16th Street Northwest (Washington, D.C.)
Encyclopedia
16th Street Northwest is a prominent north-south thoroughfare in the northwest
quadrant of Washington, D.C.
Part of Pierre L'Enfant's design for the city, 16th Street begins just north of the White House
across Lafayette Park
at H Street and continues due north in a straight line passing K Street, Scott Circle
, Meridian Hill Park
, Rock Creek Park
, and the Walter Reed Army Medical Center
before crossing Eastern Avenue
into Silver Spring, Maryland
where it ends at Georgia Avenue
. The Maryland
portion of the street is designated Maryland State Highway 390
. The entire street is 7½ miles (12 km) long. From K Street to the District line, 16th Street is part of the National Highway System
.
The Washington meridian
, a Prime Meridian
once in use in the United States
, follows 16th Street NW.
, and Third Church of Christ, Scientist
, which was designed by an associate of I.M. Pei in 1972. Shrine of the Sacred Heart
is located just off of 16th Street. After most of the embassies moved to Embassy Row
and other parts of the city, the churches became more prominent in 16th Street's identity.
Other notable buildings include the Scottish Rite
Masons' House of the Temple
, Carnegie Institution for Science
, Robert Simpson Woodward House
, the Warder Mansion
, Carter Barron Amphitheater
, the Washington, D.C. Jewish Community Center
, and the Toutorsky Mansion
.
The AFL-CIO
, American Trucking Association, National Education Association
, American Chemical Society
, National Geographic Society
, and Benjamin Franklin University have prominent buildings on 16th Street. The National Rifle Association
was until the late 1990s headquartered on the street.
The northern and central portions of 16th Street (and the Crestwood neighborhood
, in particular) have for a half century been the chosen neighborhood of accomplished African American
s in Washington. Known colloquially as "The Gold Coast", these sections of 16th Street are lined with early 20th-century Tudor mansions.
The street's proximity to Rock Creek Park
and importance as a thoroughfare has made it a natural dividing boundary for Washington neighborhoods. Outside of the downtown area, no neighborhood in the city falls on both sides of 16th Street; the neighborhoods that surround it have 16th as either their eastern or their western boundary. For many years, the wide street was the de facto boundary between Caucasian and African-American neighborhoods of the city, especially in the tense years after the 1968 race riots; today this is less true.
A pair of similarly named streets, 16th Street Northeast and 16th Street Southeast, are three miles (5 km) away in the northeast and southeast quadrants of Washington. They are contiguous with each other and parallel to 16th Street NW.
Republican congressman Henry Bonilla
quietly introduced resolution H.R. 3525 to rename 16th Street NW "Ronald Reagan
Boulevard" in honor of the former president of the United States
. Mayor Anthony A. Williams
objected on the grounds that the proposal changes Pierre L'Enfant's 1791 design for the city and would have cost an estimated $1 million for new signs and maps. The plan was ultimately quashed by Rep. Tom Davis
, chairman of the House Government Reform Committee and a fellow Republican representing Washington's Virginia
suburbs.
Washington, D.C. (northwest)
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...
quadrant of Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
Part of Pierre L'Enfant's design for the city, 16th Street begins just north of the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
across Lafayette Park
Lafayette Park
Lafayette Park may refer to a location in the United States:*Lafayette Park, Detroit, Michigan, a park, development, and neighborhood*Lafayette Park Historic District, a historic district in Albany, New York...
at H Street and continues due north in a straight line passing K Street, Scott Circle
Scott Circle
Scott Circle is a traffic circle in the northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C., at the junction of Massachusetts Avenue, Rhode Island Avenue, and 16th Street, N.W...
, Meridian Hill Park
Meridian Hill Park
Meridian Hill Park, is located in the Washington, D.C. neighborhood of Columbia Heights in the United States. The 12 acres of landscaped grounds are maintained by the National Park Service as part of Rock Creek Park, but are not contiguous with the main part of that park...
, Rock Creek Park
Rock Creek Park
Rock Creek Park is a large urban natural area with public park facilities that bisects Washington, D.C. The park is administered by the National Park Service.-Rock Creek Park:The main section of the park contains , or , along the Rock Creek Valley...
, and the Walter Reed Army Medical Center
Walter Reed Army Medical Center
The Walter Reed Army Medical Center was the United States Army's flagship medical center until 2011. Located on 113 acres in Washington, D.C., it served more than 150,000 active and retired personnel from all branches of the military...
before crossing Eastern Avenue
Eastern Avenue (Washington, D.C.)
Eastern Avenue is one of three boundary streets between Washington, D.C., and the state of Maryland. It follows a northwest-to-southeast line, beginning at the intersection of 16th Street NW and Colesville Road...
into Silver Spring, Maryland
Silver Spring, Maryland
Silver Spring is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It had a population of 71,452 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth most populous place in Maryland, after Baltimore, Columbia, and Germantown.The urbanized, oldest, and...
where it ends at Georgia Avenue
Georgia Avenue
Georgia Avenue is a major north-south artery in Northwest Washington, D.C. and Montgomery County, Maryland. Within the District of Columbia and a short distance in Silver Spring, Maryland, Georgia Avenue is also U.S. Route 29...
. The Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
portion of the street is designated Maryland State Highway 390
Maryland Route 390
Maryland Route 390 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The state highway runs from the boundary with Washington, D.C. north to MD 97 in Silver Spring...
. The entire street is 7½ miles (12 km) long. From K Street to the District line, 16th Street is part of the National Highway System
National Highway System (United States)
The National Highway System is a network of strategic highways within the United States, including the Interstate Highway System and other roads serving major airports, ports, rail or truck terminals, railway stations, pipeline terminals and other strategic transport facilities.Individual states...
.
The Washington meridian
Washington meridian
The Washington meridian was one of four prime meridians of the United States which passed through Washington, D.C.. The four which have been specified are:# through the Capitol# through the White House# through the old Naval Observatory...
, a Prime Meridian
Prime Meridian
The Prime Meridian is the meridian at which the longitude is defined to be 0°.The Prime Meridian and its opposite the 180th meridian , which the International Date Line generally follows, form a great circle that divides the Earth into the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.An international...
once in use in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, follows 16th Street NW.
Significance
Early in the city's history, many foreign countries opened their embassies on 16th Street because of its proximity to the White House. Many religious denominations followed suit by building churches on the street, thus earning the street the nickname "Church Row." These include Foundry Methodist (attended by President Clinton), First Baptist (attended by Presidents Truman and Carter), St. John's ("Church of the Presidents"), All Souls Unitarian, Universalist National Memorial ChurchUniversalist National Memorial Church
Universalist National Memorial Church is a Unitarian Universalist church located at 1810 16th Street, Northwest in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C.. Theologically, the church describes itself as "both liberal Christian and Universalist"...
, and Third Church of Christ, Scientist
Third Church of Christ, Scientist (Washington, D.C.)
Third Church of Christ, Scientist, established in 1918, is a Christian Science church in downtown Washington, D.C. The church is located in a brutalist-style building at 16th and I Street NW that was built in 1970. Since opening, the building has not been well suited for the church, which has...
, which was designed by an associate of I.M. Pei in 1972. Shrine of the Sacred Heart
Shrine of the Sacred Heart
The Shrine of the Sacred Heart is a Roman Catholic parish established in 1899 in the Mount Pleasant/Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington D.C.. The parish church is a large domed Byzantine structure modeled after the Cathedral in Ravenna, Italy....
is located just off of 16th Street. After most of the embassies moved to Embassy Row
Embassy Row
Embassy Row is the informal name for a street or area of a city in which embassies or other diplomatic installations are concentrated. Washington, D.C.'s Embassy Row lies along Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., and its cross streets between Thomas Circle and Ward Circle, although the vast majority of...
and other parts of the city, the churches became more prominent in 16th Street's identity.
Other notable buildings include the Scottish Rite
Scottish Rite
The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry , commonly known as simply the Scottish Rite, is one of several Rites of the worldwide fraternity known as Freemasonry...
Masons' House of the Temple
House of the Temple
The House of the Temple is a Masonic temple in Washington, D.C., United States that serves as the headquarters of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction, U.S.A...
, Carnegie Institution for Science
Carnegie Institution for Science
The Carnegie Institution for Science is an organization in the United States established to support scientific research....
, Robert Simpson Woodward House
Robert Simpson Woodward House
The Robert Simpson Woodward House is a former residence located at 1513 16th Street, NW in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. From 1904 until 1914, it was a home of geologist Robert Simpson Woodward, the first president of the Carnegie Institution...
, the Warder Mansion
Warder Mansion
Warder Mansion is a Washington, D.C. apartment complex at 2633 16th Street Northwest. Located about 1.5 miles north of the White House, it is the only surviving building in the city by architect H. H...
, Carter Barron Amphitheater
Carter Barron Amphitheater
The Carter Barron Amphitheatre is a 4,200-seat outdoor performance venue in Washington, D.C., U.S. Located in Rock Creek Park, the amphitheatre opened in 1950 in honor of the 150th Anniversary of Washington, DC as the nation's capital...
, the Washington, D.C. Jewish Community Center
Washington, D.C. Jewish Community Center
The Washington, D.C. Jewish Community Center is a Jewish Community Center located in the historic district of Dupont Circle. It serves the Washington, D.C...
, and the Toutorsky Mansion
Toutorsky Mansion
The Toutorsky Mansion is a five-story, 18-room house located at 1720 16th Street, NW in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C.The mansion was completed in 1894 for U.S...
.
The AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL–CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 11 million workers...
, American Trucking Association, National Education Association
National Education Association
The National Education Association is the largest professional organization and largest labor union in the United States, representing public school teachers and other support personnel, faculty and staffers at colleges and universities, retired educators, and college students preparing to become...
, American Chemical Society
American Chemical Society
The American Chemical Society is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 161,000 members at all degree-levels and in all fields of chemistry, chemical...
, National Geographic Society
National Geographic Society
The National Geographic Society , headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical...
, and Benjamin Franklin University have prominent buildings on 16th Street. The National Rifle Association
National Rifle Association
The National Rifle Association of America is an American non-profit 501 civil rights organization which advocates for the protection of the Second Amendment of the United States Bill of Rights and the promotion of firearm ownership rights as well as marksmanship, firearm safety, and the protection...
was until the late 1990s headquartered on the street.
The northern and central portions of 16th Street (and the Crestwood neighborhood
Crestwood, Washington, D.C.
Crestwood, which forms part of the residential area known as the Gold Coast on upper 16th Street NW, is an entirely residential neighborhood located in Northwest Washington, D.C. and bordered on three sides by Rock Creek Park. It is known for its affluent, educated and majority black population...
, in particular) have for a half century been the chosen neighborhood of accomplished African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
s in Washington. Known colloquially as "The Gold Coast", these sections of 16th Street are lined with early 20th-century Tudor mansions.
The street's proximity to Rock Creek Park
Rock Creek Park
Rock Creek Park is a large urban natural area with public park facilities that bisects Washington, D.C. The park is administered by the National Park Service.-Rock Creek Park:The main section of the park contains , or , along the Rock Creek Valley...
and importance as a thoroughfare has made it a natural dividing boundary for Washington neighborhoods. Outside of the downtown area, no neighborhood in the city falls on both sides of 16th Street; the neighborhoods that surround it have 16th as either their eastern or their western boundary. For many years, the wide street was the de facto boundary between Caucasian and African-American neighborhoods of the city, especially in the tense years after the 1968 race riots; today this is less true.
A pair of similarly named streets, 16th Street Northeast and 16th Street Southeast, are three miles (5 km) away in the northeast and southeast quadrants of Washington. They are contiguous with each other and parallel to 16th Street NW.
Ronald Reagan Boulevard
In July 2005, just before Congress's summer recess, TexasTexas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
Republican congressman Henry Bonilla
Henry Bonilla
Henry Bonilla is a former congressman who represented Texas's 23rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. He was defeated in his bid for re-election by Ciro Davis Rodriguez, a former Democratic member of Congress, in a special election runoff held on December 12, 2006...
quietly introduced resolution H.R. 3525 to rename 16th Street NW "Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
Boulevard" in honor of the former president of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
. Mayor Anthony A. Williams
Anthony A. Williams
Anthony Allen "Tony" Williams is an American politician who served as the fifth mayor of the District of Columbia for two terms, from 1999 to 2007. He had previously served as chief financial officer for the District, managing to balance the budget and achieve a surplus within two years of...
objected on the grounds that the proposal changes Pierre L'Enfant's 1791 design for the city and would have cost an estimated $1 million for new signs and maps. The plan was ultimately quashed by Rep. Tom Davis
Thomas M. Davis
Thomas Milburn "Tom" Davis III was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Virginia's 11th congressional district in Northern Virginia. Davis was considering a run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by five-term incumbent and fellow Republican John...
, chairman of the House Government Reform Committee and a fellow Republican representing Washington's Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
suburbs.