Farragut Square

little ~ any change in the basic landscape plan for Farragut Square. Perhaps some o~ the stability tr~ditionallY associated with the nearby medical and legal professions is reflected in the type of office workers who lunch daily in the park. There is no marring o& 39;f. the lawn or landscape; "there are no public dem- onstrations; nor has any criticism of Service policy in having the small fence around the Farragut statue been found. Today, Farragut Square is a model of the First Lady& 39;s beautification program for the Nation& 39;s Capital. However, there is one aspect of the history of the square which deserves special attention, and "that is the controversy which arose over the question of constructing an underground public parking facility on the site. For this reason, I have devoted part ot Section Five of the report to an examination of some of the principal factors involved. From it the Service evolved one of its basic principles for the permanent adminis- tration of the 17 original park reservations: None of the park areas included in the original plan of the Nation& 39;s Capital is to be considered for underground parking facilities. The major portion of the narrative from 1867 to 1925 is based on the annual reports of the Chief of Engineers and doc- umentary material from Record Group 42 at the National Archives; from 1925 to 1933 on the annual reports of the Comaissioner of Public Buildings and Parks; and from 1933 to the present on aaterial .. t& 39;X& 39;r& 39; the correspondence files, Mail and Recorda Branch, 11 National Capital Region. Photographs and drawings are from the Information Branch, and the Land Rec~rds Division, National Capital Region. Joseph Sunde executed the original art work. Personal ground surveys and interviews provided coordinating material essential to the study. G. J. O. iii maus PullDaD Mansion on Sixteenth Street, later taken over by the Soviet Government when it was 0~ficial1y recognized by the Roose- velt adminiatration in 1933. Another memorable building is the Army and Navy Club at the southeast corner . 0& 39;£ the square where many brilliant gatherings oL military personages are still being held. The square was so serene that the headquarters of the Young Women& 39;s Christian Association for Washington was constructed on the north- east corner of 17th and K Streets. A later addition was the erec- tion ot the a~itecturally interesting Barr Building, the site 0& 39;£ many legal offices, which in the rush of& 39; modern office building con- struction escaped the demolition ball.. Nearby on I Street is Doctors Hospital, one of the first to be erected in the district. The square 1s now surrounded by many modern office buildings whose em- ployees enjoy the beauty and tranquility of ~arragut Square. Care- ful and intensive landscaping and maintenace by Central National Capital Parks offers a respite to the many office workers and pro- .fessional persons who enjoy their: IWlCh in the midday sun or else, because of the numerous legal and medical offices nearby, meet to discuss their unique problems. The one hectic phase in t~e history of Farragut Square was the proposal to construct an underground park- ing garage beneath it. This controversy lasted from 1958 to 1961 when it was resolved by Regional Director,T. Sutton Jett, with the backinQ ot the Director of the National Park Service, Conrad L. Wirth. and Secretary of the Interior, Stewart L. Udall. From it evolved 5 SIICTION tHRIll! LAllDSCAPING OF& 39; FARRAGUr S{lUARB, 1~7-1933 Introduction.--The first major l~caping o~ Farragut Square eaa.enced in 1867 under the direction ot the BDgineer O~ticer in Charge ot Public Buildings and Grounds. As local newspapers pro- poaed that tederal park reservations be named in honor of poets and orators ot the nation, the Bbgineer Ot~ic.r ielt that it would be aore appropriate to name thes. park-like areas atter the princi- pal specie. ot trees planted in them. He . also proposed in his