The three-acre Kalorama Park contains the Kalorama Playground Archaeological Site, also known as the John Little House. The site represents the remains of John Little’s home and farm and is the place from which Hortense Prout, an enslaved woman, attempted escape during the Civil War. The site’s period of significance extends from 1836 to 1903, through the Little family tenure of the property. The Little house, constructed in the 1830s, was demolished in the 20th century, prior to the establishment of the park. The park is now part of the National Park Service's National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, and a marker commemorates Hortense Prout's escape to freedom.
Kalorama Park was created from two parcels acquired for park use in 1942 and 1946, respectively. The current layout of the upper portion of the park and the design of the recreation building (east side) were designed and built by the NPS and the DC Recreation Board in 1947. The design remains fairly intact today, although the current plaza area was originally slated as a spray park and shuffleboard courts were proposed at the southeast corner. It is not known if either of these amenities was ever realized. In 1971, NPS transferred jurisdiction of the park to the city, at which time improvements were made to the lower portion, primarily in the area of the basketball and tennis court.
DC Inventory: November 19, 2015
National Register: April 21, 2016
Within Kalorama Triangle Historic District
This site is included in the Capital City Slavery Tour as a place of enslavement for thirteen to seventeen individuals who labored on John Little's cattle farm. It is also notable as the site of Hortense Prout's daring escape. For further information on slavery in the District, view DC Preservation League's Capital City Slavery Digital Exhibit.
]]>This bronze equestrian statue of General George B. McClellan stands at the crest of a hill overlooking Connecticut Avenue in the Kalorama Triangle neighborhood of Northwest Washington. McClellan rose to prominence as a major general during the Civil War and distinguished himself at the battle of Antietam when he temporarily halted the Confederate Army’s advance into the northern states. On March 3, 1901, Congress appropriated $50,000 for a monument to be erected in McClellan’s honor and formed a commission to oversee the project. In August of 1903, after years of debate, the commission announced that Frederick William MacMonnies, an American sculptor living in Paris, had been chosen to create the statue. The 13.6-foot-tall bronze statue of General McClellan rests on a tall granite base adorned with bronze reliefs and escutcheons representing each of the major Civil War battles he led: Antietam, Fair Oaks, Gaines's Mill, Malvern Hill, Mechanicsville, South Mountain, Williamsburg and Yorktown. The two principal east-west facing sides are decorated with bronze trophies representing cannon, flags, and arms. At each of the four corners, eagles bear garlands of oak and laurel. McClellan is personally depicted wearing his U.S. Army uniform, while holding the reins in his left hand and resting his other hand on his hip. The statue was dedicated on May 2, 1907 during a grand celebration that included a military parade and a speech from then President Theodore Roosevelt. Other guests included George B. McClellan, Jr. and his widowed mother Nelly McClellan, William Howard Taft, members of Congress, foreign diplomats, members of the president's cabinet and thousands of citizens.
Part of Civil War Monuments
DC Inventory: March 3, 1979
National Register: September 20, 1978
]]>Proudly positioned at the apex of Connecticut Avenue, this monumental Beaux Arts residence was constructed between 1908 and 1909 after the plans of the noted local firm of Hornblower and Marshall for local merchandising magnate Alvin Mason Lothrop (of Woodward & Lothrop department stores). In its scale, style, and site, the house illustrates the wealth, social grandeur, and architectural elegance that were the hallmarks of Washington and American society at the turn of the 20th century.
The Beaux Arts style of the mansion exemplifies Washingtonian taste during the early years of the 20th century. The significance of the plan in taking advantage of the site, its dependence on classically-derived motifs, and the use of the refined and white-colored Indiana limestone clearly establish its Beaux Arts association. However, although based on principles derived from the Beaux Arts philosophy, the design of the house illustrates an unusual derivation of historic motifs.
Due to the use of the building for diplomatic purposes, it has not been possible to gain access to the interior. The interior was reported to have been remodeled in the 1970s, when the building was purchased by the U.S.S.R. to serve as their trade mission center.
DC Inventory: December 16, 1987
National Register: December 20, 1988
]]>The development of the Kalorama Triangle neighborhood illustrates the transition from a rural to an urban environment that marked Washington's growth into a 20th century city. Kalorama Triangle maintains the integrity of its original visual appearance and residential use created over an almost 40-year period (1893 to 1931). The history of the area, from its existence as an idyllic counterpoint to the adjacent municipality to its embodiment of middle-class aspiration, illustrates the factors critical to successful city planning.
Kalorama Triangle has long been recognized as an area with a strong visual identity. Constructed as part a great surge in building in the late 1890s and with the incorporation of the County of Washington into the city limits, Kalorama Triangle has always had a distinct identity. Three major thoroughfares, Connecticut Avenue, Calvert Street, and Columbia Road, define and enclose the area into a triangular configuration.
Screened from the surrounding hectic commercial areas, Kalorama Triangle is characterized by a quiet, residential appearance and ambience. It includes 353 contributing buildings, representing influences from Beaux-Arts classicism, the English Arts and Crafts Movement, and Georgian and Colonial Revival styles, among others. These buildings were designed to meet the aspirations and taste of a financially secure middle class.
DC Inventory: November 22, 1986 (effective April 27, 1987)
National Register: May 4, 1987
]]>The Fuller House was designed in 1893 by noted Washington architect Thomas J.D. Fuller in Free Style, an architectural expression that enjoyed popularity in Great Britain from 1890 to the First World War. The house embodies the distinguishing characteristics of the Free Style and is, in fact, an early example of the style's development in the 1890s, integrating the Georgian tradition.
The building demonstrates both stylistic knowledge and technical skill. It is particularly important as an early manifestation of Free Style in this country, representing a contemporaneous transference of stylistic ideals across the Atlantic, and can be seen as a prototype for similar later designs in Washington and its environs. It is also notable as one of the first houses in Washington Heights (now Kalorama).
DC Inventory: May 16, 1984
National Register: February 21, 1985
]]>The Woodward Apartments were finished in 1913 and designed by the architectural firm Harding and Upman. It was built for and named after the retailer S. Walter Woodward. Woodward owned a dry goods operation, called Boston Dry Goods Store, but moved to DC because he saw the potential for a successful real estate business in DC. Woodward and his partner Alvin Lothrop also opened one of the first department stores in the city. Woodward had six apartment buildings, two of them luxury apartment buildings and four smaller ones. The Woodward became the most well-known, due to its unique architecture, including its rooftop pavilion which is visible from the street below. The apartment building was designed in a U-shape that was modified to fit the site at Connecticut Avenue and Ashmead Place NW, just south of Rock Creek Park in the Kalorama neighborhood. It was designed in the Spanish Colonial style and was one of the first apartment buildings in this style in DC. Its main entrance facing Connecticut Avenue has a baroque design and is three stories high, with a terracotta entablature and pairs of columns on either side. Its corner pavilions on the front of the building have prominent hipped roofs with red tiles. The building originally had 45 apartments that ranged from two to six bedrooms. The apartment building came with several amenities, such as a rooftop garden, summer pavilion, a mail chute on each floor, a wall safe in each apartment, social hall for parties, billiard room, and a barber shop. The building remained unchanged until it was sold in 1968. It then was renovated and reopened in 1970. In 1973, the apartment building was converted into one of the first condominiums in DC.
DC Inventory: November 8, 1964 (Joint Committee on Landmarks)]]>