vikings. Crucial
architectural development stated during the reign of Philippe August in the 12th
century. A second wall was constructed around the city that had, by then,
increasingly expanded to the North and the South of the Seine.
New growth sprung up along the major roads, because of inadequate space inside
the city.
The administration of Paris was reorganized in the year 1261 and was divided
between the provost King (affairs of the state) and the provost merchant (local
affairs). Thus we can see the organizational change of power where the merchants
are allotted some power. Also for the fiscal register were furnished to list the
taxpayers and the numbers of households. Social and political changes during the
same century helped bringing about the building of cathedrals, excellence of the
universities, the proliferation of colleges and convents, the installation of
mendicant order and the flowering of Gothic.

Evolution of planning

In the 14th yet century another wall was built in northern Paris. The city was
developing into a center of finance and a principal diplomatic center in Europe.

By the end of the Middle Ages Paris had become a complex urban structure
consisting of several core settlements now joined to one another. Apart from some
of the churches there were practically no monumental accents. The old,
spontaneously evolving network of narrow and twisty streets, most of which ran
parallel or away from the bank of the river, was already inadequate
Towards the end of the seventeenth century Paris, together with Vienna, was
probably the most heavily developed town in Europe. Houses were being built
higher and higher, the courtyards becoming more cramped and the traffic more
chaotic in the narrow streets.

Victoires, designed and built in the 1680s under the direction of J.H.
Mansart by order of the Marechal de la Feuillade. The architecture was of
uniform design, and the centre of the square was occupied by a statue of
Louis XIV being crowned with a laurel wreath by a flying figure of Victory.

Evolution of planning
The along side map shows the
intersection of two movement
system ,where the old Roman
roads cross the River Seine.
This established the design
centre and the line of force
leading to the formation of
orientation for the classical
Roman city
This map shows the Medieval
Paris as it was from 1367 to
1383.
The ancient crossing
determines the centre of the
tightly developed town
The wall defining the area of
intensity at the juncture of the
movement system
The inner dotted line shows the
position of the first wall built
north of the river
The pressure of city growth
continued and the walls were
further extended

Paris in 1300
A medieval walled city developed
around the crossing of the River
Seine
The Louvre palace is the point of
origin of the design forces

Paris in 1600
White line indicates the position of
wall during 1300
The grey shows the outward
extension to the new wall due to the
pressure of city growth

Evolution of planning
1760

Proper water mains and

sewage system were
prescribed in the plan.
Narrow and polluted streets.
Regular grid housing blocks.
1765

New principal streets were

added.
More round open spaces
were prescribed.
No pedestrian footpath.
Busy food market around the
open spaces.
1834

New market halls were

introduced in order avoid the
cramped market places
along the streets.
Proper water conduits
prescribed.
New sewage system
prescribed due to
deterioration of sewage
system introduced earlier.

Planning principles

Buildings, politics, and

aesthetics:
Haussmann envisioned a city
focused visually and functionally
on major institutions like RR
stations; the opera house, the
town hall, the cathedral, etc.;
major architectural units linked
by great avenues; also
monuments like Notre Dame
isolated and turned into museum
pieces

Below : le de la Cit, 1754.

Along side: after Haussmanns
regulations
. 1. Sainte Chapelle.
2. Notre-Dame.
3. Htel-Dieu.
4. Palais de Justice.
5. Place Dauphine.
6. Tribunal de Commerce.
7. Caserne de la Cit (now
Prfecture de Police). The letters
designate bridges. [From Lameyre
(1958)]

Planning principles

During a time of industrial change and cultural advancement, Paris became the
new home for many, overcrowding the ancient districts and spreading disease.
The city, which had been untouched since the Middle Ages, was in dire need of
reflecting the new modern ways and putting an end to the spreading medical
epidemics. The tight confines of Medieval Paris were hindering the citys potential
for growth and desire to transform into a well-organized urban center. Napoleon
III set about bringing order and structure to the chaotic, cramped city and putting
an end to its' identity crisis
Baron Georges-Eugene Haussmann, chosen by Napoleon III to lead the project,
created new roads, public parks, public monuments, as well as installing new
sewers and changing the architectural faade of the city. With the aid of the
public, Modernist Napoleon III set out to undertake one of the largest urban
transformations since the burning of London in 1666.
In 1853, Haussman had outlined and began construction on a series of basic
projects that had been planned since the decision had been made to modernize
the city. The projects included creating a north-south axis in the city, developing
the quarters around the Opra, as well as the annexation of the suburbs to make
them outer arrondissements, the sewer system, and the water supply
The next step in Haussmanns plan for the new Paris was to divide the city into
arrondissements,
districts.
divide
Paris
To accompany theor
new
streetsThe
anddecision
provide to
visual
unity
tointo
the these
entire new
city, districts
came
about and
in 1853,
at the
time as
the decision
to modernize
the city
Haussmann
his team
ofsame
architects
constructed
a unifying
architectural
completely.
plan the
implied
ofas
the
old, heterogenous
in
faade that The
changed
shapethe
of destruction
Paris. As well
coating
the city withquarters
a
the
city center
and the
of large
quarters
implicitly
dividing
the, as
unifying
style, they
alsocreation
constructed
newnew
public
buildings,
such as
LOpra
population
byother
economic
status.
well as many
buildings

Paris before Haussmann

In the middle of the nineteenth century, the center
of Paris was overcrowded, dark, dangerous, and
unhealthy.
The street plan on the Ie de la Cit and in the
neighbourhood called the quarter des Arcis, between
the Louvre and the Hotel de Ville, had changed little
since the Middle Ages.
The population density in these neighbourhoods was
extremely high, compared with the rest of Paris; in
the neighbourhood of the Champs-lyses, there
was one resident for every 186 square meters; in the
neighbourhoods of Arcis and Saint-Avoye, in the
present Third Arrondissement, there was one
inhabitant for every three square meters.
In these conditions, disease spread very quickly.
Cholera epidemics ravaged the city in 1832 and
1848. In the epidemic of 1848, five percent of the
inhabitants of these two neighbourhoods had died.
Traffic circulation was another major problem. The
widest streets in these two neighbourhoods were
only five meters wide; the narrowest were only one
or two meters wide. Wagons, carriages and carts
could barely move through the streets.
The center of the city was also a cradle of discontent
and revolution; between 1830 and 1848, seven
armed uprisings and revolts had broken out in the
centre of Paris.

On 10 December 1848,Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, the

nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, won the first direct
presidential elections ever held in France with an
overwhelming 74.2 percent of the votes cast. He was
elected largely because of his famous name, but also
because of his promise to try to end poverty and improve
the lives of ordinary people.
As soon as he was President, he supported the building of
the first subsidised housing project for workers in Paris, the
Cit-Napoleon, on the Rue Rochechouart. He proposed the
completion of the Rue de Rivoli from the Louvre to the Hotel
de Ville, completing the project begun by his uncle Napoleon
Bonaparte, and he began a project to build a large new
public park, theBois de Boulogne, modelled after Hyde Park
in London but much larger, on the west side of the city. He
wanted both these projects to be completed before the end
of his term in 1852, but became frustrated by the slow
progress made by his prefect of the Seine, Berger.
Napoleon III dismissed Berger as the Prefect of the Seine
and sought a more effective manager. His minster of the
interior,Victor de Persigny, interviewed several candidates,
and selected George Eugene Haussmann, the prefect of
Bordeaux, who impressed Persigny with his energy,
audacity, and ability to overcome or get around problems
and obstacles.

Initial planning and execution

Haussmann moulded the city into a geometric grid, with
new streets running east and west, north and south,
dividing Medieval Paris into new sections. His plan
brought symmetry to the city, something it was lacking
beforehand.
During a time when the city was filled to the brim with
people, disease was a large risk. The widening of the
streets would relieve the cramped city and allow for the
people to get around more easily.
It also allowed for an increase in height of the buildings,
providing more room for the people of Paris to live and
thrive in.
Running alongside the new roads, which had been
widened to accommodate the rising number of people
living within the city limits, were rows of chestnut trees,
which allowed Haussmann to maintain the geometric and
symmetrical aesthetic that he had created with the new
roads.
Where he struggled to maintain his visual order, new
public spaces and monuments were erected.
He was also responsible for isolating Notre-Dame from the
city, emphasizing its importance to the city.
The next step in Haussmanns plan for the new Paris was
to divide the city into arrondissements, or districts.
The districts started inward, on the banks of the Seine,
and spiralled outwards.

The plan implied the destruction of the old,

heterogenous quarters in the city center and the
creation of large new quarters implicitly dividing the
population by economic status.
The original plan called for twelve districts, but in
1860, Paris annexed surrounding communities and
was divided into twenty districts.
Plan of Paris

Initial planning and execution

With the division of the city into arrondissements came the
need for a new water and sewer system. Aided by his chief
engineer Eugene Belgrand, Haussmann developed and
began construction in 1857 on a larger sewer system that
could handle the large amounts of wastewaters coming from
the growing city that would be funneled into the Seine
downstream from Paris.
With the growing popularity of water closets, particularly in
the richer Parisian districts, came a need to funnel human
waste into the sewer system as well. The proposal to channel
human faeces into the sewers that would mix with the storm
water and flow into the Seine was an idea Haussmann
objected to.
To maintain the order of the water and the urban space,
Haussmann viewed it as necessary to keep the clean water
separate from the dirty water.
Also by utilizing the new sewer system for human waste, the
city would become cleaner and more sterile, eliminating the
smell of rotting waste and lowering the threat of disease
from living in cramped, contaminated quarters.
To accompany the new streets and provide visual unity to
the entire city, Haussmann and his team of architects
constructed a unifying architectural faade that changed the
shape of Paris.
As well as coating the city with a unifying style, they also
constructed new public buildings, such as LOpra , as well
as many other buildings.

With the widening of the Parisian streets,

Haussmann and his crew were able to add an extra
story of height to the buildings that lined the roads.
The additional height increased the amount of living
space within the city limits, easing up on the
overcrowding, but not changing the affordability of
the housing.

They are noted by their simple decoration and

adherence to the classical style. An emphasis on the
horizontal can be seen in the faade, following the
horizontal of the streets they sat next to, adding to
the symmetry and geometric unity that Haussmann
wanted the new Paris to have.

Haussmann also created twenty-four new squares;

seventeen in the older part of the city, eleven in the
new arrondissements, adding 150,000 square
meters of green space.
TheBois de Boulogne was inspired by Hyde Park in
London, and was designed to provide rest and
relaxation for families of all classes of Parisians.
(shown below)

Planning

The first map is of Pre-Haussmann Paris

Initial planning and execution

With the rise of the nouveux riches came the need
for htels or living spaces for the rich within the city.
Unlike the simple, austere apartment houses, no
expense was spared on decoration and they were
constructed in the most fashionable districts within
Paris. They were not neoclassical in style like the
apartments, but a mixture of early Renaissance and
the ornate baroque style. The htels were symbols of
wealth and status and the rising modernity in Paris.
Since the undertaking of the modernization of Paris
in the 1850s, Haussmanns name has become
ubiquitous with urban planning. With the help and
approval of Napoleon III, Haussmann was able to
transform an entire city in a period of twenty years.
The once Medieval city was now a modern power
house with room to grow. The redistricting of the
city, building of new roads, monuments, public
spaces and places, as well as new public works
buildings and a new sewer system all added to the
grandeur of the city.
Haussmann not only improved the appearance of
Paris, but also the health of the people. By widening
the streets and building more housing, he eased the
overcrowding and lowered the threat of disease.

The new sewer system also helped create a cleaner

Paris by channeling the waste water and human
waste away from the city to ease on the smell and
the dirt that would make Paris seem uncivilized.
Haussmanns new buildings proved to be more
functional and stronger than the previous buildings
in Paris.
Modern day Paris

Problems faced by Haussmann while executing his plan

Despite his desire to create a well organized and
symmetrical city, his lack of skills as an urban planner got
the best of him and he was forced to work around existing
streets in order to adhere to his desire for symmetry in the
city.
The existing architecture in Paris proved to be his greatest
enemy when laying out the new roads.
The respect for the ancient monuments outweighed the
need to unify the city completely and the river Seine served
as a natural barrier separating the two sides of Paris and the
roads that once had the ambition to link the two riverbanks.
With this magnificent transformation of Paris into a modern
city, came a big budget. According to the article Money and
Politics in the Rebuilding of Paris, 1860-1870, Haussmann
calculated in 1869 that the cost of rebuilding Paris since the
projects beginning in 1851 was to be 2,500,000,000 francs.
Haussmann and Napoleon III did not forsee the project
costing this much and had not raised the amount of money
needed to pay for all of their construction. With the addition
of new elements to the project, the budget only soared.
Many people living in Paris during the time felt that
Haussmann and crew had lied to them about the costs of
the renovations and felt that the city had been paralyzed by
the never ending construction.
Haussmann did not have time to finish the third phase of his
planning, as he soon came under intense attack from the
opponents of Napoleon III.

Georges-Eugene Haussmann, the Prefect of the

Seine underNapoleon III

Paris post Haussmann

In the parliamentary elections of May 1869, the government
candidates won 4.43 million votes, while the opposition
republicans won 3.35 million votes. In Paris, the republican
candidates won 234,000 votes to 77,000 for the Bonapartist
candidates, and took eight of the nine seats of Paris deputies.
At the same time Napoleon III was increasingly ill, suffering
from gallstones which were to cause his death in 1873, and
preoccupied by the political crisis that would lead to the
Franco-Prussian War.
In December 1869 Napoleon III named an opposition leader
and fierce critic of Haussmann,Emile Ollivier, as his new
prime minister. Napoleon gave in to the opposition demands
in January 1870 and asked Haussmann to resign. Haussmann
refused to resign, and the Emperor reluctantly dismissed him
on 5 January 1870.
In his memoires, written many year later, Haussmann had this
comment on his dismissal: "In this eyes of the Parisians, who
like routine in things but are changeable when it comes to
people, I committed two great wrongs; over the course of
seventeen years I disturbed their daily habits by turning Paris
upside down, and they had to look at the same face of the
Prefect in the Hotel de Ville. These were two unforgiveable
complaints."
Haussmann's successor as prefect of the Seine
appointedJean-Charles Alphand, the head of Haussmann's
department of parks and plantations, as the director of works
of Paris. Alphand respected the basic concepts of his plan.
Despite their intense criticism of Napoleon III and Haussmann
during the Second Empire, the leaders of the new Third
Republic continued and finished his renovation projects.

Haussmann's boulevards crisscross Paris, seen from the

top of theTour Montparnasse.

Boulevard
The thick lines represent
Haussmann boulevard

Boulevard

Haussmann molded the city into a

geometric grid, with new streets running
east and west, north and south, dividing
Medieval Paris into new sections. His plan
brought symmetry to the city

The widening of the streets would relieve the

cramped city and allow for the people to get
around more easily. It also allowed for an
increase in height of the buildings, providing
more room for the people of Paris to live and
thrive in. Running alongside the new
roads,were rows of chestnut trees, which
allowed Haussmann to maintain the
geometric and symmetrical aesthetic that he
had created with the new roads. And where
he struggled to maintain his visual order,
new public spaces and monuments were
erected.

Roads and Transport

A map of Haussmanns streets confusing impression.
However, a closer examination does reveal, if not any
superordinate plan, at least a guiding idea, namely to
facilitate communications within the central parts of Paris
and between these areas and the peripheral districts of
the city.
Streets included in Haussmanns improvement
and regularization program. White sections of
street were built before 1854, solid black
sections before 1870 and dotted sections after
the fall of the Second Empire, but still largely in
accordance with Haussmanns intentions. The
hatched area indicates the municipality of Paris
up to 1860, when the municipal boundary was
extended to the outer fortification ring.

Washington

 Country : United states of America

Approved on:

Location

July 16 , 1970

Named after : George Washington

The District is bordered by, Maryland, to the northwest; Prince George's
County, Maryland, to the east; and Arlington and Alexandria, Virginia, to the
south and west.

Historical background
17th century
Various tribes of
the Algonquianspeaking
Piscataway
people inhabited
the lands

January 23,
1788
James Madison
argued the
necessity for a
national capital.

July 16, 1790

Foundation of the
District Capital

August 2425,
1814
The Civil War and
Raid known as the
Burning of
Washington

Organic Act of 1871

individual charters of the
cities of Washington and
Georgetown, and created
a new territorial
government for the whole
District of Columbia.

Early 1900

1973

April 4, 1968

Congress enacted the

District of Columbia
Home Rule Act

The assassination of civil

rights leader Dr. Martin
Luther King, broke riots in
the district

Washington was the first

city in the nation to
undergo urban renewal
projects as part of the
"City Beautiful
movement"

Geography Natural resources

Washington, D.C., is located in the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. East Coast.
Due to the District of Columbia retrocession, the city has a total area of 68.3
square miles (177 km2), of which 61.4 square miles (159 km2) is land and
6.9 square miles (18 km2) (10.16%) is water .
The Potomac River forms the District's border with Virginia and has two
major tributaries: the Anacostia River and Rock Creek.
Tiber Creek, a natural watercourse that once passed through the National
Mall, was fully enclosed underground during the 1870s. The creek also
formed a portion of the now-filled Washington City Canal, which allowed
passage through the city to the Anacostia River from 1815 until the 1850s.
The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal starts in Georgetown and was used during
the 19th century to bypass the Great Falls of the Potomac River, located
upstream (northwest) of Washington at the Atlantic Seaboard fall line.
The highest natural elevation in the District is 409 feet (125 m) above sea
level at Fort Reno Park in upper northwest Washington. The lowest point is
sea level at the Potomac River. The geographic centre of Washington is near
the intersection of 4th and L Streets NW.
The District has 7,464 acres (30.21 km2) of parkland, about 19% of the city's
total area and the second-highest percentage among high-density U.S. cities.

Architectural character
Washington is made up of
five types
of building blocks, the party- wall
office
Each
makes
building,
thea distinctive
row home,type
the
of
block
dethatched
and
fabric.the The
bungalow,
neo- attached
classical
buildings
have
institution,
given
Washington
the necessary
The
neoclassical
institution
and
and the
urban villa.
density
urban villas serve a symbolic
to
make it idealizing
second only the
to
purpose
Manhattan
democratic in values the new
The
detatched
was a
terms
of jobshome
located
in its
nation
proported
to
embody.
typical
trend
in
suburban
urban center.
development in this country
as residential neighbourhoods
attempted to maintain a
pastoral ideal while remaining in
close proximity to the urban
economy. A reliable public
transit infrastructure has made
these neighbourhoods some of
the most desirable in the
district.

The party wall office

building maximizes
the real estate in
downtown Washington.
Building heights are
limited to 135 feet
(40.5m). Office
buildings typically have
retail on the first floor
in addtion to lobbies.

The party wall

rowhome was the
traditional housing
stock of Washington
throughout the
Eighteenth and
Nineteenth Centuries.
Though heights
varied, many had
basement apartments
with seperate entry.

The detatched house was

introduced in
the outskirts of the District
in the early Twentieth
Century. Originally laid out
in traditional blocks with
similar setbacks, the block
gave way to the suburban
serpentine street system
typical of the mid and late
Twentieth Century. This
building type does not
occur within the section of
the city planned by
LEnfant.

Demand for stately

space in the Capital
drove the development
of Urban Villas, which
were detached buildings
with a processional
entramce. Often housing
either diplomatic or
charitable functions,
these are most prevelant
on 16th Street and
Embassy Row along
Wisconsin Avenue.

Evolution of planning 1791-1800

The LEnfant and Ellicott Plans
At the request of George Washington, Pierre L'Enfant, a French volunteer in the
continental army, presented a baroque city plan for the new capital inspired by French
city planning, particularly the plan of cantaloupe. The city is oriented north along 16
th street and bounded by the Potomac and Anacostia rivers and boundary street,
which follows the base of the piedmont escarpment.
Thomas Jefferson was able to persuade the Congress to grant a Southern site for the
new Capital, but lost
out on both his own plan for the new city as well as a design for the Capitol building
submitted
anonymously . Notoriously difficult to work with, LEnfant, despite Washingtons
favor, was eventually
dismissed from the project and the final plan for the city was based on surveys
conducted by Andrew
Ellicott with modifications made by Jefferson, which shifted and straightened
Massachusetts and
Pennsylvania Avenues as well as eliminating the destination quality of the
reservations LEnfant had set
aside for Statues, Columns, Obelisks, or any other ornaments such as the different
states may choose to

10

Evolution of planning 1860

10

Evolution of planning 1800- 1860

City of Washington from Beyond
the Navy Yard
From the perspective on the other side of the Anacostia River, one can see the Capitol,
the buildings along
Most of the development came in the form of Governmental buildings, though a dryPennsylvania
dock
is visibleAvenue,
in the and the White House in 1834.
Birds-Eye View of the City of Washington, D.C. and the
foreground.
Seat of War in Virginia
This Birds-Eye drawing looking south shows the emergence of the Mall as a civic
space by 1860.
Andrew
Jackson
Downing,
at the
request
Millard
Fillmore,
produced
a plan
for the
Englishman
James
Smithsons
bequest
toof
the
United
States for
a national
museum
Mall
and the
parks
prompted
deliberate
north
and south
thetoWhite
Downings work exemplifies the natural
consideration
onof
how
treatHouse.
the Mall.
landscape
trend
of the paths through pastoral plantings of trees and past
Mall featured
serpentine
irregularly shaped water
time,
influenced
Cambridges
Auburn Cemetery
notions
Duringheavily
this period,
thebyCapitol
Dome Mt.
expansion,
utilizing and
newpastoral
steel structural
of
the youngbegan,
nation.as did
technology,
features.
In oppositionoftoRobert
LEnfants
plan
for the city, Downings
construction
Millsgeometric
Washington
Monument.

10

Evolution of planning 1900

10

Evolution of planning 1860-1900

Our National Capital, View from the South
This Birds-eye view to the North shows the development of the Mall and the
neighborhood between it and
In the years after the Civil War, Washington engaged in a massive public work program
Pennsyvania
Avenue, considered one of the most dangerous and squalid in the city.
to
upgrade the
infrastructure
needed
to maintainbuildings
hygeine earlier
in a tropical
Thewas
influx
of paying
workersout
and
The investment
in governmental
in thearea.
Century
now
free
blacks
to theup
as the
city grew
city
increased
the
population
and
spurred growth of the city.
Olmstead,
Plan
for
the means.
Capitol
around
themSr.
through
private
Grounds
Despite Washingtons emergence as an urban center, Olmsteads plan for the Capitol
Grounds to
a distictively pastoral approach and was a precursor to the McMillan commission plan
for the entire Federal Area.

10

Evolution of planning 1940

Figure Ground, 1940
The impact of the McMillan plan
was
immediate, as evidenced in the
figure
ground. The neighborhood
between the
Mall and Pennsylvania Avenue
was
cleared and claimed for
governmental
functions. The Lincoln Memorial
now
anchors the Mall on the West,
facing the
Capitol, which now has a sightline with

10

Evolution of planning 1900-1940

Perspective and Plan for McMillan Plan
The McMillan Plan envisioned a Federal District set apart from the rest of the city
based on City Beautiful
premises. Emphasis was placed on unifying the Mall and claiming the area between
Pennsylvania Avenue
The Mall as envisioned by the McMillan Commission is pretty much as it is today. The
area on either side of
and the Mall for Federal business. The Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials would form new
end-points for the
the
is strictlyof
for
Federal
uses
and the Mall itself
is expansion
home to the
The Mall
combination
the
McMillan
improvements,
FDRs
of Smithsonian
the Federal
Museums
and
any
Government,
and the
civic structure.
number
of monuments.
impending
War led to a rapid increase of population by 1940.

10

Planning principles
The design for the city of Washington was largely the work ofPierre (peter) Charles
L'Enfant, a French-born architect, engineer, and city planner.
The plan for Washington dc was modelled in thebaroquestyle and incorporated
avenues radiating out from rectangles, providing room for open space and landscaping.
L'Enfant's design also envisioned a garden-lined "grand avenue" that is now
thenational mall
By the start of the 20th century, L'Enfant's vision of a capital with open parks and grand
national monuments had become marred by slums and randomly placed buildings,
including a railroad station on the national mall
It was reworked which included the re-landscaping of the capitol grounds and the mall,
constructing new federal buildings and monuments, clearing slums, and establishing a
new citywide park system.

Heights of buildings act passed to restrict building height to the width of the adjacent
street plus 20feet (6.1 m)

Today the skyline remains low and sprawling, in keeping with Thomas Jefferson's wishes
to make Washington an "American Paris" with "low and convenient" buildings on "light
and airy" streets
However, Washington's height restriction has been assailed as a primary reason why
the city has limited affordable housing and traffic problems as a result ofurban sprawl

11

Zoning
The planning began with
principle of buildings and
squares
He divided lines of direct
communication to promote
traffic between these cardinal
points
The plan was divided into two
axes intersecting at right angles,
each with its own focus-the white
house and capital
on the main axis is the capital
and on the secondary axis is the
white house
He made the presidents house,
the centre of 7 radiating
boulevards.

12

Boulevard
Atype of road, aboulevardis
usually a wide, multilanearterial
thoroughfare, divided with a
median down the centre, and
roadways along each side designed
as slow travel and parking lanes
and for bicycle and pedestrian
usage, often with an above-average
quality of landscapingand scenery
For convenience and pleasant
prospect the city was planned like a
spider web.
The diagonals cut through this web.
This pattern thus provides star
shaped points from which
boulevards radiate.

Road and Transport

Scott Circle
Scott Circle is a less successful example of one of
LEnfants

The district is divided into

fourquadrantsof unequal
area:northwest (nw),northeast
(ne),southeast (se),
andsouthwest (SW).

reservations. The space is framed with large- footprint

office
buildings that have little ground-floor articulation. As
such, the
space is not activated with people and serves
primarily as a traffic circle.

The axes bounding the

quadrants radiate from the U.S.
capitol building.
All road names include the
quadrant abbreviation to indicate
their location, and house
numbers are assigned based on
the approximate number of
blocks away from the capitol.

Parque De Las Ratas

Locally know as Rat Park, the intersection of Sixteenth Street,
Harvard, and
Columbia Road falls outside of LEnfants plan and is an example
of the use of
residual space at the intersection of late Nineteenth Century
residential
developments for urban purposes. Framed by large-footprint
apartment
buildings and churches, the park is an amenity for the surrounding
neighborhoods.

13

Road and Transport

LEnfant conceived of the Mall
as The
Grand Avenue, with a width of
400
feet. Streets leading to public
LEnfant
buildingsalso planned for
reservations
or markets were to be 130 feet
of
space at key intersections
and
and
others were to be either 110
established
a Neo-and
Classical
Such
numerous
or
90 wide
feet streets
program
of
spaces,
with the
in
width.combined
siting
buildings
or
other
height limit
monuments
in Washington give
of buildings in
these
the spaces
public space a particular
character.
The continues beyond
This character
city
the is bright and open.
Furthermore,
original area of the city, and
the
building
setbacks provide
while
the
space
fordiagonal system of
grid and
trees
and gardens which are in
streets
abundance
the city.
breaks downinnorth
of Florida
Avenue,
the commitment to openess and
green
continues.

Pennsylvania Avenue, 1857. AOC

13

Civic Structure
Washingtons civic structure was
envisioned by LEnfant as a series
of sightreciprocal squares, fountains, and
wide
diagonal avenues anchored by a
Grand
Avenue, 400 feet in breadth, and
about a
mile in length, boardered with
gardens,
The skeleton of LEnfants civic
ending in a slope from the houses
structure
on each though the original
remains,
side
and
communication from
triangle
has
the
been extended into a cruciform
Presidents
house and the
with
the
Congress
reclamation
of the Tidal Basin,
house,
and thepresent-day Pennsylvania
Avenue.
Smithsonian Museums occupy the
place
of the houses along what is now
now as
the National Mall. Other than
DuPont
Circle, the importance of the
Squares as
part of the civic structure has

LEnfants Plan for

Washington, 1791.
highlights by Fugate

Modern-Day
Washington,
1991. montage of
Thadana and Passeneau

Ne
w

Q
Street

n
Ave

Eighteenth
Street

Nineteenth
Street

DuPon
t
Circle

ut
ctic
nne
Co
ue

DuPont circle is Washington's

best example of how L'Enfant's
reservations and squares could
work. A vibrant park and traffic
rotary combined, the circle is at
the intersection of three major
diagonal avenues and the
centre of the DuPont circle
neighbourhood, a mix
Of commercial, retail, and
residential uses. The space of
the circle is delineated by
Massachusetts
avenue
is one of
corner buildings,
streets,
L'Enfant's
grand
medians, planned
and trees.
traverse avenues, set out at
160 feet side, with 80 feet of
carriage way and 80 feet of
trees and pedestrian way.
Buildings in Washington are
limited to 135 feet and share
party walls. Along
Massachusetts avenue, they
frame
The space, which is further
delineated by setbacks,
landscaping, trees, and a
parking lane.

Ha
Av
en
mp
ue
sh

ir e

Peculiar character of city

Ma
s
Ave sachu
nue sets

Dupont Circle

Massachusetts
Avenue

Q Street

Q Street is representative of one of LEnfants other

streets, laid out at either 90 or 110 feet. Residential in
nature, Q streets buildings are traditionally three or four
story rowhomes. Frontyard setbacks, trees, and a parking
lane divide the space.

15