Downing's Plan for the Mall <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/84">Andrew J. Downing</a> presented this proposal for a <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/205">landscape design of the National Mall</a> to President Millard Fillmore in February 1851. He incorporated the Capitol's western front (left) and <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/20">White House grounds (right)</a>, fulfilling Pierre L'Enfant's desire for the two buildings to be connected by a park-like space. Downing divided the Mall into six spaces, connected by winding paths. As he wrote in a letter to the President a month after presenting his plan, he wanted the Mall to "form a public museum of living trees and shrubs." Downing's plan was never fully implemented, in part due to his <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/11">early death in 1852</a> at the age of 36. <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Andrew+Jackson+Downing">Andrew Jackson Downing</a> National Archives at College Park. <a href="http://research.archives.gov/description/6087997">View original</a>. 1851 <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1830-1859">1830-1859</a>