(history continued)
Frederick Law Olmsted's design for the U.S. Capitol Grounds in Washington, D.C. is a masterpiece. Olmsted worked on the Capitol Grounds for almost two decades, from the early 1870s through the early 1890s, longer than for any of his other commissions. At the Capitol, Olmsted transcended the pastoral and picturesque American aesthetic previously deployed in public parks and suburbs to create something new-a grand landscape befitting a monumental civic setting. The smooth lawns and intricate perimeter plantings were designed with a symmetry that extends the order of L'Enfant's City plan and the Capitol building into its grounds. Carriage drives and walkways adhere to this geometry while accommodating the site's sloping terrain. This topographic and spatial structure was then reinforced with an exuberant ensemble of subtly poly-chromed site walls, benches, pavement, light standards, planters, and fountains. While the understory planting has been altered over the years, the critical visual and spatial relationships and character-defining topography which Olmsted carefully crafted to accentuate the building have remained remarkably intact a full century late, until now.
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