Spanish Steps (Washington D.C.) Spanish Steps (Washington D.C.) The Spanish Steps are an urban arrangement in the Kalorama neighborhood of Washington, D.C., on 22nd Street NW just south of S Street NW. Inspired by the City Beautiful movement, the steps accommodate a steep difference of level between S Street and the parallel immediately to the south, Decatur Place NW. Named with reference to the Spanish Steps in Rome, though obviously of no comparable scale and grandeur, they were designed by local architect George Oakley Totten Jr. for the Municipal Office of Public Works and Grounds, and built in 1905. A granite lion-head fountain is
Spanish Steps fleur-de-lys and Innocent XIII's eagle and crown are carefully balanced in the sculptural details. The solution is a gigantic inflation of some conventions of terraced garden stairs. The Spanish Steps, which Joseph de Lalande and Charles de Brosses noted were already in poor condition, have been restored several times, most recently in 1995. A new renovation commenced on October 8, 2015 and the steps reopened on September 21, 2016. In the Piazza di Spagna at the base is the Early Baroque fountain called "Fontana della Barcaccia" ("Fountain of the longboat"), built in 1627–29 and often credited to Pietro Bernini, father