Washington DC Dupont Circle, 360 Degrees Hot?
Visitors and Residents alike know that the Dupont Circle area of Washington DC offers a cosmopolitan haven of ethnic restaurants, art galleries, bookstores, boutique shops, embassies, museums, offices, and residential homes. It is hard to believe that prior to the Civil War this area was made up of fields and marshes. It was not until 1870 that this rural area began to transform into the Dupont Circle of today. This was do to "Boss" Sheperd who brought Sewers, water, streetlights, tree planning, and public transportation to the city. Some of the wealthiest residents of Washington DC began to construct homes in Dupont Circle between the late 19h century and early 20th century. The Dupont Circle area offers roughly 4 different styles of residential real estate.
- Three and four story Row Homes usually located on the grid streets and were constructed in the late 19th century.
- Queen Anne Style
- Richardsonian Romanesque revival style
- Finally there are the rare mansions and large free standing homes found on the diagonal avenues that all intersect at the circle. While built later, many of these homes were designed to resemble the preferred architecture of 1895-1910.
Dupont's Traffic Circle History time line
- Originally known as the Pacific Circle construction began in 1871
- 1882 - Congress authorized construction of a memorial statue of Samuel Francis DuPont to be placed in the circle. This was in memory of his service during the Civil War
- 1884 - The statue was built and placed in the park located at the center of the circle.
- 1920 - The DuPont family moved the sculpture to Wilmington Delaware. They then hired sculptor Daniel Chester French, and architect Henry Bacon to build the white marble fountain that still sits in the center of the circle today.
- 1921 - The fountain was installed in the center of the park. The nude figures on the fountain are symbols for the sea, the stars, and the wind
- 1949 - The Connecticut Avenue traffic tunnel was constructed. This construction was part of Capital transit Project, and allows a smoother flow of traffic below the circle, for those who are not visiting its immediate area.
Embassies in and around this section of the District
- Hauge House home to Cameroon Embassy
- Egyptian Embassy located at the Joseph Beale House
- Indonesian Embassy located at the Walsh-McLean House
- Chancery of Berma's house is located nearby in the Evan Hughes House
- Located just to the east is the Clarence Moore House on Massachusetts which is home to the Canadian Embassy
- Emily J. Wilkins House also just to the east is home to the Peruvian Chancery.
- The Chancery of Iraq is located at the William J. Boardman House on P street
