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| Washington DC Apartment Locator Services : Washington DC |  | Contents | |
| Geography |
Washington, D.C. is located at 38° 53' 42?
N 77° 02' 11? W (the coordinates of the Zero Milestone,
on The Ellipse).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a
total area of 177.0 km² (68.3 mi²). 159.0 km²
(61.4 mi²) of it is land and 18.0 km² (6.9 mi²)
of it is water. The total area is 10.16% water.
Washington is surrounded by the states of Virginia (on its southwest
side, and a small part of its northwest one) and Maryland (on
its southeast and northeast sides, and most of its northwest
one); it interrupts those states' common border, which is the
Potomac River both upstream and downstream from the District.
The city contains the historic federal city, the territory of
which was formerly part of those two adjacent states before
they respectively ceded it for the national capital. The land
ceded from Virginia was returned by Congress in 1847, so what
remains of the modern District was all once part of Maryland.
Washington, DC, was created to serve as the national capital
from its inception. The original street layout was designed
by Pierre Charles L'Enfant at the time of the city's founding.
L'Enfant based his design on Paris, which incorporated a basic
grid system, inter-cut with broad diagonal avenues radiating
from circles and squares; according to a popular urban legend,
the diagonal avenues also served as sightlines for the defense
of the city in the event of an invasion.
At the center of the design, is the United States Capitol
Building, from which four quadrants radiate along the four
compass directions: Northwest, Southwest, Northeast, and Southeast.
The quadrants are separated by North Capitol Street, South
Capitol Street and East Capitol Street, with the centerline
of the National Mall taking the place of what would be the
western demarcation line. Two avenues, Constitution Avenue
and Independence Avenue, line the sides of the Mall.
Streets that are oriented north/south are designated by numbers
and count upwards from east to west in Northwest and Southwest
(1st St NW, 2nd St NW, 3rd St NW, etc.); these streets repeat
in Northeast and Southeast, counting upwards from west to
the east.
Streets that are oriented East/West utilize a single letter
of the alphabet in the central city. Thus, east-to-west lettered
streets (A St NW, B St NW, etc.) "count" upwards
from south to north in NW and NE, and likewise repeat in the
opposite direction in SW and SE. Street numbers count upwards
traveling outward from the dividing lines of the quadrants.
There is no J Street in any quadrant; there are several rumors
for the reason of this, including one that L'Enfant simply
disliked the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John
Jay. However, the most reasonable answer is that J and I look
too much alike and could easily have been confused in the
handwriting of the 18th century. (In a nod to this, the food
court at The George Washington University is named J Street).
North of the mall, the road that would be B street is known
as Constitution, South of the mall the second east-west street
is called Independence.
Because both the numbers and the letters repeat for each quadrant,
each street name is appended by the quadrant in which it is
located (NE, NW, SE and SW). Use of these directional designations
is required in giving directions and in the use of delivering
mail.
Once single letters are exhausted as east-west street names
the "alphabet" system continues anew with two syllable
names beginning the first letter of the alphabet; streets
in this set are commonly referred to as being in the "second
alphabet" (for example, Calvert St. NW would be the third
street of this second alphabet). In Northwest and Northeast
DC, which are the largest quadrants, a "third alphabet"
is started using three syllable words, i.e. Brandywine St
NW. Diagonal avenues, generally named for states, are exempt
from this syllabic rule, as are streets designated as "Place"
or "Way" and streets laid out after the alpha-name
was established for that area (For example, between E and
F Streets in Southeast, you'll find Duddington Place).
The city's layout is best understood in terms of the Cartesian
coordinate system. While the system may appear complex, once
learned, it allows one to pinpoint not only where one is,
but also where and how far one may need to travel. For example,
if one needed to find 633 A Street SE, the address informs
that the address is southeast of the Capitol, with A Street
one block south of East Capitol Street, and that the location
on that street is between 6th Street and 7th Streets SE. Another
more familiar example would be the White House, located at
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, is located at 16th Street NW (Lafayette
Square) and Pennslvania Avenue NW. This works both ways; an
address at 514 19th St NW would be on 19th St west of the
Capitol, and since E is the fifth letter of the alphabet,
the 514 address would be between E and F Streets NW.
"I," "Q," and "U" streets properly
utilize a single letter of the alphabet for their names. "Eye
Street," "Que Street," and "You Street"
have also appeared in some historical and comptemporary instances,
however their use is informal.
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