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Identification:
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Preferred Structure Name:
| Columbus Plaza - Wash. Light Std. (12) - Res. 334
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Structure Number:
| 33410008
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Other Structure Name(s):
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Other Structure Name(s)
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| No records. |
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Park:
| National Mall & Memorial Parks
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Historic District:
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Historic District
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1.
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L'Enfant Plan for District of Columbia
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Structure State:
| District of Columbia
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Structure County:
| Washington
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Region:
| National Capital
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Administrative Unit:
| National Mall & Memorial Parks
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LCS ID:
| 046758
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Historical Significance:
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National Register Status:
| Entered - Documented
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National Register Date:
| 04/24/1997
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National Historic Landmark?:
| No
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Significance Level:
| Contributing
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Short Significance Description:
| Columbus Plaza is significant as part of the L'Enfant Plan of the City of Washington, DC. It is a semicircular space that serves as a forecourt for Union Station. Lights were designed by Burnham & Millet in 1910 to illuminate areas within Washington as part of the City Beautiful transformation.
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Long Significance Description:
| Columbus Plaza is significant as part of the L'Enfant Plan of the City of Washington, District of Columbia. The plan meets National Register Criterion A for its relationship with the creation of the new United States of America and the creation of a capital city; it meets Criterion B because of its design by Pierre L'Enfant, and subsequent development and enhancement by numerous significant persons and groups responsible for the city's landscape architecture and regional planning; and it meets Criterion C as a well preserved, comprehensive, Baroque plan with Beaux Arts modifications.
Its origins are from the McMillan Commission plan, which directed urban improvements that resulted in the most elegant example of City Beautiful tenets in the nation. L'Enfant's plan was magnified and expanded during the early decades of the twentieth century with the reclamation of land for waterfront parks, parkways, an improved Mall, and new monuments and vistas.
Columbus Plaza was authorized by Congress in 1907 and built by the government for $110,000. Columbus Plaza is a semicircular space that serves as a forecourt for Union Station, from which radiate Louisiana, Delaware, and Massachusetts Avenues, and E and First Streets. The paved plaza is dominated by the elaborate Christopher Columbus Fountain (1912), incorporating benches and flanking fountains, in addition to the American Legion Freedom Bell (1981). A series of medians, double-standard Washington Globes, and a trio of eagle-topped flagpoles complete the park.
Lights were originally designed by Burnham & Millet in 1910 to illuminate residential & monumental areas within Washington as part of the City Beautiful transformation.
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Construction Period:
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Construction Period:
| Historic
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Chronology:
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Physical Event
| Begin Year
| Begin Year AD/BC
| End Year
| End Year AD/BC
| Designer
| Designer Occupation
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1.
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Built
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1923
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AD
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Bacon, Henry
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Other
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2.
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Altered
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1965
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AD
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1975
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AD
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Other
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Function and Use:
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Primary Historic Function:
| Utility Service Structure
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Primary Current Use:
| Utility Service Structure
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Structure Contains Museum Collections?:
| No
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Other Functions or Uses:
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Other Function(s) or Use(s)
| Historic or Current
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| No records. |
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Physical Description:
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Structure Type:
| Grounds/Landscape
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Volume:
| 1 - 2,000 cubic feet
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Material(s):
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Structural Component(s)
| Material(s)
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1.
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Superstructure
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Plastic
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2.
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Superstructure
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Iron
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3.
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Substructure
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Concrete
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Short Physical Description:
| 12 double standard Washington Globe Light Standards illuminate the center plaza. Between 1965-75 the standards were switched from mercury to sodium. They consist of double plastic Grecian urn-shaped globes supported on fluted cast-iron posts with molded bases and capitals.
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Long Physical Description:
| 12 double standard Washington Globe Light Standards illuminate the center plaza. Between 1965-75 the standards were switched from mercury to sodium. They consist of double plastic Grecian urn-shaped globes supported on fluted cast-iron posts with molded bases and capitals.
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