Places (139 total)

Black-and-white photograph of the White House's south facade, viewed across the lawn with a large flowering tree in the foreground.
President's Park is made up of the White House, the Ellipse, and Lafayette Square, and has existed for more than 200 years. Originally, President's Park was only the grounds immediately surrounding the White House, but over time it grew to include…

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Workers install plumbing and masonry around the base of a robed statue on a pedestal, with a wheelbarrow and construction debris scattered in the foreground and distant buildings visible through haze.
One of America's premier scientists, and the first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Joseph Henry (1797-1878), is memorialized in this statue just outside the Smithsonian Castle.  John Phillips Sousa wrote an original musical piece, Transit…

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A marble sculpture depicting a dramatic scene of a standing figure wielding an axe over a kneeling man, with a crouching figure and a dog nearby, set against classical columns.
A large sculpture depicting a frontier father defending his family from an attacking American Indian, "The Rescue" has been a source of controversy since its installation in 1850. Sculptor Horatio Greenough stated that he was trying to show the…

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A group of children in early 20th-century dress, wearing hats, gather around the base of a large statue with a man seated on a pedestal, holding a torch.
Horatio Greenough's "Enthroned Washington" is one of the more controversial sculptures located on the Mall. Congress commissioned the statue in honor of Washington's 100th Birthday and was installed in the Capitol Rotunda in 1841. Many legislators…

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Bronze statue of a seated 18th-century gentleman in period attire holding a book, with a tricorn hat and additional books resting nearby on a stone bench, set against a backdrop of greenery.
George Mason (1725-1792), author of Virginia's Declaration of Rights, was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. He refused to sign the Constitution because of the absence of a Bill of Rights and a disagreement over the issue of standing…

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The Washington Monument rises above a tree-lined pond, with a grassy path and parked cars visible along the shoreline under a partly cloudy sky.
The Constitution Gardens were dedicated in May 1976 as part of the United States Bicentennial and were declared a living legacy to the US Constitution by President Ronald Reagan in September 1986. During World War I, the US government built temporary…

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A small stone mausoleum-like structure with an arched wooden double door flanked by columns and a decorative carved pediment, set on a grassy lawn.
Architect of the Capitol, Charles Bulfinch, designed the gatehouses and matching gateposts in the 1820s. They originally flanked a grand pedestrian entrance on the west side of the Capitol. They were removed in 1874 and placed in their present…

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James A. Garfield Monument with allegorical figures at its base, standing before the U.S. Capitol dome in Washington, D.C.
This monument to President James Garfield (1831-1881) depicts him giving a speech, gazing outward with papers in one hand. Garfield was elected in 1880, but he served only four months of his term before his assassination in a railroad station on the…

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Historic photograph of a monument with statuary near the U.S. Capitol dome, with a horse-drawn carriage and streetcars passing on the street in the foreground.
The Peace Monument, also known as the Naval Monument and the Civil War Sailors Monument, honors naval deaths at sea during the American Civil War. Admiral David Dixon Porter conceived the idea of the monument and sketched an initial design in the…

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Downing Urn-SI.jpg
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…

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