Old Landmark Gives Way to Modern Rowhouses
From the Washington Post:
Another old landmark is to disappear soon through the change of ownership of the square bounded by R, Third and Fourth streets, and Florida avenue northwest, and long known as the Glorious property. The land has been occupied as a garden, and by a greenhouse, and a residence, which will be removed to make way for a block of twenty-seven two story dwellings, to be erected by Harry Wardman, who will put them upon the market, Each dwelling will consist of two flats of five rooms and a bath, and be strictly up to date in all features. They will be of press brick.
Work on the structures will begin about October 1, They are intended to be ready for occupancy April 1. Mr. Wardman has just completed, at New Jersey avenue and R street northwest, five two story flat dwellings of the same character as those described above. All these were sold, before being finished. At Thirteenth street and Whitney avenue, Mr. Wardman is erecting five three-story modern press brick and stone front dwellings to be finished November 1. These are to be provided with hot-water heating appliances, and all other conveniences. Another ...
-Washington Post, September 21, 1902 p. 16
[sarcasm]
There you go another developer taking over green space throwing up a bunch of cookie-cutter townhouses (of the same character) on the edges of the city and out in the suburban parts of the District*. So in seven months time he's supposed to tear down a landmark, and quickly construct 27 whole townhouses in move in condition?
And Modern?! Phooey, what's wrong with the lovely and modest Federalist style that is the charming character of the city. Wardman wants to build these huge monstrosities that dwarf the humble classic styled houses. Modern, well I don't care for this modernism, not one bit. And two flats? Obviously, these are meant for greedy investors as what appears on the outside to be a single home is nothing but a mini-apartment complex or flop house.
But let us return to what we will lose in all of this, flowers, beautiful locally grown flowers. It is sad that none of the Glorious children have chosen to take up their father's passion to continue the family business, but I guess this is all what people call progress. [/sarcasm]
*Near the turn of the century, a lot of what was above Florida Avenue (then Boundary Avenue) was farmland and he sub-urban part of the District.
Labels: development, neighborhood history
posted by Mari @ 2.1.08
5 Comments:
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This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Um, I have to delete the off topic non-ID'd comment.
A question about the helicopter, well maybe someone at TruxtonCircle.org knows.
well, it could be worse.
as much as i love history, you know that it's fleeting.
dc, twenty years from now, will be a completely different place.
just as it was twenty years prior to our 2007.
that's why your blog is so cool. it keeps many of us in check with 'what was'.
just look at new york.
it's not the same place i knew twenty years ago.
better? worse?
maybe we can all judge that 490 years from now.
history is, by and large, the result of socio-economic patterns and developments.
us history buffs just wax and wane about what's happened.
it's the folks with the $$ that dictate our research.
imho
Luckily the people who pay me, don't really dictate the research I do in my free time.
Human activity over time is one of the reasons why I find history interesting. Change is a part of history. Stuff gets built and a story forms around it, Then it gets torn down and something replaces it, and stories and experiences get attached to the new thing. And when the new thing becomes an old thing the process may repeat.
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