Some of my St. Louis friends told me that they really weren’t that interested in 16th Street, Washington D.C. That surprised me, of course. And I don’t understand why. No street in the country is more interesting.

We stopped posting these short walks a few weeks ago, so it is time to pick them up again. We were at the northern end of Meridian Hill Park, at Euclid Street. To give you an idea how far north we are, take a left on Euclid and walk two blocks to 18th Street.  You are now in the heart of Adams Morgan. Yes, they are that close, and so very, very different.

This apartment building on the east side of 16th Street used to be for women only, a place where young women who came to work for the government coukd feel safe. In 1958, on my high school junior trip to Washington,  my memory is that this is where the girls stayed. The boys stayed a block or so down the street.

Across the street, you find the headquarters of the Inter-American Defense Board. This house was built in 1906 and was the home of Mrs. Marshall Field, but has been the headquarters of the IADB since the end of World War II. The IADB is now a branch of the Organization of American States (headquarters on 17th Street, near the White House) and is the parent Organization of the Inter-American Defense College (open to member government officials), located at Ft. McNair in SW D.C.

Next, we find the embassy of Lithuania, an impressive stone building flying the flag of Ukraine. Some years ago, I attended a number of meetings in this building as a member of a group of Jewish Washingtonians trying to help Lithuania better its relations with the Jewish community. At the time, Lithuania had a very liberal ambassador, and Lithuania was engaged in many activities in Israel and had an extensive domestic Holocaust education program. We had just traveled to Lithuania and I was enthused. Then, the ambassador was replaced, the effort died down, and that’s all I know.

The next building is even more impressive.

It’s the embassy of Cuba, maintained in very good condition. The building was built as Cuba’s embassy in 1915. Between 1971 and 2015, there was no diplomatic relationship between the two countries, and relationships were handled through Switzerland.  But, even during this period, I think this property continued to be owned and occupied by Cuba. A statue of Cuban hero Jose Martì stabds at the front door. A separate visa office is located in a small building across the street.

The embassies keep ping on, although there are larger clusters of embassies in Washington. But right next to Cuba, you find the Polish embassy.

The Polish embassy, built as a private residence of Missouri Senator John Henderson in 1910, was purchased by Poland in 1919. I am told that there is a concert grand piano in the foyer, which was a gift of pianist and prime minister Ignacy Paderewski.

We will stop here today with Modera Sedici, at 2700 16th Street.

If Modera Sedici, the main building of an apartment complex, looks like an embassy, that should be no surprise. For about 100 years, it was the Italian embassy (now located on Massachusetts Avenue), but now redesigned as apartments, which seem to rent for $3000 to over $6000 per month.

All this…..and we have covered one block.