Bethesda Terrace

Bethesda Terrace is defined by its two-level structure of New Brunswick sandstone, which connects the southern promenade of the Mall to the water’s edge of the Lake. Conceived in the eighteen fifty-eight Greensward Plan by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, the terrace was built as an open-air hall of reception. Its design incorporates an arcade featuring a ceiling of over fifteen thousand Minton encaustic tiles, a feature unique in the world for a suspended ceiling.