Embassy Row is the informal name for a section of
Northwest
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west— ...
Washington, D.C., with a high concentration of
embassies,
diplomatic mission
A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually denotes ...
s, and diplomatic residences.
It spans
Massachusetts Avenue N.W. between
18th and
35th street, bounded by
Scott Circle to the south and the
United States Naval Observatory to the north; the term is often applied to nearby streets and neighborhoods that also host diplomatic buildings, such as
Kalorama.
Of the
177 diplomatic missions in the city, the majority are located on or near Embassy Row, including those of Italy, Australia, India, Greece, Egypt, Ireland, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
Due to the large number of well-preserved
Gilded Age estates and townhouses, many of which house diplomatic missions or dignitaries, Embassy Row has been protected as part of the Massachusetts Avenue Historic District. Its historic and multicultural character has also made the area a center of tourism and local cultural life.
History
Considered Washington's premier residential address in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Massachusetts Avenue became known for its numerous mansions housing the city's social and political elites. Consequently, the segment between
Scott Circle and
Sheridan Circle gained the nickname "
Millionaires' Row".
The
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
of 1929 led many to sell their homes; the often illustrious and expansive estates were well-suited for housing diplomatic missions as well as lodges of social clubs, giving Embassy Row its present name and identity. The relocation to Embassy Row of diplomatic representations, many of which had been established in
Meridian Hill in previous decades, was further catalyzed by the construction of the
British Embassy, commissioned in 1925 and completed in 1930, and the
Japanese Embassy, built in 1931. The greatest number of embassies and chanceries moved to Embassy Row and the neighboring Kalorama neighborhood in the 1940s and early 1950s.
On the southeastern section of the row, between Scott Circle and
Dupont Circle
Dupont Circle is a historic roundabout park and Neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., neighborhood of Washington, D.C., located in Northwest (Washington, D.C.), Northwest D.C. The Dupont Circle neighborhood is bounded approximately by 16th St ...
, many individual houses and mansions were replaced by larger office or apartment buildings between the 1930s and the 1970s. More recently, several prominent
think tank
A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...
s have clustered in that area, which has occasionally been referred to as
Think Tank Row.
Many of Embassy Row's diplomatic buildings open to the public once a year in May, an initiative nicknamed Passport DC. This event was started in 2007 by the embassies of member states of the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
, and extended in 2008 to other countries around the world under coordination by
Cultural Tourism DC. Within this program, the EU embassies still open on a separate day, labelled EU Open House. A separate program, the Embassy Series, started in 1994 and coordinates concerts organized in the embassy buildings.
Embassy Row is protected as the
Massachusetts Avenue Historic District, created in 1974 following controversy about the demolition of historic townhouses on 1722-28 Massachusetts Ave NW. Many of its notable buildings are listed in the DC Inventory of Historic Sites. Because few historic buildings remain on Scott Circle, the eastern boundary of the Historic District was set on 17th Street NW, but, since three embassies are located there and none farther east, Scott Circle is included in this article's definition of Embassy Row. The Western boundary used here is identical to that of the Historic District, namely Observatory Circle. However, some (e.g. real estate professionals) describe Embassy Row as extending as far west as
Wisconsin Avenue NW.
From Scott Circle to Sheridan Circle
This section of Massachusetts Avenue was the one known as the "Millionaires' Row" of Washington, D.C., in the late 19th and early 20th century.
North Side
* 1499 Massachusetts Ave NW: Post Massachusetts Avenue apartment building (arch.
Esocoff & Associates, 2002)
* 1515 Massachusetts Ave NW:
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...
building (arch.
Faulkner, Fryer and Vanderpool, 1956), now
Embassy of Tunisia
* 1500 Rhode Island Ave NW:
Brodhead-Bell-Morton Mansion, now the
Embassy of Hungary (arch.
John Fraser, 1879; remodeled by
John Russell Pope, 1912)
* 1 Scott Circle NW: General Scott Apartments (arch.
Robert O. Sholz, 1942)
* 1601 Massachusetts Ave NW:
Embassy of Australia (arch.
Bates, Smart & McCutcheon, 1965)
* 1617 Massachusetts Ave NW: Daniel C. Stapleton House (arch.
Clarke Waggaman, 1917), now annex of the
Embassy of the Philippines
* 1619 Massachusetts Ave NW:
Forest Industries building (arch.
Keyes, Lesbridge & Condon, 1961), now Benjamin T. Rome Building of
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...
* 1625 Massachusetts Ave NW:
Airline Pilots Association building (arch.
Vlastimil Koubek, 1972), now also Washington campus of
Johns Hopkins Carey Business School
* 1701 Massachusetts Ave NW: The Bay State apartment building (arch.
Robert O. Sholz, 1939)
* 1711 Massachusetts Ave NW: Boston House apartment building (arch.
Berla & Abel, 1950)
* 1717 Massachusetts Ave NW: Bernstein-
Offit building of
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...
; the upper two floors used to host the embassy of the
German Democratic Republic
East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...
(arch.
Cooper & Auerback, 1964)
* 1727 Massachusetts Ave NW: The Winthrop apartment building (arch.
Alvin L. Aubinoe, 1940)
* 1775 Massachusetts Ave NW:
Brookings Institution
The Brookings Institution, often stylized as Brookings, is an American think tank that conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics (and tax policy), metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, global econo ...
main building (arch.
Faulkner, Kingsbury & Stenhouse, 1960)
* 1779 Massachusetts Ave NW:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) is a nonpartisan international affairs think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C., with operations in Europe, South Asia, East Asia, and the Middle East, as well as the United States. Foun ...
(arch.
Smith, Hinchman & Gryll, 1989), also hosting the
Embassy of Papua New Guinea
* 1789 Massachusetts Ave NW (numbered 1785 until 2016):
McCormick Apartments (arch.
Jules Henri de Sibour, 1917), now
American Enterprise Institute
* 1801 Massachusetts Ave NW: Herbert Wadsworth House (arch. George Cary, 1902), now the
Sulgrave Club
* 15 Dupont Circle NW:
Robert W. Patterson House (arch.
Stanford White, 1902), now Ampeer Dupont Circle apartments
* 11 Dupont Circle NW: office building (1974), home of the
Peterson Institute for International Economics until 2001
* 1500 New Hampshire Ave NW:
Dupont Circle Hotel (1950)
* 1501 Connecticut Ave NW: commercial building (1923), now
Starbucks Coffee
* 1913 Massachusetts Ave NW: Dupont Circle Branch of the
Riggs National Bank (arch.
George Nicholas Ray, 1923), now
PNC
* 2001 Massachusetts Ave NW: apartment house (arch.
Gertrude Sawyer, 1935), now
Kossuth House of the
Hungarian Reformed Federation of America (1935)
* 2007 Massachusetts Ave NW: Horace A. Taylor House (arch.
George Oakley Totten Jr., 1901)
* 2009 Massachusetts Ave NW: Hershell Main House, later
Alice Roosevelt Longworth house (built 1881, front rebuilt 1910), now the
Washington Legal Foundation
* 2015 Massachusetts Ave NW:
Embassy Row Hotel, rebranded ''The Ven Embassy Row'' in late 2020 (arch.
Fischer and Elmore, 1971)
* 2025 Massachusetts Ave NW: Samuel M. Bryan House (arch.
W. Bruce Gray, 1885), now the Urban Alliance Foundation
* 2027 Massachusetts Ave NW: House (1911), now the
Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
* 1600 21st Street NW: D. Clinch Phillips House (arch.
Hornblower & Marshall, 1897), now the
Phillips Collection
* 2107 Massachusetts Ave NW: T. Morris Murray House (1901), now
Embassy of India
* 2121 Massachusetts Ave NW:
Richard T. Townsend House (arch.
Carrère and Hastings, 1901), now the
Cosmos Club
* 2131 Massachusetts Ave NW: George W. Barrie House (arch.
Marsh & Peter, 1905), now
Embassy of Estonia
* 2201 Massachusetts Ave NW:
Frederick A. Miller House (arch.
Paul J. Pelz, 1901)
* 2203 Massachusetts Ave NW: Emeline D. Lovett House (arch. Alexander Millar, 1890)
*
2205 Massachusetts Ave NW: Anna Jenness-Miller House (arch.
Waddy Wood, 1920), now the
National Society Daughters of the American Colonists
* 2207 Massachusetts Ave NW: townhouse (arch.
Louis D. Meline, 1902),
[ now Embassy of Turkmenistan]Center for Strategic and International Studies
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. From its founding in 1962 until 1987, it was an affiliate of Georgetown University, initially named the Center for Strategic and Inte ...
(arch. Hickok Cole, 2013)
* 1600 Massachusetts Ave NW: Embassy of the Philippines (1993)
* 1700 Massachusetts Ave NW: Emily J. Wilkins House (arch. Jules Henri de Sibour, 1909), now Embassy of Peru
* 1708 Massachusetts Ave NW: Henry C. Nevins House (arch. Harvey L. Page, 1891), now Embassy of Trinidad and Tobago
* 1720 Massachusetts Ave NW: town house, now Stephanie Tubbs Jones building of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation
* 1724 Massachusetts Ave NW: Embassy of Colombia (1981)
* 1732 Massachusetts Ave NW: J.C. McGuire House (arch. Glenn Brown, 1889), now Embassy of Chile
* 1736 Massachusetts Ave NW: now Consular section of the Embassy of Chile
* 1740 Massachusetts Ave NW: Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (1962)
* 1746 Massachusetts Ave NW: Clarence Moore House (arch. Jules Henri de Sibour, 1909), now Embassy of Uzbekistan
* 1750 Massachusetts Ave NW: Peterson Institute for International Economics (arch. James von Klemperer for Kohn Pedersen Fox, 2001)
* 1776 Massachusetts Ave NW: office building (1969)
* 1780 Massachusetts Ave NW: Ingalls House (arch. Jules Henri de Sibour, 1912), now office of the President of the Brookings Institution
The Brookings Institution, often stylized as Brookings, is an American think tank that conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics (and tax policy), metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, global econo ...
* 1800 Massachusetts Ave NW: office building (1979), now the Service Employees International Union
* 1369 Connecticut Ave NW: U.S. Trust Company building (arch. Jules Henri de Sibour, 1912), now SunTrust branch
* 1350 Connecticut Ave NW: Dupont Circle Building (arch. Mihran Mesrobian, 1931)
* 21 Dupont Circle NW: Euram Building (arch. Hartman-Cox, 1972)
* 1 Dupont Circle NW: office building (arch. Vlastimil Koubek, 1968), now the American Council on Education
The American Council on Education (ACE) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) U.S. higher education association established in 1918. ACE's members are the leaders of approximately 1,600 accredited, degree-granting colleges and universities and higher educati ...
* 2000 P Street NW: The Toronto apartment building (arch. Albert H. Beers, 1908)
* 2000 Massachusetts Ave NW: James G. Blaine Mansion (arch. George Fraser, 1881), now Phillips & Cohen LLP
* 2012 Massachusetts Ave NW: Joseph Beale House (arch. Glenn Brown, 1897), now Embassy of Portugal
* 2020 Massachusetts Ave NW: Walsh-McLean House (arch. Henry Andersen, 1903), now Embassy of Indonesia
* 2100 Massachusetts Ave NW: Fairfax Hotel (arch. B. Stanley Simmons, 1927)
* 2118 Massachusetts Ave NW: Larz Anderson House (arch. Arthur Little & Herbert W. C. Browne, 1905), now Society of the Cincinnati
The Society of the Cincinnati is a lineage society, fraternal, hereditary society founded in 1783 to commemorate the American Revolutionary War that saw the creation of the United States. Membership is largely restricted to descendants of milita ...
* 2122 Massachusetts Ave NW: State House apartment building (arch. Matthew G. Lepley, 1951)
* 2200 Massachusetts Ave NW: Alexander Stewart House (arch. Jules Henri de Sibour, 1909), now Embassy of Luxembourg[ now Embassy of Togo
* 2210 Massachusetts Ave NW: townhouse (arch. Louis D. Meline, 1901),][ now Embassy of Sudan
* 2212 Massachusetts Ave NW: townhouse (arch. Louis D. Meline, 1898)]
From Sheridan Circle to Observatory Circle
North Side
* 2223 Massachusetts Ave NW: American Society of International Law (arch. George Oakley Totten Jr., 1907)
* 2225 R St NW: Embassy of Armenia
* 2249 R St NW: C. Peyton Russell House (arch. Nathan C. Wyeth, 1908), now Embassy of Kenya
* 2251 R St NW: Frederick A. Keep House (arch. Nathan C. Wyeth, 1906), now residence of the Ambassador of Vietnam
* 2253 R St NW: Charles L. Fitzhugh House (arch. Waddy Wood, 1904), now residence of the Ambassador of the Philippines
* 2301 Massachusetts Ave NW: Joseph Beale House (arch. Glenn Brown, 1909), now residence of the Ambassador of Egypt
* 2305 Massachusetts Ave NW: Sarah S. Wyeth House (arch. Nathan C. Wyeth, 1909), now residence of the Ambassador of Chile
* 2311 Massachusetts Ave NW: Gibson Fahnestock House (arch. Nathan C. Wyeth, 1910), embassy of the Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
from 1952 to 1978, now Embassy of Haiti
* 2315 Massachusetts Ave NW: Francis B. Moran House (arch. George Oakley Totten Jr., 1909), formerly embassy of Persia/Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
(1935–43) then embassy of Pakistan (1951–2011)
* 2339 Massachusetts Ave NW: Wendell Mansions apartment building (arch. Edward Hughes Glidden, 1906)
* 2343 Massachusetts Ave NW: Former chancery of the embassy of Austria (arch. George Nicholas Ray, 1930), now Embassy of Croatia
* 2349 Massachusetts Ave NW: Christian Hauge House (arch. George Oakley Totten Jr., 1906), later embassy of Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
(1929–72) and now Embassy of Cameroon
* 2347 S Street NW: Owsley House (arch. Ward Brown, 1929), now residence of the Ambassador of the NetherlandsWilliam Hellmuth
Bill Hellmuth (June 3, 1953 – April 6, 2023) was an American architect who designed several notable projects worldwide. Since 2005, he had been president of Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum, HOK, a global architecture, engineering and planning fi ...
, 2008)
* 3421 Massachusetts Ave NW: house (1927), now Embassy of Iraq
South Side
* 1606 23rd St NW: Edward H. Everett House (arch. George Oakley Totten Jr., 1914), now residence of the Ambassador of Turkey
* 2304 Massachusetts Ave NW: house (arch. Louis D. Meline, 1901),[ now annex of the Embassy of Greece
* 2328 Massachusetts Ave NW: town house (arch. Donn and Deming, 1922)
* 2332-38 Massachusetts Ave NW: row of four townhouses (arch. Nicholas T. Haller, 1899)]Organization of American States
The Organization of American States (OAS or OEA; ; ; ) is an international organization founded on 30 April 1948 to promote cooperation among its member states within the Americas.
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, the OAS is ...
(1926)
* 3000 Whitehaven St NW: Embassy of Italy (arch. Piero Sartogo, 2000)
* 3025 Whitehaven St NW: Embassy of Sri Lanka
* 3200 Whitehaven St NW: Embassy of Denmark (1960)
* 3000 Massachusetts Ave NW: Robert S. McCormick House (arch. John Russell Pope, 1928), now residence of the Ambassador of Brazil
* 3006 Massachusetts Ave NW: Embassy of Brazil (arch. Olavo Redig de Campos, 1971)
* 3014 Massachusetts Ave NW: house (1941), now Embassy of Bolivia
* 3100 Massachusetts Ave NW: Embassy of the United Kingdom (arch. Edwin Lutyens
Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memorials ...
, 1931); chancery building (arch. Eric Bedford) added in the late 1950s.
* 3450 Massachusetts Ave NW: United States Naval Observatory
Statuary
The monumental setting of the Row has favored the erection of many memorials and statues. They are erected either on private grounds, many of them by the embassies to showcase a prominent national figure, or on public (federal) land following an Act of Congress
An act of Congress is a statute enacted by the United States Congress. Acts may apply only to individual entities (called Public and private bills, private laws), or to the general public (Public and private bills, public laws). For a Bill (law) ...
, including the successive Circles and several triangular parks created by the intersections between the diagonal avenue and the L'Enfant Plan grid. A special case is the statue of Winston Churchill, which has one foot on the grounds of the British Embassy and the other on federal land to symbolize the UK-US alliance.
* Samuel Hahnemann Monument on the eastern side of Scott Circle, by Charles Henry Niehaus (1900)
* Equestrian statue of Winfield Scott, by Henry Kirke Brown (1874)
* the Daniel Webster Memorial, by Gaetano Trentanove (1900)
* a modern bust of Miguel Grau in front of the Embassy of Peru (2011)
* a bust of Bernardo O'Higgins by Galvarino Ponce Morel, in front of the Embassy of Chile (2009)
* the Dupont Circle Fountain, by Daniel Chester French (1920)
* a statue of Hindu goddess Saraswati
Saraswati (, ), also spelled as Sarasvati, is one of the principal Devi, goddesses in Hinduism, revered as the goddess of knowledge, education, learning, arts, speech, poetry, music, purification, language and culture. Together with the godde ...
by a Bali
Bali (English:; Balinese language, Balinese: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller o ...
nese sculpting team, on the grounds of the Indonesian Embassy, with a group of three children including a young Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
in front (2013)
* the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial by Gautam Pal, in front of the Indian Embassy (2000)
* a bronze cast of George Washington by Jean-Antoine Houdon, in front of the Society of the Cincinnati
The Society of the Cincinnati is a lineage society, fraternal, hereditary society founded in 1783 to commemorate the American Revolutionary War that saw the creation of the United States. Membership is largely restricted to descendants of milita ...
(2008). (This statue was moved away in June 2020.)
* the statue of Tomas Masaryk, by Vincenc Makovský (1937, cast 1968, erected 2002)
* a copy in reduced size of the 1969 bronze statue of Eleftherios Venizelos by Yannis Pappas, now in Freedom Park in Athens, erected in front of the Embassy of Greece in Washington, D.C., Greek Embassy (2009)
* the statue of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk by Jeffery L. Hall, in front of the Turkish Embassy, Washington, D.C., Turkish Ambassador's residence (2013)
* Equestrian statue of Philip Sheridan (Washington, D.C.), Equestrian statue of Philip Sheridan, by Gutzon Borglum (1908)
* the Statue of Soh Jaipil, statue of Philip Jaisohn in front of the Embassy of South Korea in Washington, D.C., South Korean Consular Section, by Jae-kil Lee (2008)
* a bust of Orlando Letelier commemorating his Assassination of Orlando Letelier, assassination, by Barry Woods Johnston, in front of the residence of the Ambassador of Chile (2018)
* the St. Jerome the Priest (Meštrović), statue of St Jerome by Ivan Meštrović, in front of the Embassy of Croatia, Washington, D.C., Croatian Embassy (1954, relocated c. 1998)
* a cast of Allow Me by John Seward Johnson II, Seward Johnson, in front of the house on 2346 Massachusetts Ave NW (1984)
* the Robert Emmet (Connor), statue of Robert Emmet, by Jerome Connor (1916, relocated 1966)
* an abstract sculpture by Dong-koo Yun in front of the Korean Embassy (2000)
* another statue of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, this one cast in fiberglass by Ragıp Çiçen, donated by İbrahim Fırtına and standing inside the Turkish Embassy, Washington, D.C., Turkish Embassy (2004)
* the statue of Winston Churchill by William McVey (sculptor), William McVey, in front of the British Embassy (1966)
* the Statue of Nelson Mandela (Washington, D.C.), statue of Nelson Mandela by Jean Doyle, in front of the Embassy of South Africa, Washington, D.C., South African Embassy (2013)
Other embassies in Washington, D.C.
In the immediate vicinity of Embassy Row, many other embassies and diplomatic residences are located within one or two blocks of Massachusetts Avenue on cross streets, particularly R, S, and 22nd Streets NW near Sheridan Circle, and in the Kalorama neighborhood north of Embassy Row. The section of New Hampshire Avenue NW north of Dupont Circle
Dupont Circle is a historic roundabout park and Neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., neighborhood of Washington, D.C., located in Northwest (Washington, D.C.), Northwest D.C. The Dupont Circle neighborhood is bounded approximately by 16th St ...
alone is home to the embassies of Embassy of Argentina, Washington, D.C., Argentina, Embassy of Belarus in Washington, D.C., Belarus, Embassy of Botswana in Washington, D.C., Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Embassy of Eritrea in Washington, D.C., Eritrea, Embassy of Eswatini, Washington, D.C., Eswatini, Grenada–United States relations, Grenada, Embassy of Jamaica, Washington, D.C., Jamaica, Embassy of Montenegro in Washington, D.C., Montenegro, Embassy of Mozambique in Washington, D.C., Mozambique, Embassy of Namibia in Washington, D.C., Namibia, Embassy of Nicaragua in Washington, D.C., Nicaragua, Embassy of Rwanda in Washington, D.C., Rwanda, and Embassy of Zimbabwe, Washington, D.C., Zimbabwe.
In the early days of Washington, D.C., most diplomats and ambassadors lived on or around Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C., Lafayette Square. The first purpose-designed embassy building in Washington was the embassy of the United Kingdom on 1300 Connecticut Avenue, immediately south of Embassy Row, built in 1872 by Edward Thornton (diplomat), Sir Edward Thornton on John Fraser's design, and demolished in 1931. Thornton's choice of location, at a time when Dupont Circle
Dupont Circle is a historic roundabout park and Neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., neighborhood of Washington, D.C., located in Northwest (Washington, D.C.), Northwest D.C. The Dupont Circle neighborhood is bounded approximately by 16th St ...
was still almost entirely undeveloped, may be considered the origin of Embassy Row as a diplomatic neighborhood.
In the first three decades of the 20th century, several European legations gathered farther northeast, on a section of 16th Street NW (Washington, D.C.), 16th Street near Meridian Hill Park. This area was specifically developed by local resident Mary Foote Henderson to attract embassies, and she even aimed at having the residences of the U.S. president and vice-president relocated there. However, the neighborhood was hit hard by the Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
, and Embassy Row became a comparatively more attractive location for diplomats in the following decade. Former embassy buildings in the Meridian Hill area include those of France (arch. George Oakley Totten Jr., 1907, now the Child Development Associate, Council for Professional Recognition); Mexico (arch. Nathan C. Wyeth, 1911, now the Mexican Cultural Institute); the Netherlands (arch. George Oakley Totten Jr., 1922, now the Embassy of Ecuador in Washington, D.C., Embassy of Ecuador); Spain (arch. George Oakley Totten Jr., 1923 and addition by Jules Henri de Sibour, 1927; now the Spain-USA Foundation); Egypt (arch. George Oakley Totten Jr., 1924, now Meridian Hall (Washington, D.C.), Meridian Hall); Italy (arch. Warren and Wetmore, 1925, currently under redevelopment); and Brazil (arch. George Oakley Totten Jr., 1927, later embassy of Hungary and now the Josephine Butler Parks Center). The embassies of Embassy of Cuba in Washington, D.C., Cuba (arch. Macneil & Macneil, 1918), Embassy of Lithuania in Washington, D.C., Lithuania (arch. George Oakley Totten Jr., 1909), and Embassy of Poland, Washington, D.C., Poland (arch. George Oakley Totten Jr., 1910) are still located in the Meridian Hill neighborhood. A bit further up 16th Street, the Embassy Building No. 10, built in the late 1920s, never actually served as an embassy despite being designed as one.
A high-security enclave in Forest Hills (Washington, D.C.), Van Ness, one mile north of the Naval Observatory on the federally owned former grounds of the National Bureau of Standards in Cleveland Park, was developed from 1968 as the International Chancery Center. It is home to the embassies of Embassy of Austria, Washington, D.C., Austria, Embassy of Bahrain in Washington, D.C., Bahrain, Embassy of Bangladesh in Washington, D.C., Bangladesh, Embassy of Brunei, Washington, D.C., Brunei, Embassy of People's Republic of China in Washington, D.C., China, Embassy of Egypt in Washington, D.C., Egypt, Embassy of Ethiopia, Washington, D.C., Ethiopia, Embassy of Ghana in Washington, D.C., Ghana, Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C., Israel, Embassy of Jordan, Washington, D.C., Jordan, Embassy of Kuwait in Washington, D.C., Kuwait, Embassy of Malaysia, Washington, D.C., Malaysia, Embassy of Morocco, Washington, D.C., Morocco, Embassy of Monaco in Washington, D.C., Monaco, Embassy of Nigeria, Washington, D.C., Nigeria, Embassy of Pakistan, Washington, D.C., Pakistan, Embassy of Singapore, Washington, D.C., Singapore, Embassy of Slovakia, Washington, D.C., Slovakia, and the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, Washington, D.C., United Arab Emirates.
See also
* Charles Carroll Glover
* List of diplomatic missions in Washington, D.C.
References
External links
United States Department of the Treasury: List of addresses of foreign embassies and consulates in the U.S.
— ''maintained for the International Trade Data System initiative'' (archived February 10, 2005)
{{Authority control
Embassy Row,
Diplomatic districts
Diplomatic missions in Washington, D.C.
Massachusetts Avenue (Washington, D.C.)
Neighborhoods in Northwest (Washington, D.C.)