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- Dupont Circle: D.C. Heritage Tourism
Coalition
- Dupont Circle: National Register of Historic Places
-
Dupont Circle Citizens Association
Washington D.C.
- D.C.
Heritage Tourism Coalition
-
D.C. Preservation League
- Historical
Society of Washington D.C.
- D.C. Historic Preservation Division
Architecture
- Stone and Building Styles
- North American House Style
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Dupont Circle History
According
to the D.C. Heritage Tourism Coalition, "This area was a rural
backwater until after the Civil War, when a massive modernization
program paved, lit, and sewered its grand avenues and side
streets. The powerful and socially elite from about the city
and the nation, including new millionaires with money made
in Western mines, soon gravitated here. Washington at that
time was the place for the nation's elite to show their wealth,
be close to power, enjoy the social season, and marry their
daughters well. They built the grand mansions that still line
Massachusetts Avenue. On the side streets, the 19th-century
Washington brick row house took on special grandeur. Although
some of Dupont Circle's grandest mansions are gone and others
are now occupied by embassies and institutions, the visitor
can still enjoy the special ambiance of a neighborhood created
when the nation was in love with its capital city."
The
following description is taken from the National Register
of Historic Places' website. "The development of Dupont Circle
was spearheaded by the Board of Public works under the leadership
of Alexander Shepherd. Nevada Senator William Morris Stewart
led the "California Syndicate" which bought up tracts of undeveloped
land. The style of the neighborhood was set when Stewart erected
his mansion (now demolished) in the 1870s. By the late 1880s
the Dupont neighborhood was an affluent and vibrant neighborhood.
In 1871 the Corps of Engineers began construction of Dupont
Circle itself which at the time was called Pacific Circle.
In 1882 Congress authorized a memorial statue of Rear Admiral
Samuel Francis duPont in recognition of his Civil War service.
The bronze statue was erected in 1884. In 1921 the statue
of Dupont was replaced by a double-tiered white marble fountain.
It was designed by sculptor Daniel Chester French and architect
Henry Bacon. Three classical figures, symbolizing the Sea,
the Stars and the Wind are carved on the fountain's central
shaft.
The
Dupont Circle Historic District is a primarily residential
district extending generally in all directions from Dupont
Circle. The area was developed in the last quarter of the
19th century and the early years of the 20th century. Two
types of housing predominate in the historic district: palatial
mansions and freestanding residences built in the styles popular
between 1895 and 1910; and three-and-four-story rowhouses,
many of which are variations on the Queen Anne and Richardsonian
Romanesque Revival styles, built primarily before the turn
of the century. The mansions line the broad, tree-lined diagonal
avenues that intersect the circle and the rowhouses line the
grid streets of the historic district. This juxtaposition
of house types and street pattern gives the area a unique
character.
The
majority of the houses in the Dupont Circle Historic District
are not mansions, however. The blocks along the grid streets
are lined with rowhouses that were occupied by middle-class
professionals and official Washingtonians. The styles employed
in designing these rowhouses which were built from the 1880s
into the first decade of the 20th century, range from Queen
Anne to Richardsonian Revival to Renaissance and Georgian
Revival. Variations on Queen Anne and Richardsonian Romanesque
were most prevalent in this area of DC. Some of the rows were
designed as a unit by a single architect while others were
individually built and designed. The row on the south side
of the 1700 block of Q Street, designed in 1889 by T.F. Schneider,
is one of the most impressive Richardsonian rows in the area.
The
north side of the 2000 block of N Street is one of the finest
Second Empire rows in the district. These houses were built
between 1879 and 1881 by Christopher Thom. The 2000 block
of Hillyer Place contains a variety of styles, especially
Queen Anne and Richardsonian Romanesque. One of the most varied
and architecturally intact blocks is the 1700 block of N Street
which reflects the breadth of architectural talent in the
area. A commercial corridor along Connecticut Avenue and P
Street west of the circle developed in this district. The
early commercial buildings are small in scale and do not detract
from the district's character. In recent years, pressure for
large-scale commercial office development on Connecticut Avenue
has been intense. A number of new office buildings, some unsympathetic
to the historic district line the northern and southern fringes
of Connecticut Avenue. Dupont Circle Historic District is
roughly bounded by Rhode Island Avenue, NW; M and N Sts.,
NW, on the south; Florida Avenue, NW, on the west; Swann St.,
NW, on the north; and the 16th Street Historic District on
the east. |
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Architectural Styles
The
following description is taken from the D.C. Heritage Tourism
Coalition's website.
BEAUX ARTS ARCHITECTURE
The Beaux Arts style,
popular in the United States during the late 1800s and early
1900s, followed the traditions of the classical architecture
of ancient Greece and Rome. The diverse forms of these structures
reflect the building's use as well as the important place
it held in its surroundings. This versatile style invites
a wide variety of materials--from brick and stone to terra
cotta and wood. At the same time, it shares some common characteristics.
Look for elegant symmetrical facades and classical ornaments
such as columns, cornices, and triangular pediments.
RICHARDSONIAN ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE
The Richardsonian Romanesque style takes its name from Henry
Hobson Richardson, who gave his own interpretation to the
massiveness of the Romanesque architecture of Southern France
and Spain that inspired him. Richardson believed that the
building should appear to grow out from its site and not merely
sit on top of it. Along with massive stonewalls and dramatic
semicircular arches, he gave his architecture a “new dynamism”
of interior space. You'll recognize Richardson's innovative
style by the heavy sculpted stone facades, rounded arches,
and squat columns. Deep doorways are often defined by contrasting
textures or colors, and in most cases you'll find a tower--sometimes
two towers. |
