![Taft Bridge Lion](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Taft_Bridge_Lion.jpg)
The Taft Bridge (also known as the Connecticut Avenue Bridge or William Howard Taft Bridge) is a historic
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
located in the
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—each sep ...
quadrant of
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
It carries
Connecticut Avenue
Connecticut Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C., and suburban Montgomery County, Maryland. It is one of the diagonal avenues radiating from the White House, and the segment south of Florida Avenue was on ...
over the Rock Creek gorge, including
Rock Creek and the
Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway
The Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway, informally called the Rock Creek Parkway, is a parkway maintained by the National Park Service as part of Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C. It runs next to the Potomac River and Rock Creek in a generally n ...
, connecting the neighborhoods of
Woodley Park
Woodley Park is a neighborhood in Northwest, Washington, DC. It is bounded on the north by Woodley Road and Klingle Road, on the east by the National Zoo and Rock Creek Park, on the south by Calvert Street, on the southwest by Cleveland Avenue, a ...
and
Kalorama. It is named after former United States president and Supreme Court Chief Justice
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...
, and sits to the southwest of the
Duke Ellington Bridge
The Duke Ellington Bridge, named after American jazz pianist Duke Ellington, carries Calvert Street NW over Rock Creek in Washington, D.C., United States. It connects 18th Street NW in Adams Morgan with Connecticut Avenue NW in Woodley Park, ju ...
.
Four statues of lions by sculptor Roland Hinton Perry, known as the Perry Lions, are placed in pairs at both ends of the bridge. On July 3, 2003, the Taft Bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
.[
]
History
The Classical Revival
Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing style ...
bridge was built from 1897 to 1907. It was designed by engineer George S. Morison and architect Edward Pearce Casey.[ It is an ]arch bridge
An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side. A viaduct ...
with unreinforced concrete
Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...
arches and a reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...
deck. The total length of the bridge is . It has been called an "engineering tour de force" and the largest unreinforced concrete structure in the world. In 1931, the bridge was renamed in honor of U.S. President
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...
, who frequently walked the bridge while Chief Justice of the United States.
During early planning for the Washington Metro
The Washington Metro (or simply Metro), formally the Metrorail,[Google Books search/preview ...](_blank)
in the 1960s, the Red Line was slated to run across the bridge to connect Dupont Circle and Woodley Park. Instead, the metro was built underground.
Perry Lions
The bridge is "guarded" by four large male lions, two on each end of the bridge (each about 7 ft. x 6 ft. 6 in. x 13 ft.). Two of the lions rest on all fours with their heads tilted upwards and mouths slightly open while the other pair lie with their eyes closed, apparently sleeping. They were originally designed and sculpted by Roland Hinton Perry in 1906 out of cast concrete (the bridge as a whole is one of the first cast concrete bridges in the country) and were installed in 1907.
In 1964 the lions were restored and weatherproofed by Washington-based sculptor Renato Luccetti
Renatus is a first name of Latin origin which means " born again" (natus = born). In Italian, Portuguese and Spanish it exists in masculine and feminine forms: Renato and Renata. In French they have been translated to René and Renée. Renata i ...
, although this restoration proved to be less than entirely successful. When a major rehabilitation of the bridge began in 1993, the lions, which were in very bad condition, were removed for further restoration. They are currently stored in the Air Rights Tunnel on southbound I-395. The sculptures were finally found to be beyond restoring.
The United States Commission of Fine Arts
The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) is an independent agency of the federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the U ...
worked with the city in the late 1990s to oversee the production of the replacement lions that now sit on the bridge. The sculptor Reinaldo Lopez-Carrizo Reinaldo is a Spanish and Portuguese language given name for males (the English form is Reynold). It may refer to:
Football
*Reinaldo Merlo (born 1950), Argentine former footballer and manager
* Reinaldo Gomes (born 1954), Portuguese football strik ...
of Professional Restoration produced molds based on the existing sculptures and photographs, and used them to cast new concrete lion sculptures that were installed on the bridge in July and August 2000. The same molds were used to cast bronze lions installed at the main pedestrian entrance to the National Zoo farther north on Connecticut Avenue in 2002. The white lion in the lobby of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts is a quarter-size replica from that effort.
Bairstow Eagle Lampposts
Twenty-four lampposts are equally spaced along both sides of the Taft Bridge. Created by sculptor Ernest Bairstow in 1906, the lampposts are composed of concrete bases (about 5 feet high, 8 inches deep and four feet wide) with painted iron lampposts (about 17 feet high and 4 wide) set in them. The pedestals are decorated with garland and a fluted column featuring acanthus leaves at the top and bottom. Above the leaves is a horizontal bracket with two globes hanging from each side of the column. Each lamppost is topped with a painted iron eagle
Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...
with its wings spread.
A replica of the Bairstow eagles is seen in a World War I monument in Middletown, Delaware
Middletown is a town in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. According to the 2010 Census, the population of the town is 18,871.
Geography and climate
Middletown is located at (39.4495560, –75.7163207) with an elevation of .
According t ...
.
Gallery
File:Conn ave bridge 2.JPG, Eagle Lampposts
File:Taft - lamp posts.JPG, Eagle Lampposts
File:Taft Bridge - facing south.JPG, Bridge from the south with Lampposts
File:Perry Lion Front.jpg, Perry Lion at the Bridge
File:Perry Lions.JPG, Full length view of a Perry Lion
File:Perry Lion National Zoo Proper Left.jpg, Lion at the National Zoo
File:Perry Lion National Zoo Head Down.jpg, Lion at the National Zoo
See also
* List of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in Washington, D.C.
* List of bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C.
*
* Architecture of Washington, D.C.
References
Further reading
* J. Goode, ''Washington Sculpture'', The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008. , A cultural history of outdoor sculpture in the Nation's capital.
* Williams, Paul K., Gregory J. Alexander, & Gregory V. Alexander. ''Woodley Park'' Arcadia Publishing, 2003.
External links
*
*
1911 Postcard of Connecticut Avenue Bridge
- Ghosts of DC blog
{{Authority control
1907 establishments in Washington, D.C.
Bridges completed in 1907
Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C.
Buildings and monuments honoring American presidents in the United States
Bridges over Rock Creek (Potomac River tributary)
Historic American Engineering Record in Washington, D.C.
Neoclassical architecture in Washington, D.C.
Open-spandrel deck arch bridges in the United States
Concrete bridges in the United States
Sculptures of lions
Sculptures by Roland Hinton Perry