History

Streets of Washington Presents – Washington’s Unloved, Never-Finished, Crumbling Peace Monument

By Prince Of Petworth

Streets of Washington, written by John DeFerrari, covers some of DC’s most interesting buildings and history. John is also the author of Lost Washington DC.

“Why is peace such an untellable tale?” wonders one of the patrons in a Berlin library as he is observed by a kindly angel in Wim Wenders’ classic film, Wings of Desire (1987). Just as peace is hard to write about, so it seems to be hard to erect a memorial to. We have countless monuments to wars and their heroes, but relatively few to celebrate peace. Even our Peace Monument, erected in 1877 at the foot of Capitol Hill where Pennsylvania Avenue ends, is really more about war than peace, and like the city’s many war memorials, people have bickered over it at least as much as they’ve celebrated its theme of tranquility.


The Peace Monument (photo by the author).

The monument was the brainchild of Admiral David D. Porter (1813-1891), one of the top two naval commanders of the Civil War. In 1864 Porter had led the successful naval campaign to take Fort Fisher at Wilmington, North Carolina, in what would be the last major naval campaign of the war. It was after the fall of Fort Fisher that Porter began a campaign to have a memorial erected to all of the brave Navy men who had been killed in the war, just as his famous father, War of 1812 hero David Porter (1780-1843), had commissioned the first naval monument to heroes of the Barbary Wars. That memorial, now known as the Tripoli Monument, had been completed in 1806 and originally stood in the Navy Yard but was moved to the Naval Academy in Annapolis in 1860.

When the Civil War ended, Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles (1802-1878) made Porter superintendent of the Naval Academy, where he would go on to institute many reforms that enhanced the professionalism of the navy. While at the Academy, Porter worked to get the new naval monument built so that it could join the venerable Tripoli Monument at Annapolis. He collected contributions from Naval officers and seamen totaling $9,000 and sketched out the design of the monument himself. Sculptor Franklin Simmons (1839-1913), who also sculpted the equestrian figure of General John A. Logan at the center of Logan Circle, was hired to carve the figures for the monument in fine white Carrara marble in his studio in Rome. So far so good. A reading of the National Register listing for Civil War monuments in Washington suggests that the ensuing production of the memorial was accomplished with efficiency and purpose: “The sculpture was erected by the government with contributions from Navy personnel under a Congressional Act approved July 31, 1876 (19 Stat. 114). It was sculpted and carved in Rome in 1877 and dedicated in the same year.”


The Peace Monument c. 1880, from a stereoview in the author’s collection.

However, things didn’t really go quite that smoothly. For one thing, it seems that Admiral Porter and Secretary Welles may not have gotten along well together. According to retired Navy officer C.Q. Wright, who wrote about the Peace Monument in the Washington Post in 1923, “the few surviving letters which passed between [Porter and Welles] concerning the location of this monument seem to indicate indifference in the mind of Mr. Wells to the erection of the monument or a quiet disapproval of the affair in which he may have thought he saw sign of the high-handed self-assertion of Admiral Porter.” Wright suggests that friction between Porter and Welles may have led to changes both in where the memorial was to be placed and how it was to be designed.

Continues after the jump. (more…)

Dear PoPville – Learning About the History of my House?

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user DCFryguy

Dear PoPville,

So we hear through the grapevine that our new house was previously at another location and was physically moved.

I poked around some in the 1940 census that was released recently. There are two addresses present there that are not present now.

Do you have any ideas about how to go about connecting the dots, or finding out more? At least it’s Takoma, and people cultivate this kind of history.

We looked at some suggestions back in Oct. 2011. Anyone else have any tips about where to learn about the history of your house, preferably for free?

“Here’s a Home in the Fashionable Northwest for $150 Cash”

By Prince Of Petworth


Click to enlarge

Thanks to a reader for sending this great old advertisement from 1912. My favorite part:

“Other neighborhoods may be inhabited by more expensive homes but no neighborhood in all Washington is more desirable from the standpoint of refinement.”

The reader writes:

“To add context….
2,750.00 in 1912 is about 64,500 in today’s dollars.
5,000 in 1912 is about $117,000 in today’s dollars.
Based off of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Man…. we are all 100 years too late.”

Streets of Washington Presents – Garfinckel’s, Washington’s Fashion Arbiter

By Prince Of Petworth

Streets of Washington, written by John DeFerrari, covers some of DC’s most interesting buildings and history. John is also the author of Lost Washington DC.

The retail enterprise founded by Julius Garfinckle (1874-1936) in 1905 was a relative latecomer to the city’s department store field. Woodies, Lansburgh’s, the Palais Royal, Kann’s, Goldenberg’s, and Hecht’s all were established by the 1890s, making for a saturated and highly competitive market by the turn of the new century. But Garfinckle’s store (he later changed his and the store’s name to Garfinckel) carved out a unique, high-end niche and held on to it for 85 years, cultivating generations of dedicated shoppers who depended on the store for the trendiest and classiest apparel. When Garfinckel’s finally declared bankruptcy and closed in 1990, it was a heart-wrenching experience for employees and customers alike.


The former Garfinckel’s building as it appears today (photo by the author).

Born in Syracuse, New York, Garfinckle went to Colorado as a young man, hoping to strike a fortune in silver mining. Instead he became a clerk in a dry goods store. He moved to Washington in 1899, where he found employment with Parker, Bridget & Company, a prominent fashion-oriented dry goods store at 9th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW. As a buyer for that store’s women’s clothing department, Garfinckle traveled frequently to New York and learned all the ins and outs of the retail fashion industry.

In 1905 Garfinckle set out on his own with the founding of his namesake store, which occupied the bottom floor of a seven-floor building at 1226 F Street NW. With his Parker Bridget experience and contacts, Garfinckle was able to fill his new store with “a carefully selected stock of women’s suits, cloaks, furs, &c, together with imported novelties and specialties,” according to the Washington Post, which observed that the new store’s “popularity is already assured.” In keeping with the expectations of his high-end customers, Garfinckle made sure that each received exceptional personal attention.


Garfinckle’s original store (Source: DC Public Library, Star Collection, © Washington Post).

The Post’s early prediction of success soon came true. Garfinckle’s gradually filled all seven floors of its host building, an odd-looking structure that was originally half-built to allow for future expansion. Within a few years Garfinckle’s booming business led him to take over the two-story space on the corner previously occupied by Brentano’s bookstore and then to build out the missing floors above it.

But even that complete building wasn’t big enough, and by the 1920s, after Garfinckel changed the spelling of his name, he had his sights set on constructing a grand new building better fitting his prestigious business. He began assembling as much property as he could at the northwest corner of 14th and F Streets NW, and in 1928 announced plans for an imposing new 8-story building.

Like many a modern-day developer, Garfinckel immediately ran afoul of the city’s zoning regulations. He had planned for the full 130-foot elevation of his building to extend out to the property line, but new zoning rules adopted in 1927 required a setback for the floors above 110 feet. Protesting the requirement, Garfinckel’s attorneys pointed out that the newly-completed National Press Building, located cater-corner to the site, had no setback. However, that building had been completed in 1927, just before the new rule took effect. When finally constructed, the Garfinckel building dutifully included the required setback.

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Streets of Washington Presents – Union Station’s “forgotten” historic interior spaces

By Prince Of Petworth

Streets of Washington, written by John DeFerrari, covers some of DC’s most interesting buildings and history. John is also the author of Lost Washington DC.

Union Station probably reflects better than any other single Washington building the remarkable self-assuredness and imperial aspirations of its age. The architecture is stunningly elegant, both outside and in, and it was one of the first properties in the District of Columbia to be named to the National Register of Historic Places. After having been brought back from near-death in the 1980s, the station is once again the subject of development debate. Instead of dreaming up improbable and unneeded functions like the ill-conceived National Visitor Center of the 1970s, planners are now focusing on the hard realities of the station’s increasingly heavy use as a transportation hub, which strain its resources and demand modernization. A vision of an almost unrecognizably transformed space has been put forth.


Photo by the author

While the feasibility of this multi-billion dollar plan is debated, a more immediate proposal is on the table to make alterations to the station’s main waiting room (primarily by cutting two escalator holes in the floor) to allow visitors to more easily access the retail space that has been created in the basement. Repairs have also been underway in the main waiting room and surrounding areas as a result of damage sustained during the 2011 earthquake. All of this activity raises questions about how well the station’s grand interior spaces have been preserved and whether it is time to revisit compromises made back in the 1980s. Most notably, a few of the building’s finest public spaces—the Ladies’ Waiting Room, the Lunch Room, and the Smoking Room (or Men’s Waiting Room)—suffered in the 1980s rehab and could once again be grand if finally given the chance.

To the casual observer hurrying to catch a train, it would appear that Union Station’s interior has been carefully preserved, and in many ways this is true. A group of architects and developers, including Benjamin Thompson & Associates, who had worked on Boston’s Faneuil Hall and Baltimore’s Harborplace, as well as Harry Weese & Associates, who had designed the Metro system’s stations, collaborated on the redevelopment under many watchful eyes, including those of the National Park Service and the D.C. Historic Preservation Office. Painstaking attention was paid to bringing the building’s four most prominent public rooms—the Main Waiting Room, West Hall, Dining Room, and Presidential Suite—back to something close to their original appearance. Approximately seven pounds of 22-karat gold were applied as leaf to the 320 octagonal coffers that line the main waiting room’s vaulted ceiling. The original white marble floor, long since replaced and cut into for the visitor center, was carefully reconstructed. Plaster everywhere that had suffered deterioration and water damage was meticulously restored. Original wall colors, buried under twenty-two layers of paint, were recreated, as were delicate murals in the former dining room. The entire effort, from 1985 to 1988, was widely acclaimed as a preservation success.

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Awesome Community Mural/Mosaic – The Yume Tree

By Prince Of Petworth

One of my favorite murals (mosaic) in the city. From the Corner Store:

This 28′ by 14′ mosaic tree by Kris Swanson is a tribute to community created with help from dozens of friends and neighbors. A special thanks to Laurie Siegel for firing so many of the mosaic tiles & designing the classroom syllabus.

The Yume Tree is located on the CVS wall at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and 12th Street, SE, Washington DC. More than one thousand children in area schools sculpted and signed the three-inch names tiles that form the body of the tree. The leaves of the tree are mirror. The higher leaf groupings reflect the movement of the sky, the lower mirror the garden, street, and people walking by. Sponsorship tiles form the background surrounding the tree, reflecting thoughts of the community.

The Yume Tree was installed and dedicated in October, 2003, and new Tiles are added every six months or so. It’s never too late to add your voice to this growing neighborhood mosaic.

House of the Day

By Prince Of Petworth

I love looking at the old plaque from this house in Georgetown. I’m never able to decipher it. From Black Georgetown Remembered:

“Former site of the good Samaritan Hall (Briggs Hall) at 1514 26th Street. This building was used by the black community until the 1940s as a place of worship and meetinghouse. It is now a private residence.”

Get a Free Tour of St Elizabeths Sat. Sept. 8th

By Prince Of Petworth

From an email:

When: Saturday, September 8, 2012, 2:00 p.m.

What: Salute to Summer’s End Historic Tour opens the gates to the history and architectural beauty of St Elizabeths East and its formerly closed campus. The Salute to Summer’s End tour concludes a Season of Discovery, which has offered unprecedented access to the landmark campus in advance of its redevelopment as a new center for community, innovation, education, enterprise, and security and sustainability. For information, visit www.stelizabethseast.com.

The tour is in conjunction with the second location of the Ward 8 Farmers Market, open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on September 8.

Who: Hosted by the District of Columbia Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning & Economic Development.

Tour led by Hayden M. Wetzel, creator of the African-American Discovery Trail and popular guide for such firms as Capital Segway, DC Cruises, and Washington Walks. Hayden Wetzel is a member of the Landmarks Committee of the DC Preservation League and the Guild of Professional Tour Guides of Washington DC.

Where: St Elizabeths East, 2700 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE, Washington, DC, adjacent to Congress Heights Metro station (Green Line) in Southeast Washington. Parking available across Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue at Friendship PCS Southeast Elementary Academy.

St Elizabeths East At the center of the District of Columbia’s historic neighborhoods in Ward 8, St Elizabeths East is an exceptional opportunity for the City and the private development community to create a landmark for the 21st century: a well-planned, mixed-use, mixed-income, walkable, livable community. St Elizabeths East holds immeasurable potential as a gateway to a new future and a catalyst for economic development and growth – not only in the neighborhoods surrounding the iconic campus, but throughout the District, the region, and the nation. Visit www.stelizabethseast.com.

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