Pictures: Washington’s Other Monuments

Lincoln Memorial
Illustration courtesy National Archives
America celebrated its birthday with fireworks and barbeques, but nowhere are the nation's symbols more grand and evident than in the monuments of Washington, D.C. We hold these architectural gems to be timeless and obvious, but as this collection of historic sketches and proposals show, the capital could have looked very, very different.
Proposals for the Washington Monument included pyramids, equestrian statues and even something modeled after an Asian pagoda. "Now it seems so bizarre," says Martin Moeller, senior curator at the National Building Museum. "But if you think about it, how much more bizarre is it than using an ancient Egyptian obelisk as a symbol for the nation's first president?"
Ideas for Abraham Lincoln's memorial—and where it should be built—ran the gamut, too. Architect John Russell Pope submitted at least seven proposals for the Lincoln Memorial, including this 1912 sketch of a massive step pyramid.
(See Photos: "Rare Views of Statue of Liberty in Time for Reopening")
Rumor has it that Pope didn't like the proposed site at the end of the National Mall, says Moeller, and put forth "outrageous designs as a psychological ploy to use another site, which he preferred."
He lost out on the location and building—Henry Bacon designed the one that stands today—but went on to design the National Archives, the Jefferson Memorial and the National Gallery of Art.
—Luna Shyr
Published July 5, 2013
Approved Washington Monument
Illustration courtesy Library of Congress, LC-DIG-pga-03714
During the nearly four decades it took to complete the Washington Monument, the Civil War came and went, people argued about whether the capital should move elsewhere, and aesthetic tastes changed.
This winning competition entry by Robert Mills shows what the memorial to George Washington was supposed to look like: a fusion of ancient styles, Egyptian obelisk with a Greek-inspired temple at its base. Construction began in 1848 but stopped in 1856, leaving an "unfinished stump on the mall that became a kind of laughing stock," says Moeller.
The "stump" languished for more than two decades before a renewed push to finish the monument came in the 1870s. By then aesthetics had shifted from Greek and classical revival to the Victorian era, which favored more decorative elements, says Moeller. A crop of new, more ornate proposals arose, but ultimately the simple obelisk prevailed, albeit with a more pointed top.
The monument's long history left its mark. About a third of the way up, there's a distinct change in the structure's color, says Moeller. "That's where it stood unfinished for decades," he notes. "When they resumed construction, they couldn't find stones of the same color."
Published July 5, 2013
Alternate Washington Monument
Illustration courtesy Library of Congress, LC-USZ62-113998
In the 1870s, after the Washington Monument sat unfinished on the National Mall for some two decades, various architects and others submitted new ideas on how to complete the structure. Sculptor Vinnie Ream Hoxie came up with this proposal, circa 1876-78: an enormous base topped by a massive statue of America's first president.
Published July 5, 2013
Memorial Bridge
Illustration courtesy Library of Congress, LC-DIG-ppmsca-31532
The Memorial Bridge symbolically connects North and South by spanning the Potomac in alignment with the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., and Arlington House, the former residence of Robert E. Lee, in Virginia.
Although today's bridge is low and modest, some of the original proposals included suspension bridges and grander visions like this 1887 design by Smithmeyer & Pelz. It called for two towers that would have created a very different approach into the city.
Published July 5, 2013
Kennedy Center
Illustration courtesy Edward Durell Stone Collection, U. Arkansas Fayetteville
This 1959 curvilinear design for what would become the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts was one of Edward Durell Stone's early proposals for a national cultural center.
The design was well received, with its riverfront walkway and engagement with the landscape. But a committee deemed the building costs too high, and Stone resubmitted a rectangular version that was eventually built.
Says Moeller: "This was a sad, straightforward case of cheapening out."
Published July 5, 2013
Dolphin Hotel
Image courtesy Library of Congress, LC-DIG-ppmsca-31434
A radical architect and artist, Doug Michels parlayed his fascination with dolphins into this 1989 proposal for a hotel that would be nestled near the centers of power in Washington.
"He believed that dolphins are smarter than we think and that people would benefit by spending more time with them," says Moeller.
In Michels' mind, the "Dolphin America" hotel would bring people and the aquatic mammals together, and also include a museum, a health club and conference center. So avid was his belief, says the curator, that Michels also proposed a dolphin embassy and a dolphin facility in space.
Published July 5, 2013
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Photograph by May Smith, National Geographic
Published July 5, 2013