Sherman Circle: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Rock Creek Park - DC Street Plan Reservations

Pliska, Jonathan

The Sherman Circle cultural landscape is located in the Petworth neighborhood of NW Washington, DC, a residential area bounded by Kennedy St. to the north, Georgia Ave.to the west, Rock Creek Church Rd. to the south, and N. Capitol St. to the east. Covering approximately 3.44 acres, the cultural landscape is comprised of 5 small urban parks administered by the NPS Rock Creek Park unit: Sherman Circle (U.S. Reservation 369), U.S. Reservations 436, 438, 447, and 448. Sherman Circle is the largest of these reservations and occupies the center of the site.The individual parks are defined and separated from one another by the surrounding system of interconnecting roadways. Sherman Circle is bounded by a vehicular rotary of the same name. Illinois Ave., Kansas Ave., 7th St., and Crittenden St. radiate outward from this rotary, while Decatur St. and Buchanan St. are located one block to the north and south. The four remaining reservations are triangular in shape and occupy the irregular parcels of land carved out by this streetscape. Although separate and distinct NPS holdings, all five parks are closely related. Because of this shared history, the decision was made to document them as a single cultural landscape rather than as individual properties. There is little existing National Register of Historic Places documentation within the Petworth neighborhood. The cultural landscape is not currently listed on the National Register or located within the boundaries of a property previously determined to be eligible for listing. However, the site is eligible for listing on the National Register according to Significance Criterion C in the area of community planning and development. The basis for this claim rests on the landscape’s important role in carrying L’Enfant’s plan of Washington, DC, beyond the city’s original borders. From a planning perspective, Petworth is significant because it was the first new neighborhood whose design reflected the old city’s existing streetscape. Nowhere is this association more clear than the Sherman Circle cultural landscape. Sherman Circle and its 4 associated reservations first appeared on paper in 1889 as part of the original plat of Petworth. Traffic circles and their adjoining triangles are common within the old city, as L’Enfant used them to mark the major intersections of N-S streets, E-W streets, and diagonal avenues. These parcels are much rarer elsewhere within the District, and Sherman Circle is one of only two outlying traffic circles to match the size of those within the old city. As such, the Sherman Circle cultural landscape ensures that Petworth was not only the first new development modeled after the original L’Enfant City, but also the truest reiteration of its design. Although platted in 1889, Sherman Circle and Reservations 436, 438, 447, and 448 were not actually created until 1923. By 1936, Sherman Circle and these reservations had been developed as urban parks. The understated landscape design by Irving W. Payne called for the installation of concrete walkways, and the planting of trees, shrubs, grass, and perennials to reinforce the individual sites’ interconnectedness and their connections to the neighborhood. The periods of significance for the Sherman Circle cultural landscape are 1889 and 1923-1936. These dates denote the initial platting of the Petworth neighborhood and the subsequent development of the site. The period ends with the final execution of Payne’s plan. The Sherman Circle cultural landscape retains integrity to the period of significance and is in good condition overall. Subsequent changes have altered the landscape, especially with regard to materials, but the site’s historic character is still in evidence today.

Sherman Circle: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Rock Creek Park - DC Street Plan Reservations

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