Check this out. It’s a proposed design for a second mall, east of the Capitol Building. Obviously, this was never built, but imagine how different things would be.
The design below was done as part of the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design competition in 1930 for a proposed mall down East Capitol Street. John Louis Rochon Grand of Catholic University did this one.
Source: Library of Congress
Okay, so this wasn’t really planned, but it’s a pretty cool architectural design. What do you think?
While I haven’t seen this one before, there is something from 1941 that was interesting and not all that different except for more detail because it came from the National Capital Park and Planning Commission.
http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/18839/1941-dc-plan-shows-east-mall-no-i-395/
As a DC resident with fresh Euro-blood in my veins I think “COOL”
…As a traffic engineer I think “I wonder if instead of an open plaza ringed by cafes we’d instead run traffic through it, and good god how would any of those circles operate”