Logan Circle | |
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Neighborhood of Washington, D.C. | |
Aerial view of Logan Circle, facing southwest
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Country | United States |
District | Washington, D.C. |
Ward | Ward 2 |
Government | |
• Councilmember | Jack Evans |
Area | |
• Total | .17 sq mi (0.4 km2) |
Population (2010) | |
• Total | 7,976 |
• Density | 46,917.6/sq mi (18,115.0/km2) |
Logan Circle Historic District
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Row houses on the northeast corner of Logan Circle, including the former residence (right) of writer Ambrose Bierce
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Location | Junction of 13th Street, P Street, Rhode Island Avenue, and Vermont Avenue, NW |
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Coordinates | 38°54′35″N 77°1′49″W / 38.90972°N 77.03028°WCoordinates: 38°54′35″N 77°1′49″W / 38.90972°N 77.03028°W |
Area | 18 acres (7.3 ha) |
Architectural style | Second Empire, Italianate, Richardsonian Romanesque, Queen Anne |
NRHP Reference # | 72001426 |
Added to NRHP | June 30, 1972 |
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 only major circle downtown that remains entirely residential.
During the Civil War, 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 European capitals, of a city of broad boulevards and well-manicured parks. Many of the larger and more ornate homes came with carriage houses and attached servant's quarters, which were later converted to apartments and rooming houses as the upper middle class moved elsewhere.