“The Maples” Rough Rendering and Plans on Capitol Hill

Prince Of Petworth February 16, 2012 at 4:00pm

Back in Sept. 2010 I nominated this property for a historical horse’s ass award. Last weekend I saw a rough rendering and a website posted out front:

Historic renovation and newly constructed homes

Direct entry elevator access from underground parking garage into select homes

Flats, Duplexes & Townhomes

Historic residences featuring high end finishes

Interior demolition is complete

Occupancy Fall 2012

The Maples is located at 619 D Street, SE also listed as 630 South Carolina Avenue SE. You can see some historical photos from the Library of Congress here. Here’s some background info from an Office of Planning Report:

The original main house and stable (which later acquired the current brick façade) were designed by William Lovering for owner William Mayne Duncanson and were built circa 1795-1796. Designed in the Georgian style, the two-story plus attic main house is five bays wide and rectangular in footprint. The gabled roof of the main house includes chimneys at the east and west ends. The front porch, which had been removed as of photographs taken in the 1940s, spanned three bays of the front façade and featured a pediment.

After a long period of vacancy, the house was used as a hospital for wounded soldiers during the War of 1812 and was purchased by Francis Scott Key in 1815. Key’s ownership was followed by that of Major Augustus A. Nicholson, Quarter Master of the Marines, in 1838, and then by Senator John M. Clayton starting in 1856. Clayton, who served as Secretary of State under President Zachary Taylor, added a ballroom addition immediately to the east of the main block (later replaced during the 1930s with a new east wing) and may also have added the north wing behind the main house. Owner Emily Edson Briggs, the first woman admitted to the White House Press Room, expanded the north wing during her ownership of the property beginning in 1871, and the Briggs family subsequently sold the site to the Friendship House Association in 1936.

Full report below:

619 D Street SE April 2011