Miscellaneous Services for the Traveller ... a. Foreign Embassies and Legations, 40; b. Banks and Trust Companies, 42; c. Hospitals, 42; d. Baths, Barber Shops, etc. 43; e. Steamship and Steamboat Lines, 43; f. Newspapers and Periodicals, 44. XIII. Planning a Washington Stay a. Distribution of Time, 44; b. A Fourteen Days' Itinerary, 46; c. A Five Days' Itinerary, 49. a. History, 50; b. The Building and Its Approaches, 53: c. The Rotunda and Dome, 60; d. The Supreme Court Rooms, 66; e. The Senate Wing, 69; f. The Ground Floor, 79; g. The House Wing, 83; h. Other Buildings in the Executive Grounds a. The Treasury Building, 122; b. The State, War V. The Old Residential Section (From C Street to Judiciary Square) VI. The Modern Shopping District a. F Street from North Capitol Street to the Treasury Building, 141; b. The Section Immediately North of Washington Northwest- The Residential Section. (From the Executive Grounds to Rock Creek) a. Seventeenth Street from Pennsylvania Avenue to Potomac Park, 153; b. The American Red Cross Build- ing, 154; c. D. A. R. Memorial Continental Hall, 155; VI. Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House to VII. Other Residential Avenues and Streets a. Vermont Avenue, 219; b. Connecticut Avenue, 222; C. Massachusetts Avenue, 225; d. The Numbered Streets East of Sixteenth Street, 230; e. The Num- bered Streets West of Sixteenth Street, 234; f. I Street, 235; g. K Street from 11th Street to Rock Washington Southwest and the Mall I. The Mall from the Botanic Gardens to Fourteenth a. The Botanic Gardens, 241; b. The Grant Memorial Monument, 242; c. The Bureau of Fisheries, 245; a. General Description, 260; b. The Vestibule and North Pavilion, 263; c. The World War Historical Collection, 266; d. The National Gallery of Art, 271: e. East Wing-Collection of Paleontology, 280; f. Ex- hibits of Ethnology, 288; g. Zoological Exhibits, 303; h. Miscellaneous Collections, 310. a. General Description and Approaches, 370; b. The Main Entrance Hall, 375; c. The Mural Paintings, a. M Street and the "Court End," 463; b. Georgetown College, 467; C. The Convent of the Visitation, INTRODUCTION General Description of Washington WASHINGTON, the Capital City of the United States, and according to the latest decennial census the fourteenth largest in population,* lies in the 83° 51′ N. lat. and 77° W. long., calculated at the Capitol. It is 40 mi. distant by rail from Baltimore; 228 mi. from New York; II10 mi. from New Orleans; and 3118 mi. from San Francisco. It is situated in and coextensive with the present District of Columbia, comprising that portion of the original ten-mile square, N. of the Potomac River, which was left after the retrocession of the southern portion to Virginia. Its area (including land and water) is approximately 69 sq. mi. It is bounded on the northwest, northeast and southeast by the State of Maryland, and on the southwest by the high-water line on the Virginia shore-since the whole width of the Potomac River is reckoned territorially within the District. been a. The Topography of Washington Washington is exceptionally fortunate in having almost completely planned in its present form before any of its streets were actually laid out (p. xxviii). Consequently, unlike London and Paris and the downtown portion of New York, no part of it grew up haphazard, preserving the memory of ancient roads and foot-paths. It is the result of an orderly and consistent design, combining the simplicity of the rectangular system with the picturesqueness of spacious, radiating avenues and splendid vistas. It has been variously described as a chess-board overlaid with cart wheels, and as Paris superimposed upon Philadelphia. In drafting this plan, the natural formation of the locality was cleverly utilized to the best possible advantage. The general features of the plan were later applied in extending the street system over those portions of the District of Columbia outside of the original city limits. Towards the north, and especially above that part of the city which was formerly Georgetown, is the highest ground within the District. The southern section of the city along the Potomac is a low level plain * By the census of 1920, the population of Washington was 437,571, while that of its nearest rival, Newark, was only 414 524, and Cincinnati 401 247. Recently, however, the population has fallen off considerably, and the city has probably dropped to 16th position. (p. xxii); but towards the east it rises abruptly in a ninetyfoot terrace, the highest eminence of which, now known as Capitol Hill (p. 50), seemed foreordained to be the site of the Capitol building, whose noble dome dominates the landscape from every side. Radiating from this center, North Capitol, East Capitol and South Capitol Streets, together with the succession of parks on the W., known collectively as The Mall (p. 240), mark the four cardinal points of compass and divide the city into four sections or quarters, designated respectively as N. W., N. E., S. W. and S. E. (initials which should be added to any Washingon address, in order to avoid confusion; if they are omitted, the N. W. section is assumed to be meant). The streets parallel to North and South Capitol Sts. are named from the ordinal numbers: East and West First Street, East and West Second Street, etc., the furthest numbered street to the E. being 31st St. and to the W. 26th St., within the old City limits. The numbers, however, continue in regular order beyond the Anacostia River, to the E., up to 63d St., at the N. E. cor. of the District, and beyond Rock Creek, to the W., up to 52d St., along the E. boundary of the Receiving Reservoir Grounds. (Some of the latter streets have not yet been cut through.) The streets parallel to East Capitol St. and the Mall are named from the letters of the alphabet: North and South A Street, North and South B Street, etc. It should be noted that there is no A Street N. W., or A St. S. W., since the Mall occupies the whole space between North and South B Sts., W. of the Capitol Grounds. Because of the danger of confusion with I St., the letter J was omitted; and because of the like possibility of mixing up I St. and 1st St., Washingtonians frequently write the former "Eye Street." The last lettered streets within the city limits are W St., on the N., and V St., on the S. (at Buzzard Point, E. of the War College). Beyond the Anacostia River, however, the lettered series terminates with W St. The proposition that has frequently been made of rechristening the lettered streets with a series of names (preferably of American Statesmen), arranged alphabetically after the manner of Boston's familiar Arlington, Berkeley, Clarendon, Dartmouth, etc., Sts., has never been seriously considered. But the visitor may remain for months in Washington without even noticing that this is precisely the method followed in the naming of east-and-west streets lying beyond North and South W Sts. For instance, going N. on Georgia |