President's Park

President's Park, located in Washington, D.C., United States, includes the White House, a visitor center, Lafayette Park, and the Ellipse. President's Park was the original name of Lafayette Park and Square. The current President's Park is administered by the National Park Service.

White House

White House, north facade.
White House, south facade.

White House Visitor Center

The National Park Service operates the White House Visitor Center at 1450 Pennsylvania Avenue NW.

Lafayette Square (President's Park North)

Lafayette Square, or Lafayette Park, has been used as a race track, a graveyard, a zoo, a slave market, an encampment for soldiers during the War of 1812, and many political protests and celebrations. Andrew Jackson Downing landscaped Lafayette Park in 1851 in the picturesque style. Today's plan, with its five large statues, dates from the 1930s. In the center stands Clark Mills' equestrian statue of President Andrew Jackson, erected in 1853; in the four corners are statues of Revolutionary War heroes: France's General Marquis Gilbert de Lafayette and Major General Comte Jean de Rochambeau; Poland's General Thaddeus Kosciuszko; Prussia's Major General Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben.

Statue of Major General Comte Jean de Rochambeau Statue by Ferdinand Hamar, unveiled on May 24, 1902.
Brigadier General Thaddeus Kosciuszko Statue by Antoni Popiel, dedicated on May 11, 1910.
Major General Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben Statue by Albert Jaegers, dedicated December 7, 1910.
Andrew Jackson Statue by Clark Mills, ddedicated on January 8, 1853.

The Ellipse (President's Park South)

The Ellipse was created in 1791, and intended to be a public park. Its use has varied over the years, however, and it originally served as a landfill. During the American Civil War, it was used as a corral. In 1867, the United States Army Corps of Engineers began to landscape and grade it into a park-like field. Baseball fields and tennis courts occupied the site for several decades until 1990. As of 2012, it is occasionally used for some sporting events, demonstrations, and university graduation ceremonies. Since 1954, the National Christmas Tree and attendant holiday events have been located on The Ellipse.

Not depicted here are The Ellipse Visitor Pavilion, the Enid Haupt Fountains, and the Original Patentees Memorial.

The Ellipse and the White House as seen from the Washington Monument.
Boy Scout Memorial by Donald De Lue
One of two Bulfinch Gatehouses (this one located at 17th Street NW and Constitution Avenue NW) designed by Charles Bulfinch and constructed in 1825.
Butt-Millet Memorial Fountain designed by Thomas Hastings, with bas-relief sculpture by Daniel Chester French. Dedicated on on October 25, 1913.
First Division Monument designed by Daniel Chester French and Cass Gilbert, with sculpture by Daniel Chester French. Dedicated on October 4, 1924.
Second Division Memorial by James Earle Fraser, and dedicated on July 18, 1936.
National Christmas Tree in 2011.
Meridian Stone from the center of The Ellipse, placed along the north-south meridian formed by the right triangle having its 90° vertex at the equestrian statue of George Washington, its eastern vertex at the U.S. Capitol, and its northern vertex at the the White House. Emplaced in 1890.
Zero Milestone marker. Different from the Meridian Stone, this marks the point from which the United States Army first attempted to send a convoy of vehicles across the country from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco, California. Designed by Horace W. Peaslee, it was dedicated on June 4, 1923.