Potomac Round Point, Washington D.C., Sketches 1909

This plan of the West End of The Mall at Washington D.C. by D.H. Burnham & Co. is a fascinating drawing which looks as if it came into being through layers of trial and error, intuition, and some struggle to find an ideal form for the space. I can imagine the architect's mind at work: what might they have been thinking when making this plan? What are the possibilities? It’s as if the sketch is a living thing, growing organically toward a structured aesthetic. See the way the pencil lines are sometimes tentative, sometimes bold, and consider the washes of light color that soften the edges of the proposed location of the U.S. Treasury Gardens. This combination of precision and looseness shapes our experience of the drawing, contributing to its intellectual depth. Architectural drawings like this one are part of a wider conversation, inspiring creativity across time, a reminder that all creative acts build on what came before.