National Park Service - Capital Region
Meridian Hill Park
Project Overview
- Extensive mock-up process to ensure replication of original exposed aggregate concrete mixed by John J. Earley
- Rehabilitation of a George Burnap and Horace Peaslee designed landscape built in the early 1900’s
- Improved drainage and water management to better preserve the site
The site of John Quincy Adams’ post-Presidential home and campground for Union troops during the Civil War, Meridian Hill Park is a 12-acre formal Italian-styled landscape that now serves as a public park. Designed and built between 1912 and 1936, the park features unique exposed aggregate concrete architectural elements by craftsman John J. Earley and was originally developed by renowned landscape architects George Burnap and Horace Peaslee. The phased rehabilitation of the park’s weather-worn features will restore the architectural integrity to its original beauty.
Phases 5 and 6 include Lower Plaza drainage and water management, ADA upgrades and exposed aggregate work, as well as exposed aggregate at The Great Stairs. The Linden Allee scope also in these phases involves exposed aggregate and the installation of pleaching frames to train trees into a pleached allee. Mock-ups of mixed concrete materials were performed to ensure the newly installed concrete is seamlessly integrated into the original materials.
