Frederick Owen's unrealized plan for a White House expansion would have transformed the mansion into a combination museum and botanical garden, with statuary halls leading to wings for art galleries and social and state functions.
"Capital Drawings: Architectural Designs for Washington, D.C., from the Library of Congress" has been published by the Johns Hopkins University Press in association with the Library of Congress.
Edited by C. Ford Peatross, the Library's curator of architecture, design and engineering collections in the Prints and Photographs Division, "Capital Drawings" features drawings for some of Washington's most important buildings, monuments and memorials — the U.S. Capitol, the White House and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial — as well as anonymous structures of everyday life and ambitious projects that were never built. These documents tell the story of the capital's planning and growth.
Architect Stephen Hallet submitted this scheme in 1793 in the competition to design the Capitol. It shows a conference room where members of House and Senate could gather to discuss their differences. Hallet lost the competition and the room was never built.
During the past 10 years, the Library of Congress has cataloged more than 40,000 drawings, prints and photographs that capture important developments in the growth of Washington and its metropolitan area. This volume is a guide to the Library's massive collection.
Left, "Capital Drawings"; right, architect Henry Latrobe's details of columns in the entrance gallery of the Senate chamber.
This publication and the conservation, housing and processing of the more than 40,000 documents are the result of the Washingtoniana II project (1986-present), funded entirely through a series of grants from the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation.
"Capital Drawings," a 264-page hardcover book with 55 color illustrations and 123 halftones, is available for $55 in bookstores nationwide and through the Library's Sales Shop, Washington, DC 20540-4985. Credit card orders are taken at (888) 682-3557. Online orders can be placed at www.loc.gov/shop/.
Architect Franklin Webster Smith's proposed National Galleries of Art and History, between 17th and 26th Streets and Constitution Ave. and F Street, N.W.
