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MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Washington: Symbol and City The name almost succeeds: District of institutions and places of interest that make Columbia. The last word soars. Hail this a world-class city. This exhibition traces Columbia, happy land, the gem of the a range of stories that are fascinating for ocean discovered by the admiral from both the local and the visitor, illuminating Genoa, Cristoforo Colombo, the Admiral the sometimes forgotten connections of the Ocean Seas. But the word district between the heroic and the mundane aspects has all the wrong connotations, as in of the city. water and sewer district or garment dis- The show takes a particular trict or district jail; the term is inherently look at the occasional conflicts that under- local and provincial, devoid of the dignity standably arise from this curious circum- accorded to a state. — from Washington stance. Administered directly by the feder- Itself, by E.J. Applewhite al government for much of its history, the Chase W. Rynd In the first lines of his estimable District of Columbia has at times been a book on Washington, Mr. Applewhite got political pawn. Even today, with a locally right to the heart of the paradox that is the elected mayor and city council, the District nation’s capital. Born of geographical and must constantly negotiate a careful path political compromise, Washington has with Congress and numerous federal agen- always had a split personality. It is a place cies that retain substantial power over the of grand public buildings and elegant neigh- city’s destiny. borhoods, but also a city facing tough social Inspired by Washington: Symbol problems and, some would argue, lacking and City, this issue of Blueprints features a unique local culture and civic identity. several articles that address aspects of Still, unlike most cities created by similarly Washington’s changing identity, as well as artificial means, Washington has largely the relationship between federal and local succeeded in becoming a credible metropo- interests. They reveal some of the hidden lis, and one that increasingly attracts new stories—and largely forgotten histories— residents thanks to good old-fashioned civic that have influenced the character of amenities and quality of life. the city. They also remind us that in The National Building Museum Washington, as in politics, things are recently opened Washington: Symbol and not always what they seem. City, a long-term exhibition that explores the dual nature of the capital city — a global icon of democracy and political power, but also a place where people go about all kinds of business, sit in cafés, meander through parks, attend school, and engage in routine activities. It is sometimes easy for the Executive Director tourist, weary from visiting the city’s count- National Building Museum less memorials, museums, and other historic sites, to overlook the “real” Washington. And it is just as easy for the busy Washingtonian to take for granted the many remarkable blueprints 1 FEATURE SOCIAL CAPITAL: WASHINGTON IN THE GILDED AGE Social Capital by Martin Moeller Washington in the Gilded Age of American high society. For a period of several decades, the nation’s capital was a popular place for wealthy families to nized. The novel was largely set in a separate city, with its own mayor and a “winter,” since that was the season during Washington, which the authors considered number of prominent merchants who were which Congress was in session, and politi- to be the epicenter of the wretched excess highly skeptical of the dubious enterprises cal leaders provided the core for a vibrant that was the subject of their scorn. undertaken in the upstart town immediate- social scene. To make matters more inter- ly to the east. esting, a huge percentage of the wealthy But all of that began to change above left / Exterior view of A Capital Transformed Walsh-McLean House, now the people who came to Washington during in 1871, when Georgetown was annexed Indonesian Embassy, ca. 1905 Courtesy Historical Society of Washington, this period were of the self-made variety— In many ways, it was remarkable that the by Washington, and, most importantly, D.C. City Museum robber barons, tinkering inventors, and nation’s capital in the 1870s could have Congress established a new territorial gov- above / Portrait of Evalyn others who had been born to families of been taken seriously as a social mecca. Just ernment for the District of Columbia run Walsh-McLean, ca. 1905 Courtesy Historical Society of Washington, very modest means and made their own a few years before The Gilded Age was pub- by commissioners appointed directly by D.C. City Museum fortunes through a combination of luck, lished, Washington was for the most part a President Ulysses S. Grant. The new gov- pluck, and sometimes gritty work. Such rough and sporadically developed town. ernment’s most prominent agency was the above / Connecticut Avenue, looking ASHINGTON HAS A LONGSTANDING REP- scrappy new millionaires were not eagerly Some decades earlier, Congress had passed Board of Public Works, which was domi- toward Dupont Circle and Stewart’s Castle, ca. 1890 UTATION as a quiet, culturally con- welcomed into the more established a law called “An Act to Prevent Swine from nated by Alexander Shepherd, known uni- Courtesy Washingtoniana Division, D.C. servative city—a bland stew of social circles of New York, Boston, and Going at Large.” This was not a snide refer- versally as “Boss.” Washington’s version Public Library W bureaucrats with a few charismatic politi- Philadelphia, but the equally scrappy ence to politicians or lobbyists but to actu- of Paris’s Baron Haussmann, Boss cians adding hints of flavor. This stereo- politicos that were at the heart of the al pigs, designating Massachusetts Avenue Shepherd promptly began a comprehen- type is greatly overblown, and becomes Washington social circuit were more than as the line below which such animals were sive, obsessive, and often ruthless cam- less valid with each passing day, as the happy to overlook a few grains of dirt not allowed to roam. Nonetheless, there paign to modernize the city’s infrastruc- region’s economy becomes more diverse under the fingernails of the nouveaux are famous photographs dating to the late ture. Roads were paved, 60,000 trees were and the percentage of local workers hold- riches, and eagerly invited them into the 19th century that show livestock content- planted, and a fetid canal was filled in to ing non-government-related jobs grows smoke-filled dens of power. edly munching on the White House lawn. form Constitution Avenue. The entire face rapidly. Nonetheless, Washington clearly Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Mid-19th-century Washington was of the city was changed, making it, in has more than its share of hyper-achiev- Warner ridiculed the vulgarity of the also replete with shanty towns, including Shepherd’s words, “worthy of the nation.” ing former class presidents and valedicto- newly minted socialites and the often cor- an area known as Murder Bay—just blocks Unfortunately, this frantic renewal came rians who make the city an intellectual rupt politicians of the day in their novel from the White House—whose claim to at a high price. Shepherd was deposed powerhouse, but contribute relatively lit- The Gilded Age, published in 1873. Twain fame is self-evident. Meanwhile, the rest of when Congress learned how much debt he tle in the way of the glamour and social and Warner’s title became synonymous the city, including most middle- and upper- had incurred, and in 1874, the territorial intrigue that enliven most of the world’s with the era that followed, lasting perhaps class precincts, was a scene of dirt roads, government was abolished, and any sem- great urban centers. 30 years, in which spectacular fortunes scruffy landscaping, and wildly inconsistent blance of even limited “home rule” lost for This was not always the case. were made or won, graft was an essential public services. And Georgetown, which had a full century. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, component of the political process, and been founded 40 years before the District of In just three years, though, Washington was one of the primary seats social credentials were rigorously scruti- Columbia was established, was still legally Shepherd had paved the way, literally and 2 blueprints blueprints 3 SOCIAL CAPITAL: WASHINGTON IN THE GILDED AGE SOCIAL CAPITAL: WASHINGTON IN THE GILDED AGE in 1902 for the almost inconceivable sum of $43 million plus a percentage of future profits. Now among the country’s richest men, he brought his family to Washington for the sole purpose of entering society. Quickly realizing that a grand house was one of the most useful instruments for social climbing, he commissioned a neo- Baroque mansion and shamelessly declared the source of his wealth by embedding a chunk of gold right in the porch. The house quickly became associated with a rampant social scene—the New York Times reported that just 325 guests at one of Walsh’s New Year’s parties consumed “288 fifths of scotch, 480 quarts of cham- pagne, 40 gallons of beer, 35 bottles of mis- cellaneous liqueurs, and 48 ‘quarts of cock- tails.’” Walsh bequeathed the house to his die “under a new roof,” insisted that the daughter, Evalyn, who married Edward new house be built around an existing one. McLean, of the family that owned the The Townsend Mansion went on to become above / Townsend Mansion, now the figuratively, for Washington to become what Washington Post. According to James the Cosmos Club. Cosmos Club Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs one might call a national-class city, if not a Goode’s book, Capital Losses, Evalyn and Another center of the social Division, Historic American Buildings Survey world-class one.

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