| Massachusetts Avenue SE Massachusetts Avenue NE Massachusetts Avenue NW | |
 Massachusetts Avenue's route map | |
 Interactive map of Massachusetts Avenue | |
| Maintained by | DDOT |
|---|---|
| Width | 160 feet (49 m) |
| Location | Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Coordinates | 38°54′50″N77°3′11″W / 38.91389°N 77.05306°W /38.91389; -77.05306 |
| East end | Southern Avenue |
| Major junctions | |
| West end | Westmoreland Circle |
| Construction | |
| Completion | 1871 |
Massachusetts Avenue Historic District | |
 Miller House, acontributing property to the Massachusetts Avenue Historic District | |
  | |
| Location | Both sides of Massachusetts Avenue between 17th Street andObservatory Circle,NW |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 38°54′50″N77°3′11″W / 38.91389°N 77.05306°W /38.91389; -77.05306 |
| Area | 81 acres (33 ha) |
| Built | 1871 |
| Architect | Multiple |
| Architectural style | Late Victorian, Beaux Arts |
| NRHP reference No. | 74002166[1] |
| Added to NRHP | October 22, 1974 |
Massachusetts Avenue is a major diagonal transverse road inWashington, D.C., United States. The Massachusetts Avenue Historic District is ahistoric district that includes part of it.
Massachusetts Avenue was part ofPierre Charles L'Enfant's original plan for the development of Washington, D.C. The avenue crosses three of Washington, D.C.'s fourquadrants.[2] It intersects every major north–south street and passes numerous Washington landmarks. Massachusetts Avenue represents the northern boundary ofdowntown and the city'sEmbassy Row.
Massachusetts Avenue is tied withPennsylvania Avenue as the widest road in Washington, D.C., at 160 feet (49 m). The two roads run in parallel through much of the city, Massachusetts about seven blocks north of Pennsylvania Avenue. Massachusetts Avenue was long considered the city's premier residential street, and Pennsylvania Avenue was its most sought-after business address. The two avenues are namedMassachusetts andPennsylvania, two states that played a leading role in securing American independence in theAmerican Revolution and the subsequentRevolutionary War.
The historic district is an 81-acre (33 ha) area inNorthwest Washington, D.C. that includes 150contributing buildings and threecontributing structures. In 1985, Massachusetts Avenue was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places. It includes multiple properties that are individually listed on the National Register.[1]
The main section of Massachusetts Avenue begins at 19th StreetSoutheast, just to the west of the formerDistrict of Columbia General Hospital site and one block north ofCongressional Cemetery. At the hospital, Massachusetts Avenue commands a view of theAnacostia River. It proceeds in a northwesterly direction crosstown. At 14th Street SE, it enters the neighborhood ofCapitol Hill andLincoln Park inNortheast Washington, D.C.
After briefly converging withColumbus Circle as it curves aroundWashington Union Station, Massachusetts Avenue entersNorthwest Washington, D.C. in a rapidly changing neighborhood which has transitioned from earlier blight and decay to in the 21st century developing numerous high-rise apartment complexes. In the tradition of the acronymSoHo inManhattan, realtors sometimes refer to this area asNoMa, standing for north of Massachusetts Avenue.
It intersects withInterstate 395, which runs underground at that point, atH Street NW, and passes overMount Vernon Square in front of theWalter E. Washington Convention Center. Continuing northwest, Massachusetts enters an underpass belowThomas Circle at14th andM Streets NW, before curving aroundScott Circle at16th and N Streets NW; this is considered the starting point ofEmbassy Row.
Massachusetts Avenue passes through the inner ring ofDupont Circle and curves north atSheridan Circle, parallelingRock Creek to Belmont Road NW. After crossing Rock Creek overCharles C. Glover Memorial Bridge, it curves around theUnited States Naval Observatory andNumber One Observatory Circle, theofficial residence of thevice President of the United States, which forms the southwest boundary of theMassachusetts Heights neighborhood.Washington National Cathedral, located at the intersection of Massachusetts andWisconsin Avenues, is usually considered the end ofEmbassy Row.
AtWard Circle, Massachusetts Avenue delineates theAmerican University Park neighborhood fromSpring Valley, passing to the north ofAmerican University. It crosses the border between Washington, D.C. andMontgomery County, Maryland at Westmoreland Circle.
InMaryland, the road continues signed asMaryland Route 396, waving through residential sections ofBethesda until terminating at Goldsboro Road, also known asMaryland Route 614. Another section of Massachusetts Avenue, discontinuous from this one, lies on the east side of theAnacostia River. That section extends from 30th Street SE nearDistrict of Columbia Route 295, to Southern Avenue SE at the border between Washington, D.C. andPrince George's County.
Several notable institutions are located on Massachusetts Avenue, including:
Multiple embassies and residences are located on Massachusetts Avenue, leading to the naming of a section of Massachusetts Avenue as Embassy Row. Several of these embassies are listed on theNational Register of Historic Places.
The track of the avenue was not paved until the administration ofAlexander Robey Shepherd in the early 1870s. It was extended beyond Boundary Road, nowFlorida Avenue, in the 1880s, and beyondRock Creek to Wisconsin Avenue after 1900. In 1906, the District Commissioners approved extending it to theDistrict line, although at the time they thought it would really only be used up to its intersection with Nebraska Avenue with the exception of pleasure drives.[3]
In the 1870s, residential development accelerated on Massachusetts Avenue, mostly around the circles located west of 9th Street NW. Thesebrick andbrownstone structures reflected theQueen Anne andRichardsonian Romanesque styles in vogue at the time. LuxuriousGeorgian Revival andBeaux-Arts mansions on Massachusetts Avenuewere late inhabited by wealthy and influential Washingtonians. The section betweenSheridan Circle andScott Circle became known as "Millionaires' Row".
TheGreat Depression forced many to relinquish their homes on Millionaires' Row. AfterWorld War II, Massachusetts Avenue was seen as less fashionable than newer areas such as upper16th Street. Many residences were sold and demolished to make way for office buildings, particularly around Dupont Circle and to its east. Many others, however, survived as embassies and society houses; the former Millionaires' Row is today well known asEmbassy Row.
Several overlappinghistoric districts have been created to preserve the character of the remaining neighborhoods. The Massachusetts Avenue Historic District encompasses the buildings between 17th Street andObservatory Circle on Massachusetts AvenueNW.
While noWashington Metro lines run along Massachusetts Avenue, theMetrobus N routes serve upper Northwest while a patchwork of routes serveDowntown, Northeast, and Southeast.
The followingMetrobus routes travel along the street (listed from west to east):
Ride On Route 29 serves Massachusetts Avenue in Maryland from Westmoreland Circle to the avenue's terminus at Goldsboro Road.
The M6, which travels from the Potomac Avenue Metro station to Fairfax Village, runs along Massachusetts Avenue between Alabama Avenue and Southern Avenue.
The followingMetrorail stations have stops located near Massachusetts Avenue:
Washington Union Station, which is served byAmtrak,MARC, andVirginia Railway Express trains, is located on Massachusetts Avenue at Columbus Circle.
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