WASHINGTON — After two years of work, the lower level of Meridian Hill Park, also known as Malcolm X Park in Northwest D.C. is back open, according to the National Park Service. The park's lower plaza had been closed off to visitors since December of 2020.
The closure allowed the National Park Service to improve accessibility to the park, installing a universally accessible route from 16th Street NW to the lower plaza level of the park.
Additionally, the NPS replaced or repaired damage to historic walls, walkways and stairs to improve safety and preserve historic architectural elements of the park.
Landscape work has also been completed. The park installed a frame that allows trees to be trained and trimmed to form an archway, known as a pleached allée. This archway, which was part of the original landscape design, frames the distant view of the Washington Monument. The NPS also updated storm drains and inlets.
“Meridian Hill is a unique example of neoclassical park design in the United States and is an important space for community gathering, recreation and relaxation in our city,” Superintendent Julia Washburn said when the project was first announced.
The renovation project did not include repairs to the cascading fountain. Fountain repairs will be part of a future project and the Park Service is working to find funding for it.
Right now, the fountain is not flowing, but it usually isn't in February, according to Bryan Joyner, who oversees the park for the Park Service.
"The cascade and the fountain are currently off, as they would be for this time of year. During the construction work in the lower plaza of park, we discovered problems that we are currently trying to troubleshoot and are hoping for an easy resolution," Joyner said in an email. He said he does not have a firm date for when the fountain will be back on, but it's normally mid-to-late spring.
Meridian Hill Park was once home to a mansion, served as a Civil War encampment and was later developed in a French neoclassical (upper level) and Italian Renaissance villa landscape (lower level) design. The park served as a laboratory to experiment with concrete aggregate, a revolutionary medium of construction in the early 1900s. Construction of the park began in 1914. In 1994, Meridian Hill Park was designated a National Historic Landmark, according to the National Park Service.