WESTERN PLAZA PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE
Western Plaza consists of a large raised terrace in which part of L'Enfant's original 1791 plan
for Washington, D.C. is rendered in black and white stone. At one end of the raised terrace is
a pool. At the other end is a shaded area surrounding a statue of General Pulaski.
Inscribed on the upper terrace are historic quotations about Washington. Low walls separate
the plaza from the surrounding traffic. Eleven large urns rest on top of these walls and contain
seasonal planting. The upper map terrace has a grass lawn where the mall occurs and inlaid
bronze plans os the White House and the Capitol located at eitehr end of Pennsylvania Avenue.
The inlays illustrate L'Enfant's intention to have these two buildings balance each other and
symbolize two main branches of government. The siting of the Treasury in the 19th Century
blocked the view of the White House and obscured this relationship..
L'Enfant's plan of Washington combines two orders of scale. The giant order is the diagonal
avenues that sometimes termionate in a building or a monument. This order characterizes the
Federal scale of the city. The minor order is the rectangular grid pattern of the local
structure of the city.
Western Plaza acknowledges both orders since it is shaped by the rectanglar grid of the local
scale and is an element within the giant order of Pennsylvania.
[Bronze Relief Map of Western Plaza]
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