<p dir="ltr">America celebrated its birthday with fireworks and barbeques, but nowhere are the nation's symbols more grand and evident than in the <a href="http://www.nps.gov/nacc/index.htm">monuments of Washington, D.C</a>. &nbsp;We hold these architectural gems to be timeless and obvious, but as this collection of historic sketches and proposals show, the capital could have looked very, very different.</p> <p dir="ltr">Proposals for the <a href="http://www.nps.gov/wamo/index.htm">Washington Monument</a> included pyramids, equestrian statues and even something modeled after an Asian pagoda. "Now it seems so bizarre," says Martin Moeller, senior curator at the <a href="http://www.nbm.org/">National Building Museum</a>. "But if you think about it, how much more bizarre is it than using an ancient Egyptian obelisk as a symbol for the nation's first president?"</p> <p dir="ltr">Ideas for Abraham Lincoln's memorial—and where it should be built—ran the gamut, too. Architect <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/bedford-pope.html">John Russell Pope</a> submitted at least seven proposals for the Lincoln Memorial, including this 1912 sketch of a massive step pyramid.</p> <p dir="ltr">(See Photos: "<a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/07/pictures/130703-rare-views-inside-statue-of-liberty/">Rare Views of Statue of Liberty in Time for Reopening</a>")</p> <p dir="ltr">Rumor has it that Pope didn't like the proposed site at the end of the National Mall, says Moeller, and put forth "outrageous designs as a psychological ploy to use another site, which he preferred."</p> <p dir="ltr">He lost out on the location and building—Henry Bacon designed the one that stands today—but went on to design the <a href="http://www.archives.gov/">National Archives</a>, the <a href="http://www.nps.gov/thje/index.htm">Jefferson Memorial</a> and the <a href="http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb.html">National Gallery of Art.</a></p> <p><i>—Luna Shyr</i></p>