Walking Tour - Dupont Circle & Embassy Row

Hear the stories and scandals that took place behind the doors of Dupont Circle’s opulent mansions and grand embassies.

In this two-hour architectural history tour, we’ll stroll along DC’s Embassy Row to see the city’s most impressive properties, spanning the architectural gamut from Neoclassical to Beaux-Arts to Queen Anne. Starting at the eponymous Dupont Circle Fountain on Massachusetts Avenue, we’ll discuss how this once-rural part of Washington took shape in the late 1800s. Walking along Embassy Row, we’ll see the imposing Blaine Mansion, the impressive Embassy of Indonesia (once home to the Hope Diamond), and the aptly named Anderson Mansion. Then we’ll wind onto S Street NW, stopping at the Woodrow Wilson House and the Spanish Steps, before making our way past the “Hobbit House” to the Phillips Collection, the first modern art museum in the United States. Along the way, our expert guides will share stories about the politicians, society ladies, diplomats, and captains of industry that shaped this grand boulevard—featuring characters like the scandalous Alice Roosevelt Longworth (the oldest child of Teddy Roosevelt) avant-garde artist Alice Pike Barney, and former DC governor Alexander “Boss” Shepherd.

Dupont Circle and Embassy Row Tour Sights and Stops:
 

  • Dupont Circle
  • Embassy of Indonesia (Walsh-McLean House)
  • The Cosmos Club
  • Society of the Cincinnati (Anderson Mansion)
  • Woodrow Wilson House
  • Spanish Steps
  • Edward Lind Morse Studio
  • Franklin Delano Roosevelt House
  • The Phillips Collection
  • and more!