McMILLAN PARK COMMISSION
The members of the McMillan Park Commission were:
Daniel H. Burnham, architect, of Chicago. He became head of the firm of Burnham & Root, one of the first great architectural firms of the country, and later of D. H. Burnham & Co. Designer of many buildings, among them the Railway Exchange and Marshall Field’s retail store in Chicago, and the Wanamaker stores in New York and Philadelphia; in 1893 he became chief architect and director of works of the World’s Columbian Exposition. Mr. Burnham was instrumental in securing the adoption of a scheme of construction which placed that exhibition in the very front rank of international exhibitions, and by the display of rare executive ability he brought about and maintained the effective cooperation of the architects and artists, who then and there gave to American art both a new direction and a tremendous impetus. In 1901 he became chairman of the McMillan Park Commission for beautifying the National Capital; in 1908 he built the Union Station at Washington; in 1910 he became a member of the National Commission of Fine Arts and its first chairman. He also laid out plans for Chicago, Cleveland, and Manila. He died in 1912 while on a trip abroad.
Charles F. McKim, architect, of New York City, studied architecture at Harvard University and at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris. He organized the firm of McKim, Mead & White, architects, of New York City, who for half a century have led the architectural profession in the design of classical buildings, such as the Boston Public Library, Harvard University buildings, the Columbia University Library, the Morgan Library, the Rhode Island Capitol, the Pennsylvania Railroad Station in New York City, the restoration of the White House, and are the architects of the Arlington Memorial Bridge. Mr. McKim, as a member of the McMillan Park Commission, designed the Mall plan, and also made a sketch for the Lincoln Memorial. Mr. McKim was president of the American Institute of Architects in 1902 and 1903, and was instrumental in the purchase of the Octagon House as the headquarters of the American Institute of Architects. In 1903 he was awarded the royal gold medal given by King Edward VII for the promotion of architecture. Mr. McKim was a champion of good architecture and keenly interested in the development of the National Capital. He deplored the appearance of the State, War, and Navy Building, and said he would find pleasure during leisure hours in raking off the columns—a work that is contemplated in the remodeling of the building as the State Department Building. He died in 1909.
Augustus Saint-Gaudens, sculptor, born in Dublin, Ireland, on March 1, 1848, came to the United States in infancy and learned the trade of a cameo cutter. He studied drawing at the Cooper Institute in 1861, and in 1865 and 1866 was a student of the National Academy of Design. From 1867 to 1870 he studied at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris. Mr. Saint-Gaudens was the greatest American sculptor, and, indeed, one of the greatest of all time. His great works of art are numerous and inspiring. Among them are The Puritan; the statue of Abraham Lincoln, Chicago; the Farragut, the Peter Cooper, and the Sherman Victory monuments in New York; the Shaw Memorial in Boston; the Amor Caritas at the Luxembourg Gallery in Paris; and the celebrated Adams Memorial in Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington. He also designed a $20 gold piece. As a member of the McMillan Park Commission he wrote that part of the report pertaining to Arlington National Cemetery and advised in the matter of location of the Grant Memorial at the head of the Mall. He died in 1907.
Frederick Law Olmsted, landscape architect, from the time that he became a member of the McMillan Park Commission of 1901 has given uninterrupted service in the development of the National Capital. He was one of the original members of the National Commission of Fine Arts, appointed in 1910, and served as landscape architect member until 1918. From 1924 he served as landscape architect member of the National Capital Park and Planning Commission. Mr. Olmsted was president of the American Society of Landscape Architects and from its organization in 1907 a member of the National Conference on City Planning.
His father laid out Central Park, New York City, about 1858 (2,300 men were employed on it in September of that year), and in 1872 he prepared the landscape plan for the United States Capitol Grounds as they have existed since then. Mr. Olmsted and his firm have in more recent years laid out the Metropolitan Park System of Boston, the Vanderbilt Estate in North Carolina, the Baltimore Park System, and Redondo Beach, Los Angeles County, Calif. The smaller park areas which Mr. Olmsted has designed are too numerous to mention.
Charles Moore has devoted fully 50 years to the development of the National Capital, and is a former chairman of the National Commission of Fine Arts. Mr. Moore was for many years clerk to the Senate Committee on the District of Columbia, rendering most valuable service to the committee, of which Senator McMillan was chairman, as well as to the National Capital. The reports on the elimination of grade crossings in the District of Columbia and on the charitable institutions of the District of Columbia, as well as the Park Commission Report of 1901, are memorable documents of that period which were largely prepared by him. His influence has always been strong with Members of Congress in favor of the development of the District of Columbia upon a noble scale. His appointment as one of the original members of the National Commission of Fine Arts was a fitting recognition not only of past services but of his preeminent qualifications to pass upon subjects relating to the beautification of the National Capital. He was chairman from 1915 to 1937. Mr. Moore also helped prepare the plan of Chicago. He is the author of a number of books, among them being Under Three Flags, the Life of Daniel H. Burnham, the Life of Charles F. McKim, the Family Life of George Washington, Washington Past and Present; and has contributed also innumerable articles to magazines in the course of the years.