Andrew Jackson Downing Urn

Title

Andrew Jackson Downing Urn

Description

This urn memorializing horticulturist Andrew Jackson Downing (1815-1852) was installed on the Mall in 1856 near the present location of the National Museum of American History. The urn was moved several times before it arrived in the Enid A. Haupt Garden in the Smithsonian in 1999. Downing's friend and architectural partner Calvert Vaux designed the urn and inscribed it with a quote by Downing which contains the line, "Plant spacious parks in your cities, and loose their gates as wide as the morning, to the whole people."

Creator

Calvert Vaux

Source

Smithsonian Institution Archives. View original.

Date

1856 (Placed)

Coverage

1830-1859
1980-1999

Physical Description

Made of Carrara marble, the urn is 48 inches tall and 24 inches wide.

Location

38°53.301′N 77°1.527′W

Description

This urn memorializing horticulturist Andrew Jackson Downing (1815-1852) was installed on the Mall in 1856 near the present location of the National Museum of American History. The urn was moved several times before it arrived in the Enid A. Haupt Garden in the Smithsonian in 1999. Downing's friend and architectural partner Calvert Vaux designed the urn and inscribed it with a quote by Downing which contains the line, "Plant spacious parks in your cities, and loose their gates as wide as the morning, to the whole people."

Creator

Calvert Vaux

Date

1856 (Placed)

Coverage

1830-1859

Source

Smithsonian Institution Archives. View original.

Geolocation