Taft Bridge | |
---|---|
Coordinates | 38°55′18″N77°03′01″W / 38.921652°N 77.050371°W |
Characteristics | |
Total length | 901 feet (275 m) |
William Howard Taft Bridge | |
![]() | |
Location | Connecticut Avenue, NW over Rock Creek Washington, D.C. |
Coordinates | 38°55′14″N77°2′59″W / 38.92056°N 77.04972°W |
Built | 1906 |
Architect | Edward Pearce Casey |
Engineer | George S. Morison |
Architectural style | Classical Revival |
NRHP reference No. | 03000584 [1] |
Added to NRHP | July 3, 2003 [2] |
Location | |
![]() |
The Taft Bridge (also known as the Connecticut Avenue Bridge or William Howard Taft Bridge) is a historic bridge located in the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. It carries Connecticut Avenue over the Rock Creek gorge, including Rock Creek and the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway, connecting the neighborhoods of Woodley Park and Kalorama. It is named after former United States president and Supreme Court Chief Justice William Howard Taft, and sits to the southwest of the Duke Ellington Bridge. [2] [3]
Four statues of lions by sculptor Roland Hinton Perry, known as the Perry Lions, are placed in pairs at both ends of the bridge. On July 3, 2003, the Taft Bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places. [1]
The Classical Revival bridge was built from 1897 to 1907. It was designed by engineer George S. Morison and architect Edward Pearce Casey. [2] [3] Construction was overseen by U.S. Army engineer Henry C. Newcomer. [4] It is an arch bridge with unreinforced concrete arches and a reinforced concrete deck. The total length of the bridge is 274.5 meters (901 ft). It has been called an "engineering tour de force" and the largest unreinforced concrete structure in the world. [5] In 1931, the bridge was renamed in honor of U.S. President William Howard Taft, who frequently walked the bridge while Chief Justice of the United States. [6]
During early planning for the Washington Metro in the 1960s, the Red Line was slated to run across the bridge to connect Dupont Circle and Woodley Park. Instead, the metro was built underground. [7]
Between 2010 and 2022, half of the 26 people in the District of Columbia who died as a result of suicide on bridges died on Taft Bridge. In 2023 the District Department of Transportation began planning for the installation of new safety barriers on Taft Bridge. [8]
The bridge is "guarded" by four large male lions, two on each end of the bridge (each about 7 ft. x 6 ft. 6 in. x 13 ft.). Two of the lions rest on all fours with their heads tilted upwards and mouths slightly open while the other pair lie with their eyes closed, apparently sleeping. They were originally designed and sculpted by Roland Hinton Perry in 1906 out of cast concrete (the bridge as a whole is one of the first cast concrete bridges in the country) and were installed in 1907.
In 1964 the lions were restored and weatherproofed by Washington-based sculptor Renato Luccetti, although this restoration proved to be less than entirely successful. When a major rehabilitation of the bridge began in 1993, the lions, which were in very bad condition, were removed for further restoration. They are currently stored in the Air Rights Tunnel on southbound I-395. The sculptures were finally found to be beyond restoring. [9] [10]
The United States Commission of Fine Arts worked with the city in the late 1990s to oversee the production of the replacement lions that now sit on the bridge. The sculptor Reinaldo Lopez-Carrizo of Professional Restoration produced molds based on the existing sculptures and photographs, and used them to cast new concrete lion sculptures that were installed on the bridge in July and August 2000. [11] The same molds were used to cast bronze lions installed at the main pedestrian entrance to the National Zoo farther north on Connecticut Avenue in 2002. [12] The white lion in the lobby of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts is a quarter-size replica from that effort. [13]
Twenty-four lampposts are equally spaced along both sides of the Taft Bridge. Created by sculptor Ernest Bairstow in 1906, the lampposts are composed of concrete bases (about 5 feet high, 8 inches deep and four feet wide) with painted iron lampposts (about 17 feet high and 4 wide) set in them. The pedestals are decorated with garland and a fluted column featuring acanthus leaves at the top and bottom. Above the leaves is a horizontal bracket with two globes hanging from each side of the column. Each lamppost is topped with a painted iron eagle with its wings spread. [14]
A replica of the Bairstow eagles is seen in a World War I monument in Middletown, Delaware. [15]
The Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway, informally called the Rock Creek Parkway, is a parkway maintained by the National Park Service as part of Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C. It runs next to the Potomac River and Rock Creek in a generally north–south direction, carrying four lanes of traffic from the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington Memorial Bridge north to a junction with Beach Drive near Connecticut Avenue at Calvert Street, N.W., just south of the National Zoological Park.
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.
The Dumbarton Bridge, also known as the Q Street Bridge and the Buffalo Bridge, is a historic masonry arch bridge in Washington, D.C.
The Duke Ellington Bridge, named after American jazz pianist Duke Ellington, carries Calvert Street NW over Rock Creek in Washington, D.C., United States. It connects 18th Street NW in Adams Morgan with Connecticut Avenue NW in Woodley Park, just north of the Taft Bridge.
Woodley Park is a neighborhood in Washington, D.C., located in Northwest D.C. Primarily residential, Woodley Park hosts a commercial corridor of restaurants and shops located along Connecticut Avenue. The neighborhood is noted as the home of the National Zoological Park, part of the Smithsonian Institution.
Roland Hinton Perry was an American sculptor and painter.
Fountain of Time, or simply Time, is a sculpture by Lorado Taft, measuring 126 feet 10 inches (38.66 m) in length, situated at the western edge of the Midway Plaisance within Washington Park in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. The sculpture is inspired by Henry Austin Dobson's poem "Paradox of Time". Its 100 figures passing before Father Time were created as a monument to the 100 years of peace between the United States and the United Kingdom following the Treaty of Ghent in 1814. Father Time faces the 100 from across a water basin. The fountain's water was turned on in 1920, and the sculpture was dedicated in 1922. It is a contributing structure to the Washington Park United States Registered Historic District, which is a National Register of Historic Places listing.
Columbus Fountain also known as the Columbus Memorial is a public artwork by American sculptor Lorado Taft, located at Union Station in Washington, D.C., United States. A centerpiece of Columbus Circle, Columbus Fountain serves as a tribute to the explorer Christopher Columbus. The unveiling in 1912 was celebrated all over Washington, DC over the course of three days with parades, concerts and fireworks gathering tens of thousands of people from all over the world.
The John Paul Jones Memorial, also known as Commodore John Paul Jones, is a monument in West Potomac Park, Washington, D.C. The memorial honors John Paul Jones, the United States' first naval war hero, and received the Congressional Gold Medal after the American Revolutionary War ended. Jones allegedly said "I have not yet begun to fight!" during the Battle of Flamborough Head.
The Klingle Valley Bridge, officially known as the Connecticut Avenue Bridge, is an Art Deco steel-arch bridge located near the National Zoological Park on Connecticut Avenue, Northwest in Washington, D.C. The bridge crosses Klingle Valley, running from Macomb Street to Devonshire Place and connecting the Cleveland Park and Woodley Park neighborhoods.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the District of Columbia:
General Philip Sheridan is a bronze sculpture that honors Civil War general Philip Sheridan. The monument was sculpted by Gutzon Borglum, best known for his design of Mount Rushmore. Dedicated in 1908, dignitaries in attendance at the unveiling ceremony included President Theodore Roosevelt, members of the President's cabinet, high-ranking military officers and veterans from the Civil War and Spanish–American War. The equestrian statue is located in the center of Sheridan Circle in the Sheridan-Kalorama neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The bronze statue, surrounded by a plaza and park, is one of eighteen Civil War monuments in Washington, D.C., which were collectively listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The sculpture and surrounding park are owned and maintained by the National Park Service, a federal agency of the Interior Department.
Major General George B. McClellan is an equestrian statue in Washington, D.C. that honors politician and Civil War general George B. McClellan. The monument is sited on a prominent location in the Kalorama Triangle neighborhood due to efforts made by area residents. The statue was sculpted by American artist Frederick William MacMonnies, a graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts whose best known work is a statue of Nathan Hale in New York City. MacMonnies was chosen to design the statue following a lengthy competition organized by a statue commission, led by then Secretary of War William Howard Taft. The monument was dedicated in 1907, with prominent attendees at the ceremony including President Theodore Roosevelt, New York City mayor George B. McClellan Jr., politicians, generals and thousands of military personnel.
The Court of Neptune Fountain is a fountain adorned with bronze sculptures made by Roland Hinton Perry and Albert Weinert in the late 1890s. Jerome Connor may have assisted in their manufacture. The architects for the project, which was completed in 1898, included John L. Smithmeyer, Paul J. Pelz, and Edward Pearce Casey, while the founding was completed by the Henry-Bonnard Bronze Company. The fountain is located on the west side of the Thomas Jefferson Building, the main building for the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. The project took three years to complete.
General Casimir Pulaski is a bronze equestrian statue of Casimir Pulaski, a military man born in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. He joined the military at a young age, fighting for removal of the king, who was backed by Russia. After his side lost the war, he fled to Paris, where he met Benjamin Franklin. Impressed by Pulaski, Franklin wrote a letter of recommendation to George Washington, suggesting he would be a helpful soldier during the American Revolutionary War. After arriving in the U.S., Pulaski eventually was promoted to Brigadier General and commanded a cavalry unit, the Pulaski's Legion. He died in 1779 due to injuries sustained in battle.
The Stephenson Grand Army of the Republic Memorial, also known as Dr. Benjamin F. Stephenson, is a public artwork in Washington, D.C. honoring Dr. Benjamin F. Stephenson, founder of the Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal organization for Union veterans. The memorial is sited at Indiana Plaza, located at the intersection of 7th Street, Indiana Avenue, and Pennsylvania Avenue NW in the Penn Quarter neighborhood. The bronze figures were sculpted by J. Massey Rhind, a prominent 20th-century artist. Attendees at the 1909 dedication ceremony included President William Howard Taft, Senator William Warner, and hundreds of Union veterans.
The Kalorama Triangle Historic District is a mostly residential neighborhood and a historic district in the northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. The entire Kalorama Triangle neighborhood was listed on the District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites (DCIHS) and National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1987. In addition to individually listed landmarks in the neighborhood, the district is home to roughly 350 contributing properties. The neighborhood is roughly bounded by Connecticut Avenue to the west, Columbia Road to the east, and Calvert Street on the north.
Ernest C. Bairstow (1876–1962) was an English-born American architectural sculptor noted for work on buildings in Washington, D.C., including the Lincoln Memorial.