Observatory Circle | |
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Coordinates: 38°55′16″N77°04′01″W / 38.921°N 77.067°W | |
Country | United States |
District | Washington, D.C. |
Ward | Ward 3 |
Government | |
• Councilmember | Matthew Frumin |
Observatory Circle is a street and neighborhood in Washington, D.C. The street runs from Calvert Street to Massachusetts Avenue near 34th Street. Established in 1894, [1] [2] the street follows an incomplete loop, forming an arc rather than a circle. The street surrounds the grounds of the United States Naval Observatory, which includes Number One Observatory Circle, the official residence of the Vice President of the United States. Areas around the Observatory are also referred to as Observatory Circle, bounded on the northeast by Massachusetts Avenue; on the south by Calvert Street, the Observatory Circle property, and Whitehaven Street; and on the west by 37th Street.
The inside of the arc formed by Observatory was blurred on Google Maps. [3]
Massachusetts Avenue completes the northeast side of the circle and is the major thoroughfare of the neighborhood, where it is mostly lined with embassies. Therefore, most of the area is commonly regarded as Embassy Row.
Dupont Circle is a historic roundabout park and neighborhood of Washington, D.C., located in Northwest D.C. The Dupont Circle neighborhood is bounded approximately by 16th Street NW to the east, 22nd Street NW to the west, M Street NW to the south, and Florida Avenue NW to the north. Much of the neighborhood is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. However, the local government Advisory Neighborhood Commission and the Dupont Circle Historic District have slightly different boundaries.
U.S. Route 240 is a defunct designation for a short, but once very important, segment of highway between Frederick, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. It is now commonly known as Wisconsin Avenue, Maryland Route 355, and Interstate 270 (I-270).
Embassy Row is the informal name for a section of Northwest Washington, D.C., with a high concentration of embassies, diplomatic missions, and diplomatic residences. It spans Massachusetts Avenue N.W. between 18th and 35th street, bounded by Scott Circle to the south and the United States Naval Observatory to the north; the term is often applied to nearby streets and neighborhoods that also host diplomatic buildings, such as Kalorama.
Northwest is the northwestern quadrant of Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, and is located north of the National Mall and west of North Capitol Street. It is the largest of the four quadrants of the city, and it includes the central business district, the Federal Triangle, and the museums along the northern side of the National Mall, as well as many of the District's historic neighborhoods.
Glover Park is a neighborhood in northwest Washington, D.C., about a half mile north of Georgetown and just west of the United States Naval Observatory and Number One Observatory Circle. Every morning and evening, Glover Park residents can hear the Naval Observatory play the sounding of colors synchronized to the nation's Master Clock. It is named after Charles Carroll Glover.
The Washington meridians are four meridians that were used as prime meridians in the United States which pass through Washington, D.C. The four that have been specified are:
There are many outdoor sculptures in Washington, D.C. In addition to the capital's most famous monuments and memorials, many figures recognized as national heroes have been posthumously awarded with his or her own statue in a park or public square. Some figures appear on several statues: Abraham Lincoln, for example, has at least three likenesses, including those at the Lincoln Memorial, in Lincoln Park, and the old Superior Court of the District of Columbia. A number of international figures, such as Mohandas Gandhi, have also been immortalized with statues. The Statue of Freedom is a 19½-foot tall allegorical statue that rests atop the United States Capitol dome.
Massachusetts Avenue is a major diagonal transverse road in Washington, D.C., and the Massachusetts Avenue Historic District is a historic district that includes part of it.
Connecticut Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C., and suburban Montgomery County, Maryland. It is one of the diagonal avenues radiating from the White House, and the segment south of Florida Avenue was one of the original streets in Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant's plan for Washington. A five-mile segment north of Rock Creek was built in the 1890s by a real-estate developer.
16th Street Northwest, briefly known as the Avenue of the Presidents, is a prominent north-south boulevard in Washington, D.C., located in Northwest D.C. The street was laid out as part of the 1791 L'Enfant Plan, which served as the original blueprint for the city. The street begins just north of the White House, across from Lafayette Square in the President's Park, and continues north along the Washington meridian until Blair Circle.
Florida Avenue is a major street in Washington, D.C. It was originally named Boundary Street, because it formed the northern boundary of the Federal City under the 1791 L'Enfant Plan. With the growth of the city beyond its original borders, Boundary Street was renamed Florida Avenue in 1890.
Scott Circle is an area in the northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. that is centred on the junction of Massachusetts Avenue, Rhode Island Avenue, and 16th Street, N.W. Originally a neighborhood recreational area like nearby Dupont Circle, Scott has lost all social uses except as the location for public memorials.
Sheridan Circle is a traffic circle and park in the Sheridan-Kalorama neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The traffic circle, one of two in the neighborhood, is the intersection of 23rd Street NW, Massachusetts Avenue NW, and R Street NW. The buildings along this stretch of Massachusetts Avenue NW are part of Embassy Row, which runs from Scott Circle to Observatory Circle. Sheridan Circle is a contributing property to the Massachusetts Avenue Historic District and the Sheridan-Kalorama Historic District, both listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). In addition, the equestrian statue of General Philip Sheridan is 1 of 18 Civil War Monuments in Washington, D.C., that were collectively listed on the NRHP.
Woodland Normanstone is a small, residential neighborhood in Northwest Washington, D.C., adjoining the larger neighborhoods of Woodley Park, Massachusetts Avenue Heights, and Observatory Circle.
Downtown is the central business district of Washington, D.C., located in Northwest D.C. It is the third largest central business district in the United States. The "Traditional Downtown" has been defined as an area roughly between Union Station in the east and 16th Street NW in the west, and between the National Mall on the south and Massachusetts Avenue on the north, including Penn Quarter. However, nowadays, Downtown D.C. can often refer to a larger area, as the DC Office of Planning states:
…most residents, workers, and visitors think of Downtown in a broader sense — including areas as far north as Dupont Circle, as far west as Foggy Bottom, and as far east as Capitol Hill. Only about half of the central city workforce is located within the city’s traditional Downtown.
The Embassy of Australia in Washington, D.C. is the diplomatic mission of the Commonwealth of Australia to the United States. The chancery is located at 1601 Massachusetts Avenue NW on Scott Circle, at the beginning of Embassy Row. The current ambassador is former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and the Deputy Head of Mission is Paul Myler. The embassy employs more than 250 people.
The Embassy of Iraq in Washington, D.C. is the diplomatic mission of the Republic of Iraq to the United States. The embassy is located at 3421 Massachusetts Avenue, Northwest, in the Embassy Row neighborhood, near the United States Naval Observatory.
Rawlins Park is a rectangular public park in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C., two blocks west of the White House grounds and two blocks north of the National Mall. The boundaries of the park are 18th Street NW to the east, E Street NW to the south and north, and 19th Street NW to the west. The park was an undeveloped open space for many years, until plans were made to install the statue of John Aaron Rawlins in 1874. Various improvements were made, but the area surrounding the park remained mostly undeveloped. This changed in the 1890s when the area was cleared of marshes, and houses were built on the park's southern border.