The Commission of Fine Arts had considered bridge designs for this site for years. Initially, designs were put forth by George Oakley Totten, Jr. and later by Paul Cret. The Commission finally settled on Cret’s concrete bridge with dressed limestone facing. Cret designed the Calvert Street Bridge in collaboration with the engineering firm of Modjeski, Masters & Chase.
The bridge was designed to accommodate streetcars. Four sculptural reliefs by Leon Hermant, representing modes of transportation, adorn each of the pedestals (which lack sculptures) at the corners of the bridge. Each relief incorporates a Neoclassical nude with a locomotive, plane, ship or automobile. Tree limbs extend over and obscure the pedestals; this vegetation has fostered the build up of dirt and, in turn, deterioration of the reliefs.
In 1974, after the death of Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington (1899-1974), the bridge was renamed for the famous composer/ performer and native Washingtonian. The significant number of suicide jumps from this bridge prompted the city to erect 5’ high metal railings along it in the late 1980s. The visually intrusive bars compromise the views to the scenery below and are incompatible with the design of the bridge.
Built 1935 (Paul Philippe Cret, architect; Ralph Modjeski, engineer), sculptural relief panels by Leon Hermant
DC listing November 8, 1964
Part of the Rock Creek Park Historic District
DC Ownership
Part of the Rock Creek Park Historic District
DC Ownership
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