Kalorama was primarily rural until the end of the 19th century. It is northwest of the original limits of Washington City in Pierre Charles L'Enfant's original plan.
In 1795, Gustavus Scott, a commissioner for the District of Columbia, purchased land that had been part of Anthony Holmead's "Widows Mite" holdings. He constructed a large, classically styled house at 23rd and S Streets, which he named Rock Hill. In 1803, Scott's wife, Margaret Scott, sold the property to William Augustine Washington.[6]
In 1807, Joel Barlow, a poet, diplomat, and political philosopher bought the property and renamed it "Kalorama", Greek for "fine view."[1] Barlow lived in the home until shortly before his death in 1812. He commissioned United States Capitol architect Benjamin Latrobe to enlarge the house and elevate its design. The residence was destroyed by a fire during the American Civil War while it was used as a Union hospital. It was rebuilt and returned to a single-family home until 1887, when it was leveled by the District of Columbia government for the extension of S Street NW.
In the early 1880s, the Kalorama area, largely undeveloped because it lay beyond Boundary Street (now Florida Avenue) and thus outside the city limits, began to be subdivided for urban development. In 1893, Congress ordered L'Enfant's design of the city of Washington extended outward to include the rest of the District. Existing developments were exempted, which is why Kalorama is one of the few areas of D.C. that do not adhere to the city's street grid.
Two high bridges over Rock Creek became important to the development of both sides of Kalorama in this period, the Calvert Street bridge (since replaced by the Duke Ellington Bridge), built in 1891, and the Taft Bridge (on Connecticut Avenue), built in 1907.
The Kalorama Triangle is a residential enclave of Adams Morgan in Northwest Washington, bounded by three major thoroughfares: Connecticut Avenue, Calvert Street, and Columbia Road.
Kalorama Triangle is in the service area of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 1C, the Adams Morgan Advisory Neighborhood Commission, and is represented by the commissioners for 1C02.[7]
Kalorama Heights is assigned to Washington's Sheridan-Kalorama Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC 2D) and designated as Single Member District 2D01 (the northeastern half) and 2D02 (the remainder).
The Sheridan-Kalorama Historic District is in southwestern Kalorama.[8]
Warren Harding lived at 2314 Wyoming Avenue NW from 1917 to 1921, then as a U.S. senator from Ohio. The house was built in 1915 in the Federal Architecture style on a design by architect George N. Ray, and is now the residence of the ambassador of Monaco.
Herbert Hoover, when appointed Secretary of Commerce in 1921, purchased a house built by Thomas Gales in 1902 in the Colonial Revival style on a design by Appleton P. Clark, Jr. He lived there with his family until his inauguration in 1929 and after leaving the White House from 1933 to 1944. It has been the Embassy of Burma, then Myanmar since 1954.
