United States Park Police Stables and Education Center

Nestled between the Korean War Veterans Memorial and Ash Woods on the National Mall lies the United States Park Police Stables. Established in 1934 by one of the oldest police equestrian units in the U.S., the facility once homed a single horse rented from a local stable. Over the decades, the facility has expanded its presence on the Mall, being used for the nation’s bicentennial celebrations in 1976, and is now being reconstructed to provide adequate stables and an education center for visitors to learn about the history of the U.S. Park Police.

The new Horse Stables and Education Center replaces and improves the former facilities of the U.S. Park Police’s Horse Mounted Patrol station and public exhibit space, including a new accessible entrance, a new pedestrian path, which connects the National Mall to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial and the Tidal Basin, and two public viewing paddocks with secure fencing for visitors to observe the horses.

The rebuilt stables’ new facility will use the site’s history, intertwining 21st-century sustainability practices to install new drainage systems and efficient waste and water management systems with modernized solutions to combat the annual flooding that occurs in this area.

Location
Washington, DC

Owner
National Park Service

Status
Completed 2023

Key Team Members
Skip Graffam, Partner
Eve Kootchick, Associate

Photography Courtesy of the Trust for the National Mall and Jeff Song Photography for the Trust for the National Mall