President's Park

From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository
Jump to navigation Jump to search

President's Park, located in Washington, D.C., United States, includes the White House, a visitor center, Lafayette Park, and the Ellipse. President's Park was the original name of Lafayette Park and Square. The current President's Park is administered by the National Park Service.

White House

[edit]
Main gallery: White House.

White House Visitor Center

[edit]

The National Park Service operates the White House Visitor Center at 1450 Pennsylvania Avenue NW.

Lafayette Square (President's Park North)

[edit]

Lafayette Square, or Lafayette Park, has been used as a race track, a graveyard, a zoo, a slave market, an encampment for soldiers during the War of 1812, and many political protests and celebrations. Andrew Jackson Downing landscaped Lafayette Park in 1851 in the picturesque style. Today's plan, with its five large statues, dates from the 1930s. In the center stands Clark Mills' equestrian statue of President Andrew Jackson, erected in 1853; in the four corners are statues of Revolutionary War heroes: France's General Marquis Gilbert de Lafayette and Major General Comte Jean de Rochambeau; Poland's General Thaddeus Kosciuszko; Prussia's Major General Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben.

The Ellipse (President's Park South)

[edit]

The Ellipse was created in 1791, and intended to be a public park. Its use has varied over the years, however, and it originally served as a landfill. During the American Civil War, it was used as a corral. In 1867, the United States Army Corps of Engineers began to landscape and grade it into a park-like field. Baseball fields and tennis courts occupied the site for several decades until 1990. As of 2012, it is occasionally used for some sporting events, demonstrations, and university graduation ceremonies. Since 1954, the National Christmas Tree and attendant holiday events have been located on The Ellipse.

Not depicted here are The Ellipse Visitor Pavilion, the Enid Haupt Fountains, and the Original Patentees Memorial.