Washington D.C. Chaitri Rathod ARCH 726 Prof. Beyhan Karahan
History Founded on July 16, 1790, Washington, DC is unique among American cities because it was established by the Constitution of the United States to serve as the nation’s capital. Alexander Hamilton and northern states wanted the new federal government to assume Revolutionary War debts, and Thomas Jefferson and southern states who wanted the capital placed in a location friendly to slave-holding agricultural interests. President George Washington chose the exact site along the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers, and the city was officially founded in 1790 after both Maryland and Virginia ceded land to this new “district,” to be distinct and distinguished from the rest of the states.
History To design the city, he appointed Pierre Charles L’Enfant, who presented a vision for a bold, modern city featuring grand boulevards (now the streets named for states) and ceremonial spaces reminiscent of another great world capital. He planned a grid system, at which the center would be the Capitol building. Post-war Washington experienced substantial expansion, eventually absorbing nearby Georgetown and surrounding rural areas beyond L’Enfant’s original plans. The initial boundary of Washington City was Florida Avenue, originally called Boundary Street. In 1901, the city proposed the McMillan Plan, which set out to fully complete L’Enfant’s original designs. The city continued to expand and develop during the rest of the 20th century, though it suffered riots and civil unrest in the ‘60s and ‘70s, and many residents left inner city areas for the suburbs.
Demographics The population level and growth rate for the Washington DC metro area from 1950 to 2020. United Nations population projections are also included through the year 2035. • The current metro area population of Washington DC in 2020 is 5,322,000, a 1.1% increase from 2019. • The metro area population of Washington DC in 2019 was 5,264,000, a 1.09% increase from 2018. • The metro area population of Washington DC in 2018 was 5,207,000, a 1.56% increase from 2017. • The metro area population of Washington DC in 2017 was 5,127,000, a 1.54% increase from 2016. Blacks- 49.0% Whites- 4.6% Asian- .0% Others- 1.4% Hispanic- 4.0%
City Layout
City planning Placing the Capitol at the centre of the street plan, L’Enfant drew surveyors’ lines through the building to the points of the compass, thereby separating the city into four sections: Northwest (the largest quadrant), Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest. Three of the four surveyors’ lines became streets: North Capitol, East Capitol, and South Capitol streets. The fourth dividing line stretches west from the Capitol along the middle of the Mall to the Potomac River. Washington’s streets are organized in a scheme of broad diagonal avenues overlain on a grid of wide north-south- and east-west-trending streets. Thus, an orderly web of wide tree-lined avenues creates great vistas and leads both to powerful focal points and open public spaces. Two factors strongly influenced L’Enfant’s imagination as he planned the capital city: his understanding of 18th-century Baroque landscape architecture and his familiarity with the city of Paris and the grounds of Versailles. L’Enfant adapted the city’s formal plan to the area’s natural topography, carefully selecting important sites for principal buildings on the basis of the order of their importance, beginning with the U.S. Capitol building, which he placed on a high ridge. He then symbolically linked it, by way of Pennsylvania Avenue, to the presidential palace (the White House), on a slightly lower ridge.
City Layout
City planning Washington’s streets are organized in a scheme of broad diagonal avenues overlain on a grid of wide north-south- and east-west-trending streets. Thus, an orderly web of wide tree-lined avenues creates great vistas and leads both to powerful focal points and open public spaces. The intersections of two or three diagonal avenues are punctuated with landscaped circles and squares, while their intersections with grid streets create triangular and trapezoidal lots and parks, resulting in interesting streetscapes. Streets running north-south are numbered, and streets running east-west are lettered. There are two sets of numbered streets and two sets of lettered streets. One set of numbered streets commences to the east of the Capitol, and the other starts to the west. The two corresponding sets of lettered streets begin to the north and to the south of the Capitol. Each street’s name is followed by the abbreviation of the quadrant in which it is located (e.g., 1st Street NW or A Street SE). There are no J, X, Y, or Z streets, and the two B Streets were renamed Constitution Avenue and Independence Avenue. A number of diagonal avenues are named for U.S. states.
City planning Three factors have radically influenced the style of Washington’s architecture: restrictions on the height of structures, Classicism, and conservatism. Yet, in the mid-20th century, Modernism began to have a noticeable effect. Height restrictions for buildings in Washington were enacted by Congress as early as 1899 because of concerns over the fire safety and aesthetics of tall buildings, and the Height of Buildings Act of 1910 assured the city’s horizontal landscape. According to the act, no building in Washington may be taller than 130 feet (40 metres), though along certain portions of Pennsylvania Avenue certain structures are allowed to extend an additional 30 feet (9 metres). Office buildings may be no wider than the street on which they are built plus 20 feet (6 metres), and most of them are about 120 feet (37 metres) wide. Thus, D.C. lacks the characteristic skyscrapers found in other large U.S. cities. Moreover, as the city has expanded, it has spread out rather than up, with residential and low-rise commercial areas having been replaced by rows of homogeneous boxlike office buildings. Washington, D.C., row houses Row houses in a residential block of Washington, D.C
City planning The largest of the four quadrants of the District is Northwest, which contains most of the city’s federal buildings, tourist destinations, and wealthier neighbourhoods. It encompasses the areas known as Downtown, Lafayette Square, Foggy Bottom, Georgetown, Dupont Circle, and Adams-Morgan, among others. The area referred to as Downtown Washington describes the business district located between the Capitol, the White House, and Georgetown. It includes Chinatown, the Metro Center, the Federal Triangle area, and the K Street office corridor.
Smithsonian Institution Main building of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; designed by James Renwick.
The Lafayette Square neighbourhood lies directly north of the White House on H Street between 15th and 17th streets. It was once a showplace of wealth and influence. Georgetown, the oldest neighbourhood in the District of Columbia, was originally a trading village called Tohoga by the local Native Americans before the arrival of Europeans in the 1600s. Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
City planning The Northeast section of Washington features residential neighbourhoods that were established in the 19th century. Brookland, named after the estate of Col. Jehiel Brooks that formerly occupied the site, was developed between 1887 and 1901. Located in Brookland are the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (dedicated in 1959), the Franciscan Monastery (dedicated in 1899), and the Catholic University of America (founded in 1887). The neighbourhood of Deanwood was established in Northeast in 1888 as a semirural, self-sufficient, racially mixed community.
Birth of the Virgin, panel by Pietro Lorenzetti, 1342; in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena, Italy.
Brookland, named after the estate of Col. Jehiel Brooks that formerly occupied the site, was developed between 1887 and 1901. Located in Brookland are the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (dedicated in 1959), the Franciscan Monastery (dedicated in 1899), and the Catholic University of America (founded in 1887). The neighbourhood of Deanwood was established in Northeast in 1888 as a semirural, self-sufficient, racially mixed community.
Campus of the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.
City planning The Southeast quadrant of Washington is dominated by Capitol Hill. The Anacostia neighbourhood is also located in this section of the city. The Capitol Hill neighbourhood, in Southeast D.C., is the oldest residential community in the original city of Washington. In 1805 several boarding houses and taverns were erected near the Capitol to cater to members of Congress. The Capitol Hill neighbourhood, in Southeast D.C., is the oldest residential community in the original city of Washington. In 1805 several boarding houses and taverns were erected near the Capitol to cater to members of Congress.
Supreme Court Supreme Court building, Washington, D.C.
City planning Southwest Washington, like Foggy Bottom, was planned as a prosperous commercial and residential waterfront neighbourhood. L’Enfant had included a military defense site in his original plan, and in 1791 a military reservation was established near the confluence of the Anacostia and Potomac rivers. Before the Civil War, Washington’s Black residents, both free and slave, coexisted in Southwest’s large Black community. In the early 1900s many blocks of Southwest homes were replaced with the huge federal buildings of the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
City landmarks
City landmarks
Future planning The specific actions and interventions proposed in the Framework Plan were informed and guided by a series of themes, each with supporting strategies: ▪ Celebrate the City as symbol ▪ overcome barriers and Improve Connections ▪ encourage Compact Mixed-use destinations ▪ strengthen the Public realm ▪Facilitate transit use and Public Mobility ▪ Advance sustainability in the urban environment
Future planning
Future planning
Future planning urban design opportunities the Framework Plan develops symbolic relationships by: ▪ Creating new locations of prominence and grandeur ▪ elevating the significance and accessibility of existing destinations ▪ establishing visual and physical connections between emerging destinations ▪ restoring l’enfant vistas, streets, avenues, and squares
Future planning Connection opportunities the Framework Plan overcomes barriers to connectivity by:
• redesigning inefficiently developed city blocks
• removing building obstructions
• decking over intrusive highways and infrastructure
• bridging waterways • beautifying and enlivening the public realm
Future planning land use opportunities the Framework Plan identifies infill, redevelopment, and reuse opportunities that will create a more vibrant center city and accommodate growth by providing opportunities for:
• More than 2 million square feet of new space for museums and other cultural attractions
• More than 1 million square feet of new space for federal offices, strengthening the monumental core as the seat of national government and the center of federal employment
• More than 2 million square feet of new space for private development, contributing to the city’s economic vitality
• At least 6 new commemorative sites in prominent locations and numerous sites for smaller memorials
Future planning Public realm opportunities the Framework Plan strengthens the public realm by: ▪ reclaiming 75 acres of waterfront open space ▪ establishing 32 acres of flexible event and recreation areas ▪ Identifying 13 acres for new urban parks and plazas ▪ Improving 10 miles of pedestrian corridors ▪ linking 27 miles of bicycle lanes and paths ▪ Creating a seamless riverwalk from Georgetown to the National Arboretum
Future planning transit opportunities the Framework Plan promotes better and more sustainable forms of public mobility by: ▪ Creating a new Metrorail station and enhancing access at other stations ▪ expanding transit routes to better connect emerging destinations and attractions on and near the National Mall ▪ Improving access on the National Mall by means of a small-scale transit system ▪ enhancing multi-modal transportation hubs ▪ Providing additional bicycle- sharing locations
Future planning
Bibliography https://www.ncpc.gov/docs/ FrameworkPlan3_ThemesStrate gies.pdf https://www.britannica.com/ place/Washington-DC/Virginia https://www.ncpc.gov/docs/ FrameworkPlan2_Context.pdf