OvS by Bike: A Tour of Sites in the Nation’s Capital

Principals Eric Groft and Sheila Brady led landscape professionals, garden aficionados, colleagues and friends on a bike tour of OvS designs in the federal district of Washington, DC on Saturday, April 30.

The tour, organized by the National Building Museum and tied to the closing of the New American Garden exhibit, traveled to five OvS landscapes on and adjacent to the National Mall, including the Federal Reserve Campus, the WWII Memorial, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, and the German-American Friendship Garden. The final stop was Pershing Park where Eric spoke about efforts by The Cultural Landscape Foundation to have it named to the National Register of Historic Places.

Eric rode down Pennsylvania Avenue with Jim van Sweden’s nephew Gordon Kauffman Jr., and Gordon’s wife Lara and discussed OvS’s background as the landscape architect of record for the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation (PADC) in the 1980s and early 1990s. PADC championed efforts to bring America’s native plants to American’s main street.

The National Gallery of Art’s Sculpture Garden is also located along the National Mall. Curators recently installed Marc Chagall’s mosaic Orphée. The piece, formerly placed in Evelyn Nef’s Georgetown home, was included in the New American Garden exhibit.

The grounds of the Martin Building at the Federal Reserve © OvS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eric Groft with National Building Museum tour guide Patrick Kraich, © OvS

 

Eric Groft and Sheila Brady, © OvS

 

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, © OvS

 

Pershing Park

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OvS plantings surround Federal office buildings © OvS