Dupont Circle Art on Call project. Installed at the corner of 17th and U Streets NW, Washington DC. Text from the call box installation About the site: You are in the "Strivers' Section" of Washington, DC. The name derives from the area's longstanding association with leading individuals and institutions in the African American community. Beginning in the 1870s, this area has been associated with many prominent African American leaders in business, education, politics, and government. Leading the list is Frederick Douglass, world-renowned abolitionist, orator and writer. Douglass owned the Second Empire style row of houses located at 2000-2008 17th St., (above) built in 1875-76. James E. Storum, an educator and entrepreneur who founded the Capital Savings Bank, the city's first African American-owned bank, lived at 2004 17th St. Calvin Brent, a noted architect, lived on V St. James C. Dacy, editor, and DC Recorder of Deeds, lived in the area between 1904 and 1910. Architecturally, Strivers' is characterized by late-19th and early-20th-century row houses. The Eduardian 1700 blocks of T and U Sts. Remain architectural focal points in the district. About the call box project: Police Call Boxes such as this one (originally painted blue) were installed in the District after the Civil War. Officers on foot patrol used this secure telegraph system to contact the station, accessing the box with a now highly collectible "gold key." This system was used until the late 1970s when it was abandoned in favor of more modern communication methods. Bio: Urban planner Steven Stichter's relief prints (wood- and linoleum-block, letterpress) and improvisational quilts often depict Washington residential architecture and scenes.

Steven Stichter Prints

Poseur, circa 1916 (2004)

This page was last updated on:
September 19, 2005

Public Art

Dupont Circle Art on Call project. Installed at the corner of 17th and U Streets NW, Washington DC. Text from the call box installation About the site: You are in the "Strivers' Section" of Washington, DC. The name derives from the area's longstanding association with leading individuals and institutions in the African American community. Beginning in the 1870s, this area has been associated with many prominent African American leaders in business, education, politics, and government. Leading the list is Frederick Douglass, world-renowned abolitionist, orator and writer. Douglass owned the Second Empire style row of houses located at 2000-2008 17th St., (above) built in 1875-76. James E. Storum, an educator and entrepreneur who founded the Capital Savings Bank, the city's first African American-owned bank, lived at 2004 17th St. Calvin Brent, a noted architect, lived on V St. James C. Dacy, editor, and DC Recorder of Deeds, lived in the area between 1904 and 1910. Architecturally, Strivers' is characterized by late-19th and early-20th-century row houses. The Eduardian 1700 blocks of T and U Sts. Remain architectural focal points in the district. About the call box project: Police Call Boxes such as this one (originally painted blue) were installed in the District after the Civil War. Officers on foot patrol used this secure telegraph system to contact the station, accessing the box with a now highly collectible "gold key." This system was used until the late 1970s when it was abandoned in favor of more modern communication methods. Bio: Urban planner Steven Stichter's relief prints (wood- and linoleum-block, letterpress) and improvisational quilts often depict Washington residential architecture and scenes.

Call box detail (see text above)

View of call box from corner of 17th and U Streets NW