Massachusetts Avenue is a major diagonal transverse road in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, and the Massachusetts Avenue Historic District is a

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...

that includes part of it. Massachusetts Avenue was part of

Pierre Charles L'Enfant Pierre "Peter" Charles L'Enfant (; August 2, 1754June 14, 1825) was a French-American artist, professor, and military engineer. In 1791, L'Enfant designed the baroque-styled plan for the development of Washington, D.C., after it was designated ...

's original plan for the development of Washington, D.C. The avenue crosses three of Washington, D.C.'s four

quadrants Quadrant may refer to: Companies * Quadrant Cycle Company, 1899 manufacturers in Britain of the Quadrant motorcar * Quadrant (motorcycles), one of the earliest British motorcycle manufacturers, established in Birmingham in 1901 * Quadrant Privat ...

. It intersects every major north–south street and passes numerous Washington landmarks. Massachusetts Avenue represents the northern boundary of

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

and the city's

Embassy Row Embassy Row is the informal name for a section of Northwest Washington, D.C., with a high concentration of embassies, diplomatic missions, and diplomatic residences. It spans Massachusetts Avenue N.W. between 18th and 35th street, bounded ...

. Massachusetts Avenue is tied with

Pennsylvania Avenue Pennsylvania Avenue is a primarily diagonal street in Washington, D.C. that connects the United States Capitol with the White House and then crosses northwest Washington, D.C. to Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown. Traveling through So ...

as the widest road in Washington, D.C., at . 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 named

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

and

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, two states that played a leading role in securing American independence in the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

and the subsequent Revolutionary War. The historic district is an area in Northwest Washington, D.C. that includes 150

contributing buildings In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic dist ...

and three

contributing structures In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distr ...

. In 1985, Massachusetts Avenue was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. It includes multiple properties that are individually listed on the National Register.

Route description

The main section of Massachusetts Avenue begins at 19th Street

Southeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, ...

, just to the west of the former

District of Columbia General Hospital The District of Columbia General Hospital was a hospital located in the Hill East neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It was operational from 1806 to its controversial closing by mayor Anthony A. Williams in 2001 as the city was trying to cut costs ...

site and one block north of

Congressional Cemetery The Congressional Cemetery, officially Washington Parish Burial Ground, is a historic and active cemetery located at 1801 E Street in Washington, D.C., in the Hill East neighborhood on the west bank of the Anacostia River. It is the only American ...

. At the hospital, Massachusetts Avenue commands a view of the

Anacostia River The Anacostia River is a river in the Mid-Atlantic states, Mid Atlantic region of the United States. It flows from Prince George's County, Maryland, Prince George's County in Maryland into Washington, D.C., where it joins with the Washington Ch ...

. It proceeds in a northwesterly direction crosstown. At 14th Street SE, it enters the neighborhood of

Capitol Hill Capitol Hill is a neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., neighborhood in Washington, D.C., located in both the Northeast, Washington, D.C., Northeast and Southeast, Washington, D.C., Southeast quadrants. It is bounded by 14th Street SE & NE, F S ...

and

Lincoln Park Lincoln Park is a park along Lake Michigan on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Named after US president Abraham Lincoln, it is the city's largest public park and stretches for from Grand Avenue (500 N), on the south, to near Ardmore Avenu ...

in Northeast Washington, D.C. After briefly converging with

Columbus Circle Columbus Circle is a traffic circle and heavily trafficked intersection in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan, located at the intersection of Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eighth Avenue, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway, ...

as it curves around

Washington Union Station Washington Union Station, known locally as Union Station, is a major train station, transportation hub, and leisure destination in Washington, D.C. Designed by Daniel Burnham and opened in 1907, it is Amtrak's second-busiest station and North ...

, Massachusetts Avenue enters Northwest 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 acronym

SoHo SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, realtors sometimes refer to this area as

NoMa Noma, NoMa, or NOMA may refer to: Places * NoMa, the area North of Massachusetts Avenue in Washington, D.C., US ** NoMa–Gallaudet U station, on Washington Metro * Noma, Florida, US * NOMA, Manchester, a redevelopment in England * Noma District, ...

, standing for north of Massachusetts Avenue. It intersects with Interstate 395, which runs underground at that point, at H Street NW, and passes over

Mount Vernon Square Mount Vernon Square is a town square, city square and neighborhood in the Northwest (Washington, D.C.), Northwest Address (geography)#Quadrants, quadrant of Washington, D.C. The square is located where the following streets would otherwise inters ...

in front of the

Walter E. Washington Convention Center The Walter E. Washington Convention Center is a convention center located in Washington, D.C., owned and operated by the city's convention arm, Events DC. Designed in a joint venture by the Atlanta-based architecture firm Tvsdesign, Washington ...

. Continuing northwest, Massachusetts enters an underpass below

Thomas Circle Thomas Circle is a traffic circle in Northwest Washington, D.C., United States. It is located at the intersection of 14th Street, M Street, Massachusetts Avenue, and Vermont Avenue NW. A portion of Massachusetts Avenue travels through a tunne ...

at 14th and M Streets NW, before curving around

Scott Circle Scott Circle is an area in the northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. that is centred on the junction of Massachusetts Avenue, Rhode Island Avenue, and 16th Street, N.W. Originally a neighborhood recreational area like nearby Dupont Circle, Sc ...

at 16th and N Streets NW; this is considered the starting point of

. Massachusetts Avenue passes through the inner ring 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 ...

and curves north at

Sheridan Circle Sheridan Circle is a traffic circle and park in the Sheridan-Kalorama neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The traffic circle, one of two in the neighborhood, is the intersection of 23rd Street NW, Massachusetts Avenue NW, and R Street NW. The buil ...

, paralleling Rock Creek to Belmont Road NW. After crossing Rock Creek over

Charles C. Glover Memorial Bridge The Charles C. Glover Memorial Bridge or Massachusetts Avenue Bridge in Washington, D.C. (northwest), Northwest Washington, D.C. conveys Massachusetts Avenue (Washington, D.C.), Massachusetts Avenue over Rock Creek (Potomac River), Rock Creek an ...

, it curves around the

United States Naval Observatory The United States Naval Observatory (USNO) is a scientific and military facility that produces geopositioning, navigation and timekeeping data for the United States Navy and the United States Department of Defense. Established in 1830 as the ...

and

Number One Observatory Circle Number One Observatory Circle is the official residence of the vice president of the United States. Located on the grounds of the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., the house was built in 1893 for the observatory's superintendent. The ...

, the

official residence An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless of whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority (either their own or that of th ...

of the

vice President of the United States The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest ranking office in the Executive branch of the United States government, executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks f ...

, which forms the southwest boundary of the

Massachusetts Heights Massachusetts Heights is a small neighborhood in 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 ...

neighborhood.

Washington National Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Episcopal Diocese of Washington, commonly known as Washington National Cathedral or National Cathedral, is a cathedral of the Episcopal Church. The cathedral is located in Wa ...

, located at the intersection of Massachusetts and

Wisconsin Avenue Wisconsin Avenue is a major thoroughfare in Washington, D.C., and its Maryland suburbs. The southern terminus begins in Georgetown just north of the Potomac River, at an intersection with K Street under the elevated Whitehurst Freeway. Wisco ...

s, is usually considered the end of

. At

Ward Circle Ward Circle is a traffic circle at the intersection of Nebraska and Massachusetts Avenues in Northwest, Washington, D.C. The circle, totaling , is owned and administered by the National Park Service through its Rock Creek Park unit. On three s ...

, Massachusetts Avenue delineates the

American University Park American University Park is a Neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., neighborhood of Washington, D.C., named for American University. AU Park, as it is often abbreviated, is situated against the Maryland border in the Northwest, Washington, D.C., No ...

neighborhood from Spring Valley, passing to the north of

American University The American University (AU or American) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Its main campus spans 90-acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, in the Spri ...

. It crosses the border between Washington, D.C. and

Montgomery County, Maryland Montgomery County is the most populous County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 United States census, the county's population was 1,062,061, increasing by 9.3% from 2010. The county seat is Rockville, Maryland ...

at Westmoreland Circle. In

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, the road continues signed as

Maryland Route 396 Maryland Route 396 (MD 396) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known as Massachusetts Avenue, the highway runs from Maryland Route 614, MD 614 southeast to Westmoreland Circle near the District of Columbia boundary in Bethesda, ...

, waving through residential sections of Bethesda until terminating at Goldsboro Road, also known as

Maryland Route 614 Maryland Route 614 (MD 614) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known as Goldsboro Road, the state highway runs from MacArthur Boulevard near Glen Echo north to MD 191 in Bethesda in southwestern Montgomery County. MD 614 was ...

. Another section of Massachusetts Avenue, discontinuous from this one, lies on the east side of the

. That section extends from 30th Street SE near District of Columbia Route 295, to Southern Avenue SE at the border between Washington, D.C. and

Prince George's County Prince George's County (often shortened to PG County or PG) is located in the U.S. state of Maryland bordering the eastern portion of Washington, D.C. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 967,201, making it the second-most populous ...

Notable institutions

Several notable institutions are located on Massachusetts Avenue, including: *

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 ...

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 ...

Cato Institute The Cato Institute is an American libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Ed Crane, Murray Rothbard, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Industries.Koch ...

Georgetown University Law Center Georgetown University Law Center is the Law school in the United States, law school of Georgetown University, a Private university, private research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law ...

Islamic Center of Washington The Islamic Center of Washington is a mosque and Islamic cultural center in Washington, D.C. It is located on Embassy Row on Massachusetts Avenue just east of the bridge over Rock Creek. When it opened in 1957, it was the largest mosque in the ...

National Trust for Historic Preservation The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 ...

Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies The School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) is a graduate school of Johns Hopkins University based in Washington, D.C. The school also maintains campuses in Bologna, Italy and Nanjing, China. The school is devoted to the study of int ...

Peterson Institute The Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), known until 2006 as the Institute for International Economics (IIE), is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. It was founded by C. Fred Bergsten in 1981 and has been led by A ...

Postal Square Building The Postal Square Building, formerly the City Post Office, served as the main post office for the city of Washington, D.C., from the building's completion in 1914 to 1986. It now houses the National Postal Museum, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, ...

, which houses the

Bureau of Labor Statistics The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is a unit of the United States Department of Labor. It is the principal fact-finding agency for the government of the United States, U.S. government in the broad field of labor economics, labor economics and ...

and the

National Postal Museum The National Postal Museum, located in Washington, D.C., is the primary postal museum of the United States. It covers large portions of the postal history of the United States and other countries. It was established through joint agreement be ...

* St Nicholas Cathedral *

The Heritage Foundation The Heritage Foundation (or simply Heritage) is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1973, it took a leading role in the conservative movement in the 1980s during the Presi ...

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 the

History

19th century

The track of the avenue was not paved until the administration of

Alexander Robey Shepherd Alexander Robey Shepherd (January 30, 1835 – September 12, 1902) was an American politician and businessman who was the 2nd Governor of the District of Columbia from 1873 to 1874. He was one of the most controversial and influential civic lead ...

in the early 1870s. It was extended beyond Boundary Road, now

Florida Avenue Florida Avenue is a major street in Washington, D.C. It was originally named Boundary Street, because it formed the northern boundary of the Federal City under the 1791 L'Enfant Plan. With the growth of the city beyond its original borders, B ...

, in the 1880s, and beyond Rock Creek to Wisconsin Avenue after 1900. In 1906, the District Commissioners approved extending it to the

District A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

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.Approve Street Extensions
". ''The Washington Post''. January 3, 1906. p. 11. In the 1870s, residential development accelerated on Massachusetts Avenue, mostly around the circles located west of 9th Street NW. These

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

and

brownstone Brownstone is a brown Triassic–Jurassic sandstone that was historically a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States and Canada to refer to a townhouse clad in this or any other aesthetically similar material. Ty ...

structures reflected the Queen Anne and

Richardsonian Romanesque Richardsonian Romanesque is a architectural style, style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revivalism (architecture), revival style incorporates 11th- and 12th-century ...

styles in vogue at the time. Luxurious

Georgian Revival Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover, George I, George II, Ge ...

and Beaux-Arts mansions on Massachusetts Avenuewere late inhabited by wealthy and influential Washingtonians. The section between

and

became known as "Millionaires' Row".

20th century

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 ...

forced many to relinquish their homes on Millionaires' Row. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Massachusetts Avenue was seen as less fashionable than newer areas such as upper 16th 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 as

. Several overlapping

historic districts A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from ce ...

have been created to preserve the character of the remaining neighborhoods. The Massachusetts Avenue Historic District encompasses the buildings between 17th Street and

Observatory Circle Observatory Circle is a street and neighborhood in Washington, D.C. The street runs from Calvert Street to Massachusetts Avenue near 34th Street. Established in 1894, the street follows an incomplete loop, forming an arc rather than a circle. ...

on Massachusetts Avenue NW.

Transit

While no

Washington Metro The Washington Metro, often abbreviated as the Metro and formally the Metrorail, is a rapid transit system serving the Washington metropolitan area of the United States. It is administered by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority ...

lines run along Massachusetts Avenue, the

Metrobus Metrobus may refer to: Transport services Bus Rapid Transit *MetroBus (Bristol), a bus rapid transit system in Bristol, England, United Kingdom *Metrobus (Buenos Aires), a bus rapid transit system in Buenos Aires, Argentina *Metrobus (Istanbul), a ...

N routes serve upper Northwest while a patchwork of routes serve

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

, Northeast, and Southeast.

Metrobus

The following

routes travel along the street (listed from west to east): * N4 (Dupont Circle to Westmoreland Circle) * N6 (Dupont Circle to Westmoreland Circle, making a clockwise-only loop each direction between Idaho Avenue westbound/Cathedral Avenue eastbound and Ward Circle. Runs on weekends and weekdays after 8 PM to replace N2 and N4 service) * N2 (Dupont Circle to Idaho Avenue westbound/Cathedral Avenue eastbound, crossing again at Ward Circle) * 80 (North Capitol Street to 2nd Street NW westbound/H Street NW eastbound) * D6 (Stanton Park to North Capitol St.) * X8 (Stanton Park to Columbus Circle) * 96 (D.C. General Hospital to New Jersey Ave NW) * M6 (Alabama Ave to Southern Ave)

Far western and eastern ends

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.

Washington Metro

The following

Metrorail METRORail is the light rail system in Houston, Texas (United States). In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of . METRORail ranks as the second most-traveled light rail system in the Southern United States and the List ...

stations have stops located near Massachusetts Avenue: *

Union Station A union station, union terminal, joint station, or joint-use station is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway company, railway companies, allowing passengers to connect conveniently bet ...

* Stadium-Armory

Commuter rail

, which is served by

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

MARC Marc or MARC may refer to: People * Marc (given name), people with the first name * Marc (surname), people with the family name Acronyms * MARC standards, a data format used for library cataloging, * MARC Train, a regional commuter rail system ...

, and

Virginia Railway Express Virginia Railway Express (VRE) is a commuter rail service that connects outlying small cities of Northern Virginia to Washington Union Station in Washington, D.C. It operates two lines which run during weekday rush hour only: the Fredericksbur ...

trains, is located on Massachusetts Avenue at Columbus Circle. * Amtrak: * MARC: * VRE:

References

External links

* * *, a project at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

School of Architecture *

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

Massachusetts Avenue Historic District

Embassy.org Embassy Row Tour
{{Authority control 1871 establishments in Washington, D.C. Dupont Circle Embassy Row Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C. Roads on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C. Streets in Washington, D.C.