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 Interactive map of 16th Street Northwest | |
| Maintained by | DDOT |
|---|---|
| Length | 6.4 mi (10.3 km)[1] |
| Location | Northwest,Washington, D.C. |
| South end | H Street atLafayette Park |
| Major junctions | |
| North end | Georgia Ave inSilver Spring |
| East | 15th Street |
| West | 17th Street |
| Construction | |
| Commissioned | 1791 |
16th Street Northwest, briefly known as theAvenue of the Presidents,[2][3] is a prominent north-southboulevard inWashington, D.C., located inNorthwest D.C. The street was laid out as part of the 1791L'Enfant Plan, which served as the original blueprint for the city. The street begins just north of theWhite House, across fromLafayette Square in thePresident's Park, and continues north along theWashington meridian untilBlair Circle.
The street passes through several notable landmarks and thoroughfares, includingK Street,Scott Circle,Meridian Hill Park,Rock Creek Park before crossingEastern Avenue intoSilver Spring, Maryland, where it ends atGeorgia Avenue. From K Street to the District line, it is part of theNational Highway System, while theMaryland portion is designatedMaryland Route 390. The entire street is 6.4 miles (10.3 km) long.[1] Part of the street is listed on theNational Register of Historic Places asSixteenth Street Historic District.[4] From June 2020 to March 2025, the section immediately north of the White House was known officially asBlack Lives Matter Plaza, featuring a large-scale mural of the wordmark on the street.[5]
16th Street was developed byPierre Charles L'Enfant as part of the 1791L'Enfant Plan, the foundationalurban plan of Washington.
In 1920, more than 500 trees were planted along 16th Street between Alaska Avenue and Varnum Street to honor fallen soldiers from World War I. Today, the16th Street World War I Memorial Trees and their corresponding markers have largely been lost to history.
In July 2005, just before Congress's summer recess,TexasRepublican congressmanHenry Bonilla quietly introduced resolution H.R. 3525[7] to rename 16th Street NW "Ronald Reagan Boulevard" in honor of the formerpresident of the United States. MayorAnthony A. Williams objected on the grounds that the proposal would have changed Pierre L'Enfant's 1791 design for the city and cost an estimated $1 million for new signs and maps. The plan was ultimately quashed by Rep.Tom Davis, chairman of theHouse Government Reform Committee and a fellow Republican representing Washington'sVirginia suburbs.[8]
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On June 5, 2020, during theGeorge Floyd protests in Washington, D.C., the city'sDepartment of Public Works painted the words "Black Lives Matter" in 35-foot yellow capital letters on 16th Street NW near the White House andLafayette Square, with the help of the department's MuralsDC program. TheD.C. flag accompanied the text.[9][10][11] Later that day, MayorMuriel Bowser announced that part of the street had beenceremonially renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza.[12][13]
On June 6, 2020, activists altered the mural. They removed the stars from the D.C. flag, changing it to anequals sign, and added the words "defund the police" so that the mural read "Black Lives Matter = Defund the Police".[14][15] The plaza was removed in March 2025.
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Early in the city's history, many foreign countries opened theirembassies on 16th Street because of its proximity to the White House. Many religious denominations followed with churches, earning the street the nickname "Church Row." These includeFoundry Methodist (attended by Presidents Hayes and Clinton), First Baptist (attended by Presidents Truman and Carter), theNineteenth Street Baptist Church which was originally named the First Colored Baptist Church of Washington, D.C. (visited twice by President Barack Obama),St. John's ("Church of the Presidents"),All Souls Unitarian,Universalist National Memorial Church, St. John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Cathedral, founded in 1949 and built in 1958, andThird Church of Christ, Scientist, which was designed by an associate ofI.M. Pei in 1971 and demolished in 2014.[2]Shrine of the Sacred Heart is located just off of 16th Street. After most of the embassies moved toEmbassy Row and other parts of the city, the churches became more prominent in 16th Street's identity. Other notable buildings include theScottish Rite Masons'House of the Temple,Carnegie Institution for Science,Robert Simpson Woodward House, theWarder Mansion,Carter Barron Amphitheater, theWashington, D.C. Jewish Community Center, and theToutorsky Mansion.
TheAFL–CIO,American Trucking Association,National Education Association,American Chemical Society,National Geographic Society, andBenjamin Franklin University have prominent buildings on 16th Street. TheNational Rifle Association of America was headquartered on the street until the late 1990s.[16]
By the end of the 19th century, 16th Street NW stretched some 2.5 miles from the White House north to Morris Road NW (now Monroe Street NW). On March 30, 1899, theUnited States Congress authorized the extension of the street to the D.C.-Maryland line. Within two years, the city completedcondemnation proceedings to obtain the necessary land.[17] But bridging the natural obstacle of thePiney Branch valley—with thenation's first parabolic arch bridge—would take until 1909.[18]
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The northern and central portions of 16th Street—and theCrestwood neighborhood, in particular—have for a half century been the chosen neighborhood of accomplishedAfrican Americans in Washington. Known colloquially as "The Gold Coast", these sections of 16th Street are lined with early 20th-century Tudor mansions.[19] As 16th Street continues north through theShepherd Park neighborhood, the street passes7700 16th Street NW, a Tudor-style house that was the scene of a notorious crime; several houses of worship, including theOhev Sholom synagogue and historic Tiffereth Israel synagogue, across the street from one another; and the Washington Ethical Society.[citation needed]
The street's proximity toRock 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 thede facto "boundary" between Caucasian and African-American neighborhoods of the city, especially in the tense years after the 1968 race riots.[citation needed]
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. There is no 16th Street Southwest, as this space is occupied by the National Mall and the Washington Channel.[citation needed]
The National Rifle Association has decided to move 400 of its employees from the District to a new building in the Fair Oaks section of Fairfax County, Board of Supervisors Chairman Thomas M. Davis III said.
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