翻译内容为黄色部分

The

first

explicit

attempt

to

utilize

the

vaguely

classical

Beaux-Arts

architectural

style,

which

emerged

from the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, for the explicit intent of beautification and social

amelioration was the Senate Park Commission's redesign of the monumental core of Washington

D.C.

to

commemorate

the

city's

centennial.

The

McMillan Plan

of

1901-02,

named

for

Senator

James

McMillan,

the

commission's

liaison

and

principal

backer

in

Congress,

was

the

United

States' first attempt at city planning.

The original plans of Pierre L'Enfant had been largely unrealized in the growth of the city, and

with

the

country's

growing

prominence

in

the

international

arena,

Congress

decided

that

Washington

D.C.

should

be

brought

to

the

magnificence

decreed in L'Enfant's plan. The members of the commission

convened

by

the

Congress

included

Daniel

H.

Burnham,

former

Director

of

Construction

of

the

World's

Columbian

Exposition; architect Charles McKim, of McKim, Mead, &

White, New York City; sculptor and World's Fair alumnus Augustus Saint-Gaudens; Frederick L.

Olmsted,

Jr.;

and

Congressional

liaison

Charles

Moore.

Together

they

sought

to

revitalize

the

capital city through the monumental forms of the Beaux-Arts style. Using their experience at the

World's Fair as a jumping-off point, the commissioners sought to accomplish a number of goals:

to obtain a sense of cultural parity with Europe; to establish themselves as cultural and societal

leaders

in

the

rapidly

growing

professional

class;

to

revitalize

Washington

D.C.'s

core

as

an

expression

of

continuity

with

the

fathers

as

well

as

an

expression

of

governmental legitimacy in a changing and confusing era of expansion; and finally, to utilize the

beauty of the monumental center as a means of social control and civic amelioration.

The means to these ends was the 1901 plan. The group began their research for the comprehensive

city plan by visiting the

were their destinations in an attempt to recover the spirit of L'Enfant.

and their specific itinerary, reflected the reverence of the City Beautiful mentality for the culture

of the Old World...

it

as

a

city--a

work

of

civic

art.'

(Hines,

87)

The broad Parisian avenues

and

gardens of Versailles were a great influence on the men, and with their predilection for the Beaux-

Arts style, an understandable influence on the final plan.

The

plan

itself

was

a

reworking

of

L'Enfant's

plan,

creating

a

monumental

core,

a

great

public

Mall, and a series of public gardens. The focus of the plan, however, was on the Mall itself.

Briefly,

the

Commission

proposed

to

surround

the

Capitol

square

with

a

series

of

monumental

buildings

for

Congressional

use

and

for

the

Supreme

Court.

These,

together

with

the

existing

Library of Congress, would form a frame for the

Capitol

and

its

towering

dome.

Extending

westwards on a rectified axis, a broad Mall with

four

carriage

drives

would

lead

to

the

Washington

Monument.

Lining

the

Mall

on

both

sides

would

be

major

cultural

and

educational

buildings. (Reps, 109)

The buildings surrounding the Capitol eventually included Burnham's immense Union Station and

Columbus Plaza. The placement of this railroad station is important in the 1901 plan. Not only

does it demonstrate the Commission's mania for symmetry, harmony, and building

groups

rather

than

individual

buildings,

it

also

demonstrates

its

power.

For

the

preceding

decades

the

Pennsylvania railroad had its station at the base of Capitol Hill, its tracks cutting across the Mall.

Daniel

Burnham,

used

his

influence

with

the

railroad's

president,

Alexander

Cassatt,

and

convinced him to move his station, as a matter of civic beauty and national loyalty.

At the opposite end of the monumental core stood the Washington Monument, anchoring the two

axes of power--the Capitol and the White House. However, the Monument had been built a few

hundred

yards

off

the

White

House's

sight

lines.

sunken

gardens

proposed

for

the

western side of the monument attempted to correct the off- center north-south axis from the White

House. South of the monument were projected sites both for a principal memorial honoring the

founding fathers [now the Jefferson Memorial] and for facilities for indoor and outdoor sports.

(Gutheim, 90) In addition, a monument to Lincoln was planned for the reclaimed swampland west

of the Washington Monument, as well as Memorial Bridge leading to Arlington Cemetery. The

placement

of

the

Lincoln

Monument

(a

hotly

debated

site,

which

the

Speaker

of

the

House,

a

representative

from

Illinois,

called

a

swamp

served

to

enclose

the

Mall,

creating

a

monumental

core,

a

national

civic

center.

L'Enfant's

vision

of

a

processional

avenue

similar

to

Paris' Champs Elysees became, in the hands of the Senate Park Commission,

tapis vert

that was

similar

to elements at Versailles and to the Senonbrunn Palace gardens in Vienna.

The

Mall

was

and

stripped

of

the...undulating

walks

as

well

as

the

intrusive

railroad

station

and

tracks,

long

a

civic

disfigurement.

Elms

were

to

be

planted

along

the

Mall's

longitudinal edges, defining this space and its central panel of sward.

reference to great European cities was not an accident. Not only were the designers influenced by

the French Beaux-Arts style, they took Europe as an explicit model for their plan. America had

been struggling with defining its identity since its inception, and on the centennial of the national

capital, was still not quite sure of itself. To visually equate the American capital with European

capitals was to create instant social and cultural cache for the nation.