As a repository of the nation’s history, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC is full of surprises, especially when it comes to construction.
While performing utility work in August as part of a multi-year revitalization of the historic castle building, Biscayne Contractors workers discovered a “lost” 19th-century drainage cistern under Jefferson Drive in next to the National Mall. Covered and sealed for more than 120 years, the 9-foot-diameter, 30-foot-deep brick chamber was part of a self-sufficient water and sewage system of cisterns, wells and ponds built alongside the original building in 1847.
“This was a case of institutional knowledge loss,” explains Carly Bond, head of the Smithsonian. associate director of architectural history and historic preservation, adding that the discovery of the cistern spurred some archival research into the history of the Smithsonian’s infrastructure.
The National Mall of the 1840s was very different from today’s museum-filled tourist sprawl. In those days, Bond says, the undeveloped, rolling land was used for grazing, dumping and various agricultural purposes.
“There were no other buildings on the mall at this time except for greenhouses on the east end and plans for the Washington Monument on the west end,” he adds.
Workers from Biscayne Contractors discovered the drainage cistern under Jefferson Drive. Photo courtesy of the Smithsonian. Bond says the water for the three cisterns likely came from the building’s gutters and roof cistern overflow. In 1857, the two northern cisterns were uncovered and fitted with a brick dome vault because of their location on the historic carriage road, now Jefferson Drive. Reburied, the cisterns continued to provide water to the castle until at least 1865, when the building was connected to the Washington, DC municipal water system.
The buried cisterns were forgotten for nearly a century until 1974, when the southern chamber was discovered during a different project and left in place. It wasn’t until Based in Alexandria, Virginia Biscayne Contractors began excavating on Jefferson Drive to move the telecommunications and steam systems to the basement level before the revitalization project that rediscovered one of the north cisterns. The chamber was dry and contained no artifacts, Bond says.
Perhaps fitting for the fleeting fame of contemporary culture, the cistern’s literal and figurative time in the sun will be brief. Echoing the concerns of his ancestors in the 1850s, Bond says, “our structural engineers have advised that it is not safe for such a large void to remain under the Jefferson Drive road bed, because of the collapse concern.”
Although the cistern will be filled, this time will not be forgotten. Along with conducting Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) documentation in the chamber, the Smithsonian will use ground-penetrating radar scanning to locate the third cistern. The Smithsonian is also planning a public exhibit at the South Cistern, which is located in a public garden space.
Meanwhile, full construction on the five-year revitalization program for the castle and the adjacent 1881 Arts and Industries building will begin this fall. The project will allow the review of the mechanical, electrical, plumbing, telecommunications, safety and security systems of the two buildings; add a new central utility plant; replace windows; and improve the appearance and efficiency of both public and personal spaces. A new consolidated loading facility will improve the efficiency and safety of materials handling on the Smithsonian’s South Mall campus.
