The Architecture of Thomas Wisedell

When Frederick Law Olmsted created his initial plan for the East Plaza in 1874, he had intended for a seated, iron trellis to be placed along one of the principle walks on the north side of the grounds, near the Delaware Avenue entrance. Like the waiting stations, a second trellis was erected in the same but opposite location on the south side of the grounds near the New Jersey Avenue entrance (marked A on the map).

The seated trellises were probably designed in 1876 and have a slightly simpler use of the curly-cues with flatter, two-dimentional features giving a greater sense of geometric abstraction. Though the contractor was not specified in Olmsted’s reports, it was probably the Watson Manufacturing Company out of Patterson, New Jersey who supplied the cast and wrought iron parts as well as the rolled steel which was used for the actual trellis which supported a canopy of vines over the wooden seating.

The trellises are quite interesting as their design motifs were found on the wrought iron used for both the Eastern and Western grounds of the Capitol. According to the October 1, 1877 report, the north trellis had been completed while the south trellis was still under construction, though probably finished later that year at a cost of $1,258.44.

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Further Reading:

• https://crowd.loc.gov/campaigns/olmsted/subject-file/mss351210420/mss351210420-56/
• “Improvements at the Capitol Grounds,” The Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), Nov. 15, 1875, p. 1.
• The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted. Volume VII: Parks, Politics and Patronage 1874-1882 (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007).
• Brown, Glenn, History of the United States Capitol vols. I and II (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1900, 1903).
• Dresser, Christopher, The Art of Decorative Design (London: Day & Son, 1862).
• Keim, DeBenneville Randolph, Keim’s Illustrated Handbook.  Washington and Its Environs: A Descriptive and Historical Hand-Book to the Capitol of the United States of America. 6th ed. (Washington, D.C.: DeB. Randolph Keim, Publisher, 1875).
• “Report of the Architect of the United States Capitol,” (October 1, 1877).
• Weeks, Christopher, AIA Guide to the Architecture of Washington, D.C., 3rd ed. (Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994).