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Architect and urban planner Daniel Burnham was instrumental in the design of the National Mall as we know it today. It’s fitting, then, that the Mall is the site of the D.C. premiere of the Burnham documentary Make No Little Plans: Daniel Burnham and the American City.
The Archimedia Workshop film originally debuted last fall with an outdoor screening at Millennium Park in Chicago as part of the centennial anniversary of Burnham’s 1909 Chicago Plan, which reshaped much of that city and influenced urban planners throughout the world.
In Washington, Burnham was a key player in the reworking of L’Enfant’s city plan, known as the McMillan Plan of 1901-02 and named for Senator James McMillan. Burnham’s contributions to Washington include Union Station and Columbus Plaza, as well as changing the Mall’s landscape. The Pennsylvania Railroad had tracks running across the Mall until Burnham persuaded railroad president Alexander Cassatt (brother of impressionist artist Mary) to move his station in the name of national interest.
The event will take place at the Mall’s Screen on the Green location near 4th St. NW. The screening opens at 8:30 p.m. Free.