Kalorama Timeline

A dated outline of the people, places, and events that shaped Kalorama. Each entry is sourced; full references are on the resources page.

The estate era

  • 1807 — poet-diplomat Joel Barlow buys the Belair estate above Rock Creek and renames it Kalorama, Greek for "beautiful view."1
  • c. 1810 — Barlow remodels the house to designs by architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe; Thomas Jefferson visits and Robert Fulton experiments on the millpond.2
  • 1812 — Barlow dies in Poland while serving as U.S. Minister to France.3
  • 1822 onward — George Bomford acquires Kalorama and expands the estate to about 91 acres.4
  • 1865 — after Civil War use as a smallpox hospital, the Kalorama mansion is gutted by fire and later demolished.5

Subdivision and the Gilded Age (1880s–1920s)

  • 1886 — about four-fifths of the estate is sold to a syndicate for roughly $400,000, launching residential development.6
  • 1898 — streetcar service reaches Connecticut Avenue and Columbia Road, accelerating building.8
  • 1902–1905 — Anderson House is built at 2118 Massachusetts Avenue NW.17
  • 1908 — the equestrian statue of General Philip Sheridan, by Gutzon Borglum, is dedicated at Sheridan Circle on November 25, with President Theodore Roosevelt attending.10
  • 1908–1909 — the Lothrop Mansion is built at 2001 Connecticut Avenue NW.16
  • 1915 — the Woodrow Wilson House is built at 2340 S Street NW (architect Waddy B. Wood).12
  • 1918 — Mitchell Park is given to the District by Elizabeth Mitchell.18

A presidents' neighborhood (1920s–present)

  • 1921 — Woodrow Wilson moves to 2340 S Street NW on March 4, the day his presidency ends; Taft (Chief Justice) and Harding (senator) also live in Kalorama in this era.1321
  • 1924 — Woodrow Wilson dies at his S Street home on February 3.13
  • 1929 onward — after the Depression, Massachusetts Avenue's mansions become Embassy Row, with the biggest influx of embassies in the 1940s–50s.11
  • 1935–1937 — The Lindens (built 1754 in Massachusetts) is dismantled, shipped, and reassembled on Kalorama Road.15
  • 1939 — Anderson House becomes the headquarters of the Society of the Cincinnati.17
  • 1964 — the Woodrow Wilson House is designated a National Historic Landmark.14
  • 1987 / 1989 — the Kalorama Triangle (1987) and Sheridan-Kalorama (1989) historic districts are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.79
  • 2016–2017 — Jeff Bezos buys the former Textile Museum on S Street (2016); the Obamas buy a home on Belmont Road NW (2017).2019

  1. Sheridan-Kalorama Neighborhood Council — History. https://sheridan-kalorama.org/history/ ↩

  2. Washington Chronicles — Kalorama estate. https://www.washingtonchronicles.com/p/kaloramaestate ↩

  3. Joel Barlow. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Barlow ↩

  4. Washington Chronicles — Kalorama estate. https://www.washingtonchronicles.com/p/kaloramaestate ↩

  5. Sheridan-Kalorama Neighborhood Council — History. https://sheridan-kalorama.org/history/ ↩

  6. Kalorama Triangle Historic District. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalorama_Triangle_Historic_District ↩

  7. NPS NPGallery — Kalorama Triangle Historic District (NRIS 87000627). https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/87000627 ↩

  8. DC Office of Planning — Kalorama Triangle Historic District. https://planning.dc.gov/publication/kalorama-triangle-historic-district ↩

  9. NPS NPGallery — Sheridan-Kalorama Historic District (NRIS 89001743). https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/89001743 ↩

  10. Equestrian statue of Philip Sheridan (Washington, D.C.). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equestrian_statue_of_Philip_Sheridan_(Washington,_D.C.) ↩

  11. Embassy Row. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embassy_Row ↩

  12. Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodrow_Wilson_House_(Washington,_D.C.) ↩

  13. President Wilson House — About. https://woodrowwilsonhouse.org/about-the-wilson-house/ ↩↩

  14. Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodrow_Wilson_House_(Washington,_D.C.) ↩

  15. The Lindens (Washington, D.C.). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lindens_(Washington,_D.C.) ↩

  16. Lothrop Mansion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lothrop_Mansion ↩

  17. Society of the Cincinnati — Anderson House. https://www.societyofthecincinnati.org/the-story-of-anderson-house/ ↩↩

  18. Friends of Mitchell Park. https://www.mitchellparkdc.org/about ↩

  19. CNN — Obama house in Kalorama. https://www.cnn.com/2017/05/31/politics/obama-house-kalorama ↩

  20. artnet News — Jeff Bezos buys the Textile Museum. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/jeff-bezos-textile-museum-816740 ↩

  21. History's Homes — William Howard Taft. http://www.historyshomes.com/detail.cfm?id=771 ↩