William Howard Taft Bridge
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William Howard Taft Bridge
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| Location |
Connecticut Avenue, NW over Rock Creek Washington, D.C. |
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| Coordinates | 38°55′14″N 77°2′59″W / 38.92056°N 77.04972°WCoordinates: 38°55′14″N 77°2′59″W / 38.92056°N 77.04972°W |
| Built | 1907 |
| Architect |
George S. Morison Edward Pearce Casey |
| Architectural style | Classical Revival |
| NRHP Reference # | 03000584 |
| Added to NRHP | July 3, 2003 |
The Taft Bridge, also known as the Connecticut Avenue Bridge or William Howard Taft Bridge, is a historic bridge located in the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. It carries Connecticut Avenue over the Rock Creek gorge, including Rock Creek and the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway, connecting the neighborhoods of Woodley Park and Kalorama. It is situated to the southwest of the Duke Ellington Bridge.
On July 3, 2003, the Taft Bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
The Classical Revival bridge was built between 1897–1907. It was designed by engineer George S. Morison and architect Edward Pearce Casey. It is an arch bridge with unreinforced concrete arches and a reinforced concrete deck. The total length of the bridge is 274.5 meters (901 ft). It has been called an "engineering " and the largest unreinforced concrete structure in the world. In 1931, the bridge was renamed in honor of U.S. President William Howard Taft.
During early planning for the Washington Metro in the 1960s, the Red Line was slated to run across the bridge to connect Dupont Circle and Woodley Park. Instead, the metro was built underground.
The bridge is "guarded" by four large male lions, two on each end of the bridge (each approx. 7 ft. x 6 ft. 6 in. x 13 ft.). Two of the lions rest on all fours with their heads tilted upwards and mouths slightly open while the other pair lie with their eyes closed, apparently sleeping. They were originally designed and sculpted by Roland Hinton Perry in 1906 out of cast concrete (the bridge as a whole is one of the first cast concrete bridges in the country) and were installed in 1907.
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