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Logan Circle (Washington, D.C.)
Encyclopedia
Logan Circle is a traffic circle
, neighborhood, and historic district
in the Northwest quadrant
of Washington, D.C.
The primarily residential neighborhood includes two historic districts, properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places
, and sites designated D.C. Historic Landmarks. It is the last major circle in the District that remains entirely residential.
, present-day Logan Circle was home to Camp Barker, former barracks
converted into a refugee camp
for newly freed slaves from nearby Virginia
and Maryland
. In the 1870s, streets, elm
trees, and other amenities were installed by Washington Mayor Alexander Robey Shepherd
, who encouraged the development of the area. Streetcar
tracks were laid into what was then a very swampy area north of downtown
Washington, to encourage development of the original Washington City Plan. As a result, the area saw development of successive blocks of Victorian
row houses marketed to the upper middle class, which sought to give Washington the reputation, modeled after Europe
an capitals, of a city of broad boulevard
s and well-manicured parks. Many of the larger and more ornate homes came with carriage house
s and attached servant's quarters, which were later converted to apartments and rooming houses as the upper middle class moved elsewhere.
Originally known as Iowa Circle, the park was renamed by Congress
in 1930 in honor of John A. Logan
, Commander of the Army of the Tennessee
during the Civil War, Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic
, and Representative
and Senator
for the state of Illinois
, who lived at 4 Logan Circle from 1885 until his death the following year. At the center of the circle stands a monument in honor of Logan, a bronze equestrian statue sculpted by Franklin Simmons
and a bronze statue base designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt
. On April 9, 1901, the 25 feet (7.6 m) monument was dedicated by President
William McKinley
, Senator Chauncey Depew
, and General Grenville M. Dodge
.
In the early 20th century, 14th Street NW
rose to prominence as a main shopping district for both black and white Washingtonians on the edge of downtown Washington D.C., and became known as an area for auto showrooms. Further north, "14th and U" became synonymous with a large African American community, later known as Shaw
, encompassing parts of Logan Circle and U Street
to the north. Segregation marked the emergence of this large area of well-preserved Victorian row houses as a predominately African-American community; the unofficial dividing line was 16th Street NW
, several blocks to the west, with Logan Circle and its older homes sandwiched in between. During this period, the original Victorian homes in the area were subdivided into apartments, hostels, and rooming houses. The end of segregation saw a period of middle class flight from the area, punctuated by the 1968 Washington, D.C. riots
, which devastated the 14th Street commercial corridor.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Logan Circle, although dominated by Victorian homes which had survived mostly untouched by redevelopment or riots, was considered by many unsafe due to overt drug use
and prostitution
that existed in the neighborhood. During this period, property values in the area increased, while issues of homelessness in the area came to the forefront; 14th Street, NW became widely viewed as Washington's red light district
. It also became a haven for theater companies.
and housing costs sharply increased after derelict buildings were torn down or remodeled. The commercial corridors along 14th Street
and P Street underwent significant revitalization
, and are now home to a variety of retailers
, restaurants, art galleries
, live theater
, and nightlife
venues such as Number Nine, a gay bar
catering to the neighborhood's large LGBT
population. A watershed event in the development of the neighborhood was the opening of a Whole Foods Market
two blocks from Logan Circle in December 2000, on a site previously occupied by an abandoned service
garage
; it is now one of the chain's highest grossing markets. Gentrification in Logan Circle has resulted in a dramatic change of neighborhood demographics
; since the 1990s, thousands of white
young adults have moved into the neighborhood, while thousands of black
adults have moved out of the neighborhood.
neighborhoods, is bordered by S Street to the north, 10th Street to the east, 16th Street
to the west, and M Street
to the south. The traffic circle is the intersection of 13th Street, P Street, Rhode Island Avenue
, and Vermont Avenue. The National Park Service
maintains the land located within the traffic circle, a park measuring 360 feet (109.7 m) in diameter, furnished with wooden benches, decorative lampposts
, an iron fence, and concrete sidewalks.
The Logan Circle Historic District is an eight-block area surrounding the circle, containing 135 late-19th-century residences designed predominantly in the Late Victorian
and Richardsonian Romanesque
styles of architecture. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places
on June 30, 1972.
The former home
of Mary McLeod Bethune
, an African American
educator, author, and civil rights leader who founded the National Council of Negro Women
, is located at 1318 Vermont Avenue NW, one block south of the circle. The Second Empire-style building is a designated National Historic Site and houses the Mary McLeod Bethune Memorial Museum and the National Archives for Black Women's History.
are considered historically significant because they represent residential and commercial development resulting from one of the earliest streetcar lines in Washington, D.C., the 14th Street streetcar line, installed by the Capital Traction Company
in the 1880s.
The oldest house of worship
in the Fourteenth Street Historic District is Luther Place Memorial Church
, built 1870–1873, an ELCA Lutheran church situated on the north side of Thomas Circle
. Originally known as Memorial Evangelical Lutheran Church of Washington, D.C., the building was renamed in 1884 after a bronze statue of Martin Luther
was installed on the church's property. Luther Place Memorial Church was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 16, 1973.
The Gladstone and Hawarden
, designed by architect George S. Cooper in 1900, are early examples of Washington, D.C.'s middle class
apartment houses. Named for Prime Minister
William Ewart Gladstone
and his estate Hawarden Castle
, they are the first documented twin apartment buildings in Washington, D.C. The Gladstone and Hawarden were added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 7, 1994.
, flamboyant founder of the United House of Prayer For All People
; John A. Lankford, the first African American architect in Washington, D.C.; Belford Lawson, Jr.
, lead attorney in the landmark case New Negro Alliance v. Sanitary Grocery Co.
; Alain LeRoy Locke
, the first African American Rhodes Scholar
and central figure in the Harlem Renaissance
; Mary Jane Patterson
, the first African American woman to earn a bachelor's degree
; Ella Watson, subject of Gordon Parks
's famous photograph American Gothic, Washington, D.C.; and James Lesesne Wells, noted graphic artist
and longtime art instructor at Howard University
.
The "Watermelon House" is an unofficial neighborhood landmark that features a watermelon
mural
painted on the side of a 19th-century residence.
's The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, a novel
about an Ethiopian American
struggling to start a new life in Washington, D.C.
Traffic circle
A traffic circle or rotary is a type of circular intersection in which traffic must travel in one direction around a central island. In some countries, traffic entering the circle has the right-of-way and drivers in the circle must yield. In many other countries, traffic entering the circle must...
, neighborhood, and historic district
Historic district (United States)
In the United States, a historic district is a group of buildings, properties, or sites that have been designated by one of several entities on different levels as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided...
in the Northwest quadrant
Quadrants of Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., is administratively divided into four geographical quadrants of unequal size, each delineated by their ordinal directions from the medallion located in the Crypt under the Rotunda of the Capitol...
of Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
The primarily residential neighborhood includes two historic districts, properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
, and sites designated D.C. Historic Landmarks. It is the last major circle in the District that remains entirely residential.
19th century
During the Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, present-day Logan Circle was home to Camp Barker, former barracks
Barracks
Barracks are specialised buildings for permanent military accommodation; the word may apply to separate housing blocks or to complete complexes. Their main object is to separate soldiers from the civilian population and reinforce discipline, training and esprit de corps. They were sometimes called...
converted into a refugee camp
Refugee camp
A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees. Hundreds of thousands of people may live in any one single camp. Usually they are built and run by a government, the United Nations, or international organizations, or NGOs.Refugee camps are generally set up in an impromptu...
for newly freed slaves from nearby Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
and Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
. In the 1870s, streets, elm
Elm
Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus Ulmus in the plant family Ulmaceae. The dozens of species are found in temperate and tropical-montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ranging southward into Indonesia. Elms are components of many kinds of natural forests...
trees, and other amenities were installed by Washington Mayor Alexander Robey Shepherd
Alexander Robey Shepherd
Alexander Robey Shepherd , better known as Boss Shepherd, was one of the most controversial and influential civic leaders in the history of Washington, D.C., and one of the most powerful big-city political bosses of the Gilded Age. He was head of the DC Board of Public Works from 1871 to 1873 and...
, who encouraged the development of the area. Streetcar
Streetcars in North America
Electric streetcars—trams outside North America—once were the chief mode of public transit in scores of North American cities. Most municipal systems were dismantled in the mid-20th century....
tracks were laid into what was then a very swampy area north of downtown
Downtown Washington, D.C.
Downtown is a neighborhood of Washington, D.C., as well as a colloquial name for the central business district in the northwest quadrant of the city. Geographically, the area extends roughly five to six blocks west, northwest, north, northeast, and east of the White House...
Washington, to encourage development of the original Washington City Plan. As a result, the area saw development of successive blocks of Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
row houses marketed to the upper middle class, which sought to give Washington the reputation, modeled after Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an capitals, of a city of broad boulevard
Boulevard
A Boulevard is type of road, usually a wide, multi-lane arterial thoroughfare, divided with a median down the centre, and roadways along each side designed as slow travel and parking lanes and for bicycle and pedestrian usage, often with an above-average quality of landscaping and scenery...
s and well-manicured parks. Many of the larger and more ornate homes came with carriage house
Carriage house
A carriage house, also called remise or coach house, is an outbuilding which was originally built to house horse-drawn carriages and the related tack.In Great Britain the farm building was called a Cart Shed...
s and attached servant's quarters, which were later converted to apartments and rooming houses as the upper middle class moved elsewhere.
20th century
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
in 1930 in honor of John A. Logan
John A. Logan
John Alexander Logan was an American soldier and political leader. He served in the Mexican-American War and was a general in the Union Army in the American Civil War. He served the state of Illinois as a state senator, congressman and senator and was an unsuccessful candidate for Vice President...
, Commander of the Army of the Tennessee
Army of the Tennessee
The Army of the Tennessee was a Union army in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, named for the Tennessee River. It should not be confused with the similarly named Army of Tennessee, a Confederate army named after the State of Tennessee....
during the Civil War, Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic
Grand Army of the Republic
The Grand Army of the Republic was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army, US Navy, US Marines and US Revenue Cutter Service who served in the American Civil War. Founded in 1866 in Decatur, Illinois, it was dissolved in 1956 when its last member died...
, and Representative
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
and Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
for the state of Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, who lived at 4 Logan Circle from 1885 until his death the following year. At the center of the circle stands a monument in honor of Logan, a bronze equestrian statue sculpted by Franklin Simmons
Franklin Simmons
Franklin Bachelder Simmons was a prominent American sculptor of the nineteenth century....
and a bronze statue base designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt
Richard Morris Hunt
Richard Morris Hunt was an American architect of the nineteenth century and a preeminent figure in the history of American architecture...
. On April 9, 1901, the 25 feet (7.6 m) monument was dedicated by President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
William McKinley
William McKinley
William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...
, Senator Chauncey Depew
Chauncey Depew
Chauncey Mitchell Depew was an attorney for Cornelius Vanderbilt's railroad interests, president of the New York Central Railroad System, and a United States Senator from New York from 1899 to 1911.- Biography:...
, and General Grenville M. Dodge
Grenville M. Dodge
Grenville Mellen Dodge was a Union army officer on the frontier and during the Civil War, a U.S. Congressman, businessman, and railroad executive who helped construct the Transcontinental Railroad....
.
In the early 20th century, 14th Street NW
14th Street Northwest and Southwest (Washington, D.C.)
Fourteenth Street is a street in Northwest and Southwest Washington, D.C., located 1¼ mi. west of the U.S. Capitol. It runs from the 14th Street Bridge north to Eastern Avenue....
rose to prominence as a main shopping district for both black and white Washingtonians on the edge of downtown Washington D.C., and became known as an area for auto showrooms. Further north, "14th and U" became synonymous with a large African American community, later known as Shaw
Shaw, Washington, D.C.
Shaw is a neighborhood located in the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. It is roughly bounded by M Street, NW or Massachusetts Avenue NW to the south; New Jersey Avenue, NW to the east; Florida Avenue, NW to the north; and 11th Street, NW to the west...
, encompassing parts of Logan Circle and U Street
U Street Corridor
The U Street Corridor is a commercial and residential neighborhood in Northwest Washington, D.C with many shops, restaurants, nightclubs, art galleries, and music venues along a nine-block stretch of U Street. It extends from 9th Street on the east to 18th Street and Florida Avenue on the west...
to the north. Segregation marked the emergence of this large area of well-preserved Victorian row houses as a predominately African-American community; the unofficial dividing line was 16th Street NW
16th Street Northwest (Washington, D.C.)
16th Street Northwest is a prominent north-south thoroughfare in the northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C.Part of Pierre L'Enfant's design for the city, 16th Street begins just north of the White House across Lafayette Park at H Street and continues due north in a straight line passing K Street,...
, several blocks to the west, with Logan Circle and its older homes sandwiched in between. During this period, the original Victorian homes in the area were subdivided into apartments, hostels, and rooming houses. The end of segregation saw a period of middle class flight from the area, punctuated by the 1968 Washington, D.C. riots
1968 Washington, D.C. riots
Five days of race riots erupted in Washington, D.C. following the April 4, 1968 assassination of Civil Rights Movement-leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Civil unrest affected at least 110 U.S...
, which devastated the 14th Street commercial corridor.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Logan Circle, although dominated by Victorian homes which had survived mostly untouched by redevelopment or riots, was considered by many unsafe due to overt drug use
Drug abuse
Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, refers to a maladaptive pattern of use of a substance that is not considered dependent. The term "drug abuse" does not exclude dependency, but is otherwise used in a similar manner in nonmedical contexts...
and prostitution
Prostitution in the United States
Prostitution in the United States is illegal except in some small rural communities in Nevada. In the United States, each state has the power to regulate prostitution in that state. Only in parts of Nevada is prostitution legal. In all other states prostitution is usually classified as a...
that existed in the neighborhood. During this period, property values in the area increased, while issues of homelessness in the area came to the forefront; 14th Street, NW became widely viewed as Washington's red light district
Red Light District
Red Light District may refer to:* Red-light district - a neighborhood where prostitution is common* The Red Light District - the title of the 2004 album by rapper Ludacris* Red Light District Video - a pornography studio based in Los Angeles, California...
. It also became a haven for theater companies.
21st century
During the 2000s, the area gentrifiedGentrification
Gentrification and urban gentrification refer to the changes that result when wealthier people acquire or rent property in low income and working class communities. Urban gentrification is associated with movement. Consequent to gentrification, the average income increases and average family size...
and housing costs sharply increased after derelict buildings were torn down or remodeled. The commercial corridors along 14th Street
14th Street Northwest and Southwest (Washington, D.C.)
Fourteenth Street is a street in Northwest and Southwest Washington, D.C., located 1¼ mi. west of the U.S. Capitol. It runs from the 14th Street Bridge north to Eastern Avenue....
and P Street underwent significant revitalization
Urban renewal
Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Renewal has had both successes and failures. Its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of...
, and are now home to a variety of retailers
Retailing
Retail consists of the sale of physical goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be...
, restaurants, art galleries
Art gallery
An art gallery or art museum is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection...
, live theater
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
, and nightlife
Nightlife
Nightlife is the collective term for any entertainment that is available and more popular from the late evening into the early hours of the morning...
venues such as Number Nine, a gay bar
Gay bar
A gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender clientele; the term gay is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBT and queer communities...
catering to the neighborhood's large LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
population. A watershed event in the development of the neighborhood was the opening of a Whole Foods Market
Whole Foods Market
Whole Foods Market is a foods supermarket chain based in Austin, Texas which emphasizes "natural and organic products." The company has been ranked among the most socially responsible businesses and placed third on the U.S...
two blocks from Logan Circle in December 2000, on a site previously occupied by an abandoned service
Service (motor vehicle)
A motor vehicle service is a series of maintenance procedures carried out at a set time interval or after the vehicle has travelled a certain distance...
garage
Automobile repair shop
An automobile repair shop is a place where automobiles are repaired by auto mechanics and electricians.- Types :The automotive garage can be divided in so many category....
; it is now one of the chain's highest grossing markets. Gentrification in Logan Circle has resulted in a dramatic change of neighborhood demographics
Demographics of Washington, D.C.
The demographics of Washington, D.C. reflect an ethnically diverse, cosmopolitan, mid-size capital city. In 2008, the District had a population of 591,833 people. Washington, D.C. is unique among major U.S. cities in that its foundation was not organic, but rather established as a result of a...
; since the 1990s, thousands of white
White American
White Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa...
young adults have moved into the neighborhood, while thousands of black
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
adults have moved out of the neighborhood.
Geography
The Logan Circle neighborhood, situated between the Dupont Circle and ShawShaw, Washington, D.C.
Shaw is a neighborhood located in the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. It is roughly bounded by M Street, NW or Massachusetts Avenue NW to the south; New Jersey Avenue, NW to the east; Florida Avenue, NW to the north; and 11th Street, NW to the west...
neighborhoods, is bordered by S Street to the north, 10th Street to the east, 16th Street
16th Street Northwest (Washington, D.C.)
16th Street Northwest is a prominent north-south thoroughfare in the northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C.Part of Pierre L'Enfant's design for the city, 16th Street begins just north of the White House across Lafayette Park at H Street and continues due north in a straight line passing K Street,...
to the west, and M Street
M Street (Washington, D.C.)
The name "M Street" refers to two major roads in the United States capital of Washington, D.C. Because of the Cartesian-coordinate-based street-naming system in Washington, the name M Street can be used to refer to any east-west street located twelve blocks north or south of the dome of the United...
to the south. The traffic circle is the intersection of 13th Street, P Street, Rhode Island Avenue
Rhode Island Avenue (Washington, D.C.)
Rhode Island Avenue is a diagonal avenue in the Northwest and Northeast quadrants of Washington, D.C. and the capital's inner suburbs in Prince George's County, Maryland. Paralleling New York Avenue, Rhode Island Avenue was one of the original streets in Pierre L'Enfant's plan for the capital. ...
, and Vermont Avenue. The National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
maintains the land located within the traffic circle, a park measuring 360 feet (109.7 m) in diameter, furnished with wooden benches, decorative lampposts
Street light
A street light, lamppost, street lamp, light standard, or lamp standard is a raised source of light on the edge of a road or walkway, which is turned on or lit at a certain time every night. Modern lamps may also have light-sensitive photocells to turn them on at dusk, off at dawn, or activate...
, an iron fence, and concrete sidewalks.
Landmarks
Logan Circle Historic District
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
and Richardsonian Romanesque
Richardsonian Romanesque
Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after architect Henry Hobson Richardson, whose masterpiece is Trinity Church, Boston , designated a National Historic Landmark...
styles of architecture. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
on June 30, 1972.
The former home
Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site
The Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site preserves the house of Mary McLeod Bethune, located in Northwest Washington, D.C., at 1318 Vermont Avenue. National Park Service rangers offer tours of the home, and a video is shown about Bethune's life.-External links:* *...
of Mary McLeod Bethune
Mary McLeod Bethune
Mary Jane McLeod Bethune was an American educator and civil rights leader best known for starting a school for African American students in Daytona Beach, Florida, that eventually became Bethune-Cookman University and for being an advisor to President Franklin D...
, an African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
educator, author, and civil rights leader who founded the National Council of Negro Women
National Council of Negro Women
The National Council of Negro Women is a non-profit organization with the mission to advance the opportunities and the quality of life for African American women, their families and communities. NCNW fulfills this mission through research, advocacy, national and community based services and...
, is located at 1318 Vermont Avenue NW, one block south of the circle. The Second Empire-style building is a designated National Historic Site and houses the Mary McLeod Bethune Memorial Museum and the National Archives for Black Women's History.
Fourteenth Street Historic District
In addition to the Logan Circle Historic District, the neighborhood includes the much larger Fourteenth Street Historic District, added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 9, 1994. The district's approximately 765 contributing propertiesContributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing resource or contributing property is any building, structure, or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant...
are considered historically significant because they represent residential and commercial development resulting from one of the earliest streetcar lines in Washington, D.C., the 14th Street streetcar line, installed by the Capital Traction Company
Capital Traction Company
The Capital Traction Company was the smaller of the two major street railway companies in Washington, D.C. in the early 20th Century. It was formed through a merger of the Rock Creek Railway and the Washington and Georgetown Railroad Company in 1895. The company ran streetcars from Georgetown;...
in the 1880s.
The oldest house of worship
Place of worship
A place of worship or house of worship is an establishment or her location where a group of people comes to perform acts of religious study, honor, or devotion. The form and function of religious architecture has evolved over thousands of years for both changing beliefs and architectural style...
in the Fourteenth Street Historic District is Luther Place Memorial Church
Luther Place Memorial Church
Luther Place Memorial Church was built in 1873 as a memorial to peace and reconciliation following the American Civil War. Its original name was Memorial Evangelical Lutheran Church and it was designed by architects Judson York, J.C. Harkness, and Henry Davis. It is located in Thomas Circle in...
, built 1870–1873, an ELCA Lutheran church situated on the north side of Thomas Circle
Thomas Circle
Thomas Circle is a traffic circle in Northwest Washington, D.C., United States at the junction of Massachusetts Avenue, Vermont Avenue, 14th Street, and M Street, N.W.The through lanes of Massachusetts Avenue pass under Thomas Circle...
. Originally known as Memorial Evangelical Lutheran Church of Washington, D.C., the building was renamed in 1884 after a bronze statue of Martin Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
was installed on the church's property. Luther Place Memorial Church was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 16, 1973.
The Gladstone and Hawarden
Gladstone and Hawarden Apartment Buildings
The Gladstone and Hawarden Apartment Buildings are historic apartment buildings located at 1423 and 1419 R Street, NW, respectively, in the Logan Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Built in 1900–1901, the Gladstone and Hawarden were designed in the Romanesque Revival architectural style...
, designed by architect George S. Cooper in 1900, are early examples of Washington, D.C.'s middle class
American middle class
The American middle class is a social class in the United States. While the concept is typically ambiguous in popular opinion and common language use, contemporary social scientists have put forward several, more or less congruent, theories on the American middle class...
apartment houses. Named for Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
and his estate Hawarden Castle
Hawarden Castle (18th century)
New Hawarden Castle, in Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales was the estate of former British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone, which previously belonged to the family of his wife, Catherine Glynne. It was built in 1752...
, they are the first documented twin apartment buildings in Washington, D.C. The Gladstone and Hawarden were added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 7, 1994.
Local landmarks
The District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites includes several properties in Logan Circle which are not listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Among them are the former residences of: Charles Manuel "Sweet Daddy" GraceMarcelino Manuel da Graca
Marcelino Manuel da Graça , better known as Charles Manuel "Sweet Daddy" Grace, was the founder and first bishop of the United House of Prayer For All People. He was born January 25, in Brava in the Cape Verde Islands, then a Portuguese possession off the west coast of Africa...
, flamboyant founder of the United House of Prayer For All People
United House of Prayer For All People
The United House of Prayer for All People is a Christian denomination founded by Marcelino Manuel da Graca . Marcelino Manuel da Graça was born in Brava in the Cape Verde Islands...
; John A. Lankford, the first African American architect in Washington, D.C.; Belford Lawson, Jr.
Belford Lawson, Jr.
Belford Vance Lawson, Jr. was an American attorney and civil rights activist who made at least eight appearances before the U.S. Supreme Court...
, lead attorney in the landmark case New Negro Alliance v. Sanitary Grocery Co.
New Negro Alliance v. Sanitary Grocery Co.
New Negro Alliance v. Sanitary Grocery Co., 303 U.S. 552 , was a landmark United States Supreme Court decision in the jurisprudence of the United States, safeguarding a right to boycott and in the struggle by African Americans against discriminatory hiring practices.-External links:**...
; Alain LeRoy Locke
Alain LeRoy Locke
Alain LeRoy Locke was an American writer, philosopher, educator, and patron of the arts. He is best known for his writings on and about the Harlem Renaissance. He is regarded as the "Father of the Harlem Renaissance"...
, the first African American Rhodes Scholar
Rhodes Scholarship
The Rhodes Scholarship, named after Cecil Rhodes, is an international postgraduate award for study at the University of Oxford. It was the first large-scale programme of international scholarships, and is widely considered the "world's most prestigious scholarship" by many public sources such as...
and central figure in the Harlem Renaissance
Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned the 1920s and 1930s. At the time, it was known as the "New Negro Movement", named after the 1925 anthology by Alain Locke...
; Mary Jane Patterson
Mary Jane Patterson
Mary Jane Patterson was born September 12, 1840, in Raleigh, North Carolina. She was the first African American woman to receive a B.A degree. She was the oldest of Henry Irving Patterson and Emeline Eliza Patterson's children. There is conflicting data on how many siblings she had, but most...
, the first African American woman to earn a bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
; Ella Watson, subject of Gordon Parks
Gordon Parks
Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks was a groundbreaking American photographer, musician, poet, novelist, journalist, activist and film director...
's famous photograph American Gothic, Washington, D.C.; and James Lesesne Wells, noted graphic artist
Graphic arts
A type of fine art, graphic art covers a broad range of art forms. Graphic art is typically two-dimensional and includes calligraphy, photography, drawing, painting, printmaking, lithography, typography, serigraphy , and bindery. Graphic art also consists of drawn plans and layouts for interior...
and longtime art instructor at Howard University
Howard University
Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
.
The "Watermelon House" is an unofficial neighborhood landmark that features a watermelon
Watermelon
Watermelon is a vine-like flowering plant originally from southern Africa. Its fruit, which is also called watermelon, is a special kind referred to by botanists as a pepo, a berry which has a thick rind and fleshy center...
mural
Mural
A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...
painted on the side of a 19th-century residence.
In popular culture
Logan Circle is the setting for Dinaw MengestuDinaw Mengestu
Dinaw Mengestu is an award-winning American novelist and writer, who was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In addition to two novels, he has written for Rolling Stone on the war in Darfur, and for Jane Magazine on the conflict in northern Uganda...
's The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, a novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
about an Ethiopian American
Ethiopian American
Ethiopian Americans are Americans of Ethiopian descent as well as those of American and Ethiopian ancestry.- History :The first known Ethiopians visited America in 1808, when merchants from Ethiopia arrived at New York’s famous Wall Street....
struggling to start a new life in Washington, D.C.
External links
- ANC2F, Logan Circle's Advisory Neighborhood CommissionAdvisory Neighborhood Commissionthumb|right|upright|The District of Columbia is divided into 8 wards, each of which is further divided into local ANCs.Advisory Neighborhood Commissions are bodies of local government in Washington, D.C...
- Logan Circle Community Association, neighborhood community associationCommunity associationA community association is a nongovernmental association of participating members of a community, such as a neighborhood, village, condominium, cooperative, or group of homeowners or property owners in a delineated geographic area. Participation may be voluntary, require a specific residency, or...
- Greater Fourteenth Street and Logan Circle Historic Districts, by the D.C. Preservation League
- The InTowner, community newspaper focusing on Logan Circle and surrounding neighborhoods