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 language in the United States American Spanish in the United States. Spanish was among the very first European languages spoken in North America, preceded only by Old Norse. Spanish arrived in the territory of the modern United States in 1493, with Columbus' arrival to Puerto Rico. Ponce de León explored what is now Florida in 1513. In 1565, the Spaniards founded St. Augustine, Florida, and as of the early 1800s, it became the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in what is now the United States. In 1898, San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico, became the oldest city in all of the U.S. territory: Juan