The most prominent of all physical symbols in the core of the National Capital, the Washington Monument was designed in the 1830s by architect Robert Mills and eventually completed under Army engineer Thomas Lincoln Casey in 1884. This aerial view of the Washington Monument Grounds shows the perimeter security elements built in 2005. The 2001 competition-winning scheme for perimeter security at the monument by landscape architect Laurie Olin used two intersecting oval paths to integrate barriers within the landscape and to resolve the site’s geometric irregularities. The CFA most recently reviewed a visitor screening facility in January 2017.
(Image credit: Carol M. Highsmith / Library of Congress)Map