Colorado Avenue's Grand View
THE DISTRICT has plenty of monumental state-named avenues. There's Pennsylvania Avenue, of course, with its grand, long vista featuring the Capitol's dome. Delaware Avenue, despite being closed off for U.S. Senate parking, has a nice view of Union Station. And even Idaho Avenue, in Cathedral Heights, has The Westchester apartments, the grand Depression-era complex at 4000 Cathedral Avenue as its terminal setting.
And then there's Colorado Avenue in Ward 4's Brightwood neighborhood. At 13th Street NW, the avenue's angle changes slightly for its final block, and before you stands the closest thing in the District to the Eiffel Tower. Here is a radio tower that you may have seen from taller observation points in the city, like the Old Post Office Pavilion's bell tower, or from afar elsewhere in town. But it's worth a closer look from the ground.
In January, photoblogger Ambivalent Images posted some cool photos of the radio tower and relays some interesting information about potential dangers the tower poses, specifically from the little prongs that stick out from its sides:
When the whether warms up, the ice comes crashing down in great big chunks that damage nearby property and put lives at risk. The police frequently have to close the streets next to this tower because of the risk posed by falling ice.The photographer says that "someone put some obvious thought into its design so that it's almost beautiful." We would agree. (Now, if only the District would get rid of the overhanging wires, we would have had a nicer shot.)
The tower is a short walk from Fort Stevens, the endangered Civil War fort which sits on one of the District's higher spots.
To get up close to D.C.'s Eiffel Tower or visit Fort Stevens, take a 70/71 bus from the Silver Spring, Georgia Ave.-Petworth stations via Georgia Avenue (or from 7th Street NW downtown). Get off at Georgia Avenue and Quackenbos Street NW and you're there.
» "Fighting the Assaults of Time" [WaPo]
» Fort Stevens [Explore DC]
Photo by Michael Grass/Express
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