The National Mall is the heart of the nation’s capital. It serves several roles: a home to many of our most important memorials and museums; a park where people walk, run, and play; a place to learn about, commemorate, and celebrate the nation’s cultural heritage; and a location to exercise first amendment rights and gather for presidential inaugurations.
While this iconic space continues to evolve, NCPC seeks to preserve the National Mall to ensure that it remains a beautiful place that everyone can enjoy.
Highlight: U.S. Park Police Stables
NCPC Key Guidance
Comprehensive Plan
The blueprint for the long-term development of the national capital and the decision-making framework for Commission actions on plans, proposals, and policies submitted for its review. The Comp Plan's elements provide important guidance for the National Mall.
Commemorative Works Act
This federal law directs NCPC to review and approve the site and design for commemorative works located on federal lands in Washington, DC or its environs. Originally passed in 1986, the law has been amended several times including in 2003 when Congress established the “Reserve,” an area on the National Mall where no new memorials are permitted.
The Reserve
NCPC's 2001 Memorials and Museums Master Plan (2M) called for the creation of a Reserve, or “No-Build Zone,” on the Mall. Congress amended the Commemorative Works Act in 2003 to establish an expanded Reserve. Projects already underway when the legislation was enacted included the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial and the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The 2M and other NCPC plans identify potential locations suitable for activities and development previously proposed for the Mall to protect it from overuse.
Related Plans and Documents
-
National Mall Historic Designation Update
The National Mall was originally listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966 as a historic site. In 2016, the National Park Service submitted an amendment that "redefines the National Mall as a historic district with extended boundaries, reevaluates the historic context of the National Mall, and reassesses the significance of its resources."
-
SW Ecodistrict Plan
The SW Ecodistrict Plan: A Vision for a More Sustainable Future is a long-range and innovative approach to transform an isolated office precinct into a vibrant mixed-use destination and cultural corridor that links the National Mall with the Southwest Waterfront.
-
National Mall Plan
Created by the National Park Service, this plan “sets a practical, ambitious but achievable vision for a sustainable National Mall.” Implementation efforts began with the Park Service’s three-phase process to replace the lawn, improve soil and drainage, construct new curbs and gutters, and build below-grade irrigation and water storage system on the Mall’s turf panels between 3rd and 14th Streets, NW. The effort also increased the size of the non-turf areas to provide more room for public events. NCPC reviewed, commented on, and approved these plans.
-
Monumental Core Framework Plan
The Framework Plan, building on the foundation of the Legacy Plan’s vision, seeks to protect the National Mall from overuse; create distinctive settings for new memorials, museums, and events; provide more vibrant and sustainable places to visit, work, and live in; and improve connections between the National Mall, downtown, and the waterfront.
-
Memorials and Museums Master Plan
A follow-up to the Legacy Plan, this plan provided further details by identifying and promoting 100 sites for new memorials located in all quadrants of Washington, DC. This was intended to protect the monumental core from overbuilding, and also provide new opportunities for commemoration that would benefit neighborhoods throughout the city.
-
Extending the Legacy: Planning America’s Capital for the 21st Century
Recognizing the increasing pressure to find homes for new memorials and museums in the nation’s capital, one of the guiding themes in NCPC’s visionary plan was to encourage federal development and new memorials and museums beyond the axis of the National Mall, and into the city’s four quadrants, helping to stimulate economic development. This would both address future commemoration needs as well as protect the Mall from over-building.
-
McMillan Plan
Senator James McMillan established the Senate Park Commission to bring order to Washington’s parks and open spaces, including the National Mall. Developed by leading artists, landscape architects, and architects, the plan restored L’Enfant’s vision for the Mall that included straight lines, sweeping vistas, and a border of classical architecture. The plan called for the removal of unsightly trees and an existing train station, the dredging of the Tidal Basin, and created the National Mall as we know it today.
-
Downing Plan
Landscape Architect Andrew Jackson Downing proposed a comprehensive plan for the Mall’s future development that aimed to create a romantic setting. His plan included a series of curvilinear walks and drives, along with new trees and shrubs, that sought to create a national park with a "natural style of landscape gardening."
-
L’Enfant Plan
Pierre L’Enfant’s plan established Washington, DC’s physical framework and created the National Mall as a "vast esplanade" that would be used for ceremonial purposes. He called for a "grand Avenue 400 feet in breath, and about mile in length, bordered with gardens ending in a slope from the houses on each side." These houses he envisioned as ambassadorial residences.
Resources
The National Capital Planning Commission is the federal government's planning agency for the National Capital Region.
The 12-member Commission meets monthly to adopt, approve, or provide advice on plans and projects that impact the nation's capital and surrounding areas.
Suite 500N
Washington DC 20004
Phone: (202) 482-7200
Fax: (202) 482-7272
Email: info@ncpc.gov