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House & Garden 
From a drawing rendered by Charles Graham 
GENERAL VIEW OF THE MONUMENT GARDEN LOOKING TOWARD THE CAPITOL 
From Union Square 
to the Monument—a 
distance of a mile and a 
h a 1 f—extends a broad 
majestic avenue of green 
sward, flanked on each 
side by four rows of 
American elms. T h e 
formally planted trees 
broaden into a great 
square at the Monument, 
and give to it a setting and 
a scale which it appears to 
me could not be attained 
in any other way. At 
the end of this tapis vert 
the white shaft rises about 
five hundred and sixty 
feet from a plaza but 
slightly raised above the 
turf. The shaft,at pres¬ 
ent standing on a small 
hillock, seems to sprout 
from the ground, and a need is felt of a 
horizontal plane on which it should rest. 
This base is given in the new design by the 
esplanade which, beyond on the west, is 
treated as a broad marble terrace. A flight 
of steps descends forty feet to a formal gar¬ 
den below. In the form of a Greek cross 
dense planting of elms 
surrounds it and its center 
is enriched by parterres 
and minor walks. The 
model which has been 
prepared of this section 
gives a clear idea of shaded 
groves in the midst of 
which, with charming 
effect, are placed resting 
pavilions, fountains in 
large basins of water and 
still pools surrounded by 
quiet borders of grass. 
From this garden an 
opening continues of the 
same widtdi as the tapis 
vert between the Capitol 
and the Monument. 
Instead of lawn, however, 
the principal surface here 
is of water within a canal 
about two hundred feet 
wide and three thousand six hundred feet 
long. Crossing it is another canal more than 
a thousand feet long. The vista from the 
Monument westward is ended by the Memo¬ 
rial to Abraham Lincoln, which is placed on 
the river bank. Here the Memorial Bridge 
across the Potomac begins. Standing within 
PAVILION IN THE MONUMENT GARDEN 
49 
