Massachusetts Avenue (Washington, D.C.)

Massachusetts Avenue at the intersection of 3rd and H Streets, NW

A residential area along Massachusetts Avenue on Capitol Hill

The intersection of 13th Street and Massachusetts Avenue, NW near Thomas Circle

The main section of Massachusetts Avenue begins at 19th Street Southeast, just to the west of the former District of Columbia General Hospital site and one block north of Congressional Cemetery. At elevation with respect to the hospital, Massachusetts Avenue commands a view of the Anacostia River. It proceeds in a northwesterly direction crosstown. At Lincoln Park the road enters Northeast D.C. and the neighborhood of Capitol Hill.

After briefly converging with Columbus Circle as it curves around Union Station, Massachusetts 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, realtors sometimes give this area the moniker NoMa (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 in front of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Continuing northwest, Massachusetts enters an underpass below Thomas Circle at 14th and M Streets NW, before curving around Scott Circle at 16th and N Streets NW; this is considered the starting point of Embassy Row.

Massachusetts Avenue passes through the inner ring of Dupont Circle and curves north at Sheridan Circle, paralleling Rock Creek to Belmont Road NW. After crossing Rock Creek over the Charles C. Glover Bridge, it curves around the United States Naval Observatory and Number One Observatory Circle, the official residence of the Vice President of the United States, which forms the southwest boundary of the Massachusetts Heights neighborhood. The Washington National Cathedral, located at the intersection of Mass and Wisconsin Avenues, is usually considered the end of Embassy Row.

At Ward Circle, Massachusetts Avenue delineates the American University Park neighborhood from Spring Valley, passing to the north of American University. It crosses the border between Washington, D.C. and Montgomery County, Maryland at Westmoreland Circle. In Maryland, the road continues signed as State Highway 396, waving through residential sections of Bethesda until terminating at Goldsboro Road, also known as Maryland State Highway 614. Another section of Massachusetts Avenue, discontinuous from this one, lies on the east side of the Anacostia River. 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.

Other notable institutions located on Massachusetts Avenue include the Postal Square Building, which houses the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Postal Museum, The Heritage Foundation, Georgetown University Law Center, the Islamic Center of Washington, the Cato Institute, the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), the Brookings Institution, the Peterson Institute, St. Nicholas Cathedral, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Numerous embassies and residences are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation maintains its headquarters on Massachusetts Avenue.

Private residences and embassies on Massachusetts Avenue in the Kalorama neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

The track of the avenue was not paved until the administration of Alexander Robey Shepherd in the early 1870s. It was extended beyond Boundary Road (now Florida Avenue) in the 1880s, and beyond Rock Creek up to Wisconsin Avenue after 1900. The District Commissioners approved extending it to the District line in 1906, 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] Residential development along Massachusetts Avenue accelerated in the 1870s, mostly around the circles located west of 9th Street NW. These brick and brownstone structures reflected the Queen Anne and Richardsonian Romanesque styles in vogue at the time. Later, luxurious Georgian Revival and Beaux-Arts mansions inhabited by wealthy and influential Washingtonians sprouted along the boulevard. The section between Sheridan Circle and Scott Circle became known as "Millionaires' Row".

The Great Depression forced many to relinquish their homes on Millionaires' Row. After World War II, 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 Embassy Row.

Several overlapping historic district have been created to preserve the character of the remaining neighborhoods. The Massachusetts Avenue Historic District encompasses all buildings which front the road between 17th Street and Observatory Circle NW.

While no Washington Metro lines run along Massachusetts Avenue, the Metrobus N routes serve upper Northwest while a patchwork of routes serve Downtown, Northeast, and Southeast.

• Charles C. Glover
• Embassy Row

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Massachusetts Avenue (Washington, D.C.).

• DC Preservation League. Massachusetts Avenue Historic District. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
• "Massachusetts Avenue Historic District". District of Columbia Office of Planning.
• Washington Places: Massachusetts Avenue at the Wayback Machine (archived April 25, 2015), a project at the University of Virginia School of Architecture
• National Park Service: Massachusetts Avenue Historic District Archived 2005-03-07 at the Wayback Machine
• Embassy.org Embassy Row Tour