MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE
Sheridan Circle to Scott Circle
18th to 20th Streets NW, Dupont Circle

Sanborn, 1904	Today	Cross Section

20th to 19th St, South Block	19th to 18th St, South Block

A large marble fountain commissioned in 1921 by the Dupont family and designed by Henry Bacon, the designer of the Lincoln Memorial, serves as the focal point of Dupont Circle. The statue replaced an earlier statue of Admiral Samuel Francis duPont that w as erected in 1884 when the Circle’s name changed from Pacific to Dupont. Victorian mansions, many of which have been converted into embassies, surround the Circle and remind the visitor of Massachusetts Avenue’s residential heydey. The large red brick Blaine Mansion at 2000 Massachusetts Avenue was designed to sit prominently on Dupont Circle and encourage other Washington residents to build in the fast-growing northwest section of the City. It was built in 1881 by John Fraser for James G. Blai ne, who served in the Senate and as Speaker of the House. In 1901, Mrs. Blaine sold the house to George Westinghouse, who used it for large-scale entertaining when he was in Washington. In 1920, he sold the house and it was converted to apartment use; al though the house retains its signature mansard roofline, its great staircase and iron railing have been removed and the façade has been substantially altered for use as converted office space.

Blaine Mansion, 1890

Stewart's Castle, 1893

Stewart’s Castle at 1913 Massachusetts Avenue was built in 1873 for California Senator William Morris Stewart, who made his fortune in gold mining. Despite architect Adolph Cluss’s intentions to imitate the wealth and glamour of European nobility, the castle proved to be too much of a financial burden and was leased to the Chinese government from 1886 to 1893. The house was sold to Senator William A. Clark from Montana, who demolished it with the intention of building a new residence; however, the land remained vacant until he sold it in 1921and a bank was subsequently erected on the site. The Sulgrave Club at 1801 Massachusetts Avenue, which also faces onto Dupont Circle, was designed in 1901 for Herbert and Martha Wadsworth, landowners from New York. The Wadsworths turned the house over to the Red Cross during World War I, and sol d it in 1932 to a small group of Washington women who wished to convert it to a social club. The structure features a Palladian window and oval drawing room overlooking Dupont Circle. The Euram Building at 21 Dupont Circle serves as a contemporary addition to the Circle’s grandeur. Hartman-Cox Architects designed the building in 1971 in a modern style, but it also resembles a Renaissance palazzo with its massive anchoring corn ers and interior courtyard.

Stanford White designed the Patterson House at 15 Dupont Circle in 1903 for Robert Wilson Patterson, publisher of the Chicago Tribune. The heavily ornamented, white marble Italian palace features a diagonal entrance loggia and a rudimentary air co nditioning system, which was a revolutionary device for the times. The house was known mainly as the home of Robert’s daughter Cissy Patterson, who assumed her father’s business and formed the Times-Herald. The house has hosted other notable residents a nd guests, including President Coolidge and Charles Lindbergh; and is used today by the Washington Club.

Patterson House, 1970

Completing the Circle is Dupont Down Under at 20th and P Streets, which is a former trolley station that has been transformed into an underground marketplace. The festival marketplace serves the neighborhood with a variety of restaurants and a hea lth club.

Dupont Circle, 1880