Constitution Avenue in the context of "National Gallery of Art"

Play Trivia Questions online!

or

Skip to study material about Constitution Avenue in the context of "National Gallery of Art"

Ad spacer

⭐ Core Definition: Constitution Avenue

Constitution Avenue is a major east–west street in the northwest and northeast quadrants of the city of Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was originally known as B Street, and its western section was greatly lengthened and widened between 1925 and 1933. It received its current name on February 26, 1931, though it was almost named Jefferson Avenue in honor of Thomas Jefferson.

Constitution Avenue's western half defines the northern border of the National Mall and extends from the United States Capitol to the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge. Its eastern half runs through the neighborhoods of Capitol Hill and Hill East before terminating at the RFK Stadium campus. Many federal departmental headquarters, memorials, and museums line Constitution Avenue's western segment.

↓ Menu

>>>PUT SHARE BUTTONS HERE<<<

👉 Constitution Avenue in the context of National Gallery of Art

The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in 1937 for the American people by a joint resolution of the United States Congress. Andrew W. Mellon donated a substantial art collection and funds for construction.

The core collection includes major works of art donated by Paul Mellon, Ailsa Mellon Bruce, Lessing J. Rosenwald, Samuel Henry Kress, Rush Harrison Kress, Peter Arrell Browne Widener, Joseph E. Widener, and Chester Dale. The Gallery's collection of paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, sculpture, medals, and decorative arts traces the development of Western art from the Middle Ages to the present and includes the largest mobile created by Alexander Calder.

↓ Explore More Topics
In this Dossier

Constitution Avenue in the context of Quadrants of Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., is administratively divided into four geographical quadrants of unequal size, each delineated by their ordinal directions from the medallion located in the Crypt under the Rotunda of the Capitol. Street and number addressing, centered on the Capitol, radiates out into each of the quadrants, producing a number of intersections of identically named cross-streets in each quadrant. Originally, the District of Columbia was a near-perfect square but contained more than one settlement; the Capitol was to be the center of the City of Washington. Thus, the Capitol was never located at the geographic center of the whole territory, which was eventually north of the Potomac River, consolidated into one city. (The geographic center was located near the onetime marshy area of the present-day intersection of 17th Street, NW and Constitution Ave.) As a result, the quadrants are of greatly varying size. Northwest is quite large, encompassing over a third of the city's geographical area, while Southwest is little more than a few neighborhoods, large parks, and a military base.

The boundaries of the quadrants are not necessarily straight lines radiating from the medallion, but in three instances follow the paths of the boundary streets (which in some cases curve around topographical features): North Capitol Street, South Capitol Street, and East Capitol Street. The axis of the National Mall through the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial forms the boundary running west of the medallion.

↑ Return to Menu

Constitution Avenue in the context of 14th Street (Washington, D.C.)

14th Street NW/SW is a street in Northwest and Southwest quadrants of Washington, D.C., located 1.25 miles (2.01 km) west of the U.S. Capitol. It runs from the 14th Street Bridge north to Eastern Avenue.

Northbound U.S. Route 1 runs along 14th Street from the bridge to Constitution Avenue, where it turns east with US 50. US 1 southbound previously used 15th Street NW due to the ban on left turns from westbound Constitution Avenue to 14th Street, but it now uses the Ninth Street Tunnel, five blocks to the east. 14th Street crosses the National Mall and runs near the White House and through the western side of Washington's Logan Circle neighborhood.

↑ Return to Menu

Constitution Avenue in the context of Federal Triangle

Federal Triangle is a triangular area in Washington, D.C., formed by 15th Street NW, Constitution Avenue NW, Pennsylvania Avenue NW, and E Street NW. Federal Triangle is occupied by 10 large city and federal office buildings, all of which are part of the Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site. Seven of the buildings in Federal Triangle were built by the U.S. federal government in the early and mid-1930s as part of a coordinated construction plan that has been called "one of the greatest building projects ever undertaken". Two buildings predating this coordinated effort were incorporated into Federal Triangle, and one was constructed in the 1990s.

Federal Triangle station is the Washington Metro station serving Federal Triangle and its immediately surrounding areas.

↑ Return to Menu

Constitution Avenue in the context of National Archives Building

The National Archives Building, known informally as Archives I, is the headquarters of the United States National Archives and Records Administration. It is located north of the National Mall at 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. in Washington, D.C. The rotunda entrance is on Constitution Avenue, and the research entrance is on Pennsylvania Avenue. A second larger facility, Archives II, also known as A2, is located in College Park, Maryland.

Built in the 1930s, the National Archives Building was designated a contributing property to the Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site in 1966 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in December 2023.

↑ Return to Menu

Constitution Avenue in the context of National Aquarium (Washington, D.C.)

The National Aquarium, Washington, D.C., was an aquarium in Washington D.C. It was located in the Herbert C. Hoover Building (owned by the General Services Administration), which is bounded by 14th Street NW on the east, 15th Street NW on the west, Pennsylvania Avenue NW on the north, and Constitution Avenue NW on the south. It was the first free and public aquarium in the United States.

The National Aquarium in Washington, D.C. was smaller than its counterpart in Baltimore, Maryland — a facility also known as the National Aquarium, although independent until the two aquariums signed an alliance in 2003. The Washington aquarium closed on September 30, 2013, after 140 years, the longest continuously operating aquarium in the United States at the time.

↑ Return to Menu

Constitution Avenue in the context of Eccles Building

The Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve Board Building houses the main offices of the Board of Governors of the United States' Federal Reserve System. It is located at the intersection of 20th Street and Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C. The building, designed in the Stripped Classicism style, was designed by Paul Philippe Cret and completed in 1937. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the building on October 20, 1937.

The building was named after Marriner S. Eccles (1890–1977), Chairman of the Federal Reserve under President Roosevelt, by an Act of Congress on October 15, 1982. Previously it had been known as the Federal Reserve Building.

↑ Return to Menu

Constitution Avenue in the context of National Museum of American History

The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center is a historical museum in Washington, D.C. It collects, preserves, and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific, and military history. Among the items on display is the original Star-Spangled Banner. The museum is part of the Smithsonian Institution and located on the National Mall at 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW in Washington, D.C.

In 2023, the museum received 2.1 million visitors, ranking the eighth-most visited museum in the U.S.

↑ Return to Menu

Constitution Avenue in the context of The Ellipse

The Ellipse, sometimes referred to as President's Park South, is a 52-acre (21 ha) park south of the White House fence and north of Constitution Avenue and the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. The Ellipse is also the name of the five-furlong (1.0 km) circumference street within the park. The entire park, which features monuments, is open to the public and is part of President's Park. The Ellipse is the location for many annual events.

From a mathematical point of view, the Ellipse is truly an ellipse. Its dimensions are 1,058 feet (322 m) for its major axis (east-west) and 903 feet (275 m) for its minor axis (north-south). Its eccentricity computes as e = 0.52 and its foci are 552 feet (168 m) apart, each 276 feet (84 m) from the center of the ellipse (east and west).

↑ Return to Menu