MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE
Naval Observatory to Sheridan Circle
Naval Observatory to Rock Creek Bridge NW
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| Today |
| Naval Observatory to 30th Street, North Block |
30th Street to Naval Observatory, South Block |
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| Naval Observatory to 30th Street, North Block |
Naval Observatory to 30th Street, South Block |
The Naval Observatory, which is the source for all standard time and astronomical data in the United States, marks the westernmost part of this section. In 1880, President Rutherford B. Hayes commissioned a site for the new observatory that would
be located at an even degree of longitude west of Greenwich, England. The commission purchased a 72-acre property in Georgetown Heights for construction of the new observatory. To prevent disturbance from traffic vibrations, the D. C. Department of Highw
ays curved Massachusetts Avenue in an arc from Whitehaven to Calvert Streets, an area that is known today as Observatory Circle. The house for the superintendent of the Naval Observatory, which today is the Vice-President’s House, is located close
to the Naval Observatory on Observatory Circle. Washington architect, Leon Dessez designed a late Victorian style house with a turret, several dormer windows, and a wrap-around porch. The original red brick of the façade has been painted white, which h
as served to decrease much of its period identity and visual beauty; however, the structure retains much of its "cultural heritage" associations necessary for historic landmark designation. In 1974, Congress transferred the property from the US Navy to t
he Vice-President, for use as an official residence.
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In 1927, Sir Edwin Lutyens created the Embassy for the British government at 3100 Massachusetts Avenue, the site of the former British Legation, which was built in the mid-1870s and was the first foreign-owned legation in Washington. Lutyens chose
a Queen Anne style with a front façade that resembles typical Williamsburg architecture and a garden façade that suggest Hollywood’s interpretation of the Old South. The American-born wife of Sir Ronald Lindsay, the first ambassador to live in the new r
esidence, successfully complemented Lutyen’s design in her layout of the embassy’s renowned gardens. In the 1960s, the embassy commissioned Eric Bedford to add a chancery annex along Massachusetts Avenue. The annex features a three-story red brick wall
with a coat of arms and contains a library and circular, glass-walled conference room.
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| British Legation, 1900 |
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The Brazilian Embassy at 3000 Massachusetts Avenue presents a variation of John Russell Pope’s palazzo formula. As built in 1908 for former Ambassador to Russia and France Robert S. McCormick, the architects designed a recessed entrance to resembl
e Peruzzi’s Palazzo Massimi alle Colonne in Rome. In 1934, trustees of the estate sold the house to the Brazilian government, which conducted extensive renovations to the ground floor service rooms and library.
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