Dumbarton Bridge

About this property

The Dumbarton Bridge, also known as the Q Street Bridge and the Buffalo Bridge, is a historic masonry arch bridge in Washington, D.C. Dumbarton Bridge was built between 1914 and 1915 to convey Q Street Northwest across Rock Creek Park between the city's Dupont Circle and Georgetown neighborhoods. Around 1905, the residents of Georgetown wanted to reduce traffic to Washington along M Street. One frequently proposed idea was to divert the water of Rock Creek through a tunnel under current-day 27th Street NW, then fill in Rock Creek's beds, and extend Georgetown's streets to Washington. Many Georgetown residents disliked Rock Creek because it was filled with stagnant water and trash. The cost of diverting and filling in the creek was estimated to be $4.5 million. Estimates to build the bridge ranged from $150,000 to $200,000, while the estimate to divert and fill in the creek and extend streets $1.3 million. Another idea was to move the Woodley Lane Bridge to the Q Street location rather than build a new bridge altogether. Engineers determined that the cost to move the Woodley Lane bridge would be too great and the Woodley Lane Bridge would not be available to be moved until its replacement, the Connecticut Avenue Bridge, was completed. Legislation to fund the bridge's construction was introduced to Congress in December 1910, and Congress approved it two months later. Congress appropriated $275,000 to build the bridge and $75,000 to condemn property, including a land west of Rock Creek being used as a street car yard, in order to extend Q Street to the bridge. The bridge's design was by Glenn Brown, and the engineering design was by Daniel B. Luten. The bridge is significant as showing the impact of the City Beautiful movement in Washington and the association of architects, engineers and sculptors with the city's new Commission of Fine Arts. The architects studied photographs of bridges around the world choosing as models a Roman aqueduct and a mountain bridge in Italy with intent to set a precedent for further city bridges. The color of the bridge's stone was intended to evoke the warm tones of Spain and Italy. Along with the buffalo theme the arches are decorated by Indian head designs by Glenn Brown based on a life mask of the Sioux Chief Kicking Bear in the Smithsonian Institution. The curved design is due to need to match the section of Q Street NW in Dupont Circle that is slightly north of the section in Georgetown. In order to accommodate the bridge's approach and to keep the street continuous within Georgetown the Dumbarton House, then known as Bellevue, was moved about 100 feet (30 m) northward from its original site in the middle of the current Q Street to its present position on the north side of the Street.

Location

Categories

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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