As prime contractor for the Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson Memorials, McKissack & McKissack provided design-build and program management services for the structures’ historic renovation and preservation on the National Mall.
The Lincoln Memorial, which stands at the west end of the National Mall as a neoclassical monument to the 16th president, has side chambers that contain carved inscriptions of Lincoln's Second Inaugural and Gettysburg Addresses. The Thomas Jefferson Memorial, located on the south shore of the Tidal Basin to commemorate our third president, boasts a Classical circular colonnade incorporated by architect John Russell Pope to mark the fact that Jefferson introduced the design element to North America. McKissack’s historic preservation work on the Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson Memorials included restoring the structures’ architectural elements, including the colonnade floor, soffits, volutes, parapets and entablatures, colonnade ceilings and dome in the case of the Jefferson Memorial. McKissack provided architectural design services to improve security and rehabilitate the street surfaces for drivers and pedestrian walkways, which required approval from the National Park Service and the Commission of Fine Arts. McKissack also served as the construction-manager-at-risk for both projects. New landscaping and the roadway relocation minimized the visual impact of the security improvements in both memorials’ viewsheds.
