• Published

Never Built: Proposed University on the National Mall in 1816

Early in the 19th century, there was a proposal to build a national university at the west end of the Mall, where the Lincoln Memorial now sits.
Looking toward the west side of the United States Capitol building, a panoramic view of the city of Washington, D.C. shows the Mall area in the foreground before the railroad tracks were removed. A train is visible on the tracks. The domed structure in front of the Capitol is the Botanic Garden original octagonal greenhouse of 1859 and behind it the central pavilion added after the Civil War. The buildings were razed in 1932. The Botanic Garden was on a site previously occupied by the Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences in Washington, D.C.
Perspective sketch - Washington Manual Training High School, Henry Ives Cobb, Architect (1895-1898)

So this obviously never happened, but it’s a fascinating proposal for the National Mall, done in 1816.

Plan of the west end of the public appropriation in the city of Washington, called the Mall : as proposed to be arranged for the site of the university / to the Committee of the H. of R. of Congress, BHLatrobe, Surveyor of the City of Washington, Jan'y 1816.
Plan of the west end of the public appropriation in the city of Washington, called the Mall : as proposed to be arranged for the site of the university / to the Committee of the H. of R. of Congress, BHLatrobe, Surveyor of the City of Washington, Jan’y 1816.

Source: Library of Congress

Can you imagine a university sitting where the Lincoln Memorial does today?

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