BRIDGES OF WASHINGTON, D.C.

The Dumbarton Bridge, also referred to as the Q Street bridge, Que Street Bridge, and Buffalo Bridge, is located in the Dumbarton neighborhood of Georgetown in Washington, DC. It is a high-profile, concrete arch bridge, but is very different from all other bridges in the District.

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The first difference is that Dumbarton is the only bridge in the District that is curved. In 1895 Congress passed legislation to require that Georgetown streets be renamed to match the corresponding street on the eastern side of Rock Creek. but this became difficult because the streets on either side of the creek were not perfectly aligned. When it came time to construct a bridge at Q Street in 1915, the two ends of Q Street were offset by about 185 feet, and Glenn Brown, the designer, decided to enhance the aesthetics of the bridge by making it curved.

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The other significant difference is the decorations applied to various parts of the bridge. The construction of the bridge in 1915 coincided with the height of the City Beautiful Movement and, compared to Dumbarton, the decorations and sculptures on the other Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway bridges are relatively subtle and muted. In most cases, decorations on bridges, or any public structure, are intended to commemorate, or otherwise support, a theme that is of importance to the community. The decorations may be representative, or symbolic, or allegorical, but there is usually some meaning intended by the designer and understood by the community. For the Dumbarton Bridge, there does not seem to be any logical explanation for combining a medieval bridge structure with Roman aqueducts and an American Wild West theme of Indians and bison.

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The difference becomes apparent as soon as the bridge comes into view around a curve on the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway beneath the bridge. While most of the other Rock Creek bridges use multi-colored stone-facing or concrete to achieve a general shade of gray and brown, the Dumbarton Bridge is a reddish buff color, intended to mimic terra cotta and evoke the feeling of a Mediterranean setting. This was achieved using Kingswood sandstone from West Virginia for the carved stone decorations, and mixing different types of sand and gravel to mimic the same color for the concrete. To the non-architectural layperson, the bridge appears to be orangish, or pinkish orange, depending on the sun. The concrete surfaces were also textured with a rough, stippled pattern to appear similar to a terra cotta structure.

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Next, the arches of the bridge are only about half as high as the entire structure. The upper half of the structure, and the most dominant visual feature from a distance, is composed of an intricate row of smaller arches, designed in the manner of Roman aqueducts, with their bases sitting on corbels. Each corbel, of which there are dozens, is carved with a small Native American head, complete with full headdress. The model for the sculpted heads was a life mask of the Oglala Lakota Sioux Chief, Kicking Bear. In 1896, Kicking Bear traveled to Washington, DC as part of a delegation presenting grievances to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. During this visit, he agreed to have a life mask made for the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History to use as an example of a Sioux warrior. Brown used the mask to create the dozens of sculpted heads used as corbels on the bridge. Also, barely noticeable, unless you know to look for them, are intricately-carved monograms of the initials “DC” on small panels on the spandrel in between the main arches.

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Finally, at the ends of the parapets, on all four corners, are monuments topped by enormous, life-sized bronzes of bison by prominent sculptor, Alexander Phimister Proctor. These have resulted in the popular local nickname for the bridge, Buffalo Bridge. These unusual construction methods and elaborate decorations were the basis for listing the bridge on the National Register of Historic Places, in 1973.

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Because of the unusual decorations, the Dumbarton Bridge was prominently featured in Chapter 4, Decorated Bridges, of my book Bridgespotting Part 2: A Guide to Even More Bridges that Connect People, Places, and Times. I have also written a much more detailed description of the bridge in my new book, Bridges of Washington, DC: A History and Guide.