South Lawn (White House)

The South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C. located south of the building. It is bordered by West Executive Drive and the Old Executive Office Building to the east by the East Executive Drive and the Treasury of the United States and the West. Along its southern edge runs the South Executive Drive, and behind it is a large round public park, the ellipse.

Description and Use

The South Lawn offers a beautiful view from the White House on the Ellipse, the National Mall, the Tidal Basin to the Jefferson Memorial. The south lawn belongs to the restricted area of the site of the White House after he was publicly available until the Second World War. It provides the venue for formal occasions such as the welcoming ceremony for foreign heads of state or government. Also here informal events such as the annual egg rolling the White House or the staff barbecue will take place. The helicopter of the President, Marine One, takes off and lands on the South Lawn.

Design and horticulture

When the White House in 1800, based for the first time, the area of ​​Südrasens was an open meadow, which to a large marsh, the Tiber Creek, fell off. Behind the Moor was the Potomac River. Thomas Jefferson completed the graduation of Südrasens, he had heaped up on both sides of the grass hill. Jefferson built in collaboration with the architect Benjamin Latrobe in the southeast of the building a triumphal arch as the main entrance to the grounds. The plan for the city of Washington by Pierre -Charles L'Enfant's from 1793 showed a terraced to the Tiber Creek sloping garden. 1850 tried a landscape designer Andrew Jackson Davis round out the geometry of the L' Enfant Plan by creating the semicircular southern border and winding paths. Andrew Jackson Davis changes included the expansion of the Südrasens, creating a large circular lawn, which he described as " Parade or President Park" and excluded him from through densely planted shrubs and trees. During the administration of Ulysses S. Grant the marsh was drained in the south and the south lawn received further gradations as well as a population from 2.5 to 3 meters, so that he fell to the gentle Potomac.

During the first term of Rutherford B. Hayes and Grover Cleveland, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was used for reconstruction of the Südrasens. The size of Downings circular parade ground was reduced and the limits have been established on the present state. Theodore Roosevelt, who had hired the architectural firm McKim, Mead, and White for the conversion and extension of parts of the White House, let himself be persuaded to demolish the Victorian-style greenhouses. These were located in the area of ​​the western walkway and on the site of today's west wing. In 1934, dedicated by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. to assess the grounds and propose changes. Olmsted saw the need to offer as much privacy the President and his family, without a clear view of the White House to restrict unnecessary. The Olmsted plan shows the landscape mainly in its present state: it was obtained or neugepflanzt to the views of the private sector to limit large pattern trees and bushes, but a more generous view of the building from the north and the south was created. As Tall fescue lawn locations will be used.

Pattern trees

The trees on the South Lawn, the oldest surviving trees were planted by American presidents:

• President Jackson's Sweet Magnolia on both sides of the south portal
• Subjects maples
• American elms
• American White Oak
• Tulip magnolia
• Lebanon cedars
• Sugar maples
• Red oaks

Seasonal plantings

The basin of the fountain is surrounded by seasonally changing plant:

• Lined in the spring tulips of Armenian grape hyacinth
• In the summer of red geraniums
• In autumn chrysanthemums

Other areas

The two Zeromoniengärten of the White House, the White House Rose Garden and the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden adjacent to the South Lawn. The grounds also include a swimming pool, a putting green, a tennis court and a garden for the children. In earlier times there were horseshoe pits, a basketball court and a pit. Also located on the south lawn, in the immediate vicinity of the Executive building and the Oval Office, the landing site of Marine One. For aesthetic reasons, there is no full-fledged helicopter landing pad, but only three small squares for the wheels of the helicopter.

Safety Precautions

The White House and the surrounding grounds is a high-security zone, which is equipped with the most advanced security systems. The area is one of the best most defended the world. The following measures or devices protect the site:

• Overflight ban: No aircraft is allowed to penetrate the airspace over the White House without permission. This zone covers the Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial. Each aircraft that is approaching the exclusion zone is recognized and observed by the radar of the National Airport. In an emergency interception jets are launched to intercept the aircraft. The National Guard also holds locally prepared anti-aircraft missiles.
• Sniper: On the roof of the White House watching the agent environment with binoculars.
• Cameras and sensors: In the whole area there are surveillance cameras and sensors.
• Security Forces: The Secret Service and the Park Police guard the area.