Massachusetts Avenue - Landscape History and Design Guide

6 Classical design cuts through the woods Three maps tell the story of Mass Ave’s 1 8 mile western extension built after 1887 Dupont Circle is on the lower right Fig. 6 (above) The 1884 Sachse map shows the forested hill of the Kalorama estate west from Boundary Street, the edge of L’Enfant’s original plan. Fig. 7 (above right) The 1892 DuBois map shows that L’Enfant’s width for Mass Ave was maintained in the extension. The new “pause” is a perfect circle, labeled Logan (now Sheridan). The avenue exits the circle 19 degrees short of a straight line on a new axis to Tenallytown Road (now Wisconsin Avenue). Fig. 8 (right) The 1896 Peters map shows the axis continuing across a new bridge, with a perfect arc around the Naval Observatory, built in 1893. The hill of the Kalorama estate is given the ritzy name Washington Heights. Plats show that few buildings were built in this area until after 1904, when a court settled disputes among heirs.

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTk3Mzc5Mg==