Designed by local D.C. architect Louis T. Rouleau, these two buildings reflect the development of residential units on New Hampshire Avenue following World War I. Modest in appearance and created for the rental market, The Hampshire reflects renters’ desires to live close to transportation networks within the District’s expanding residential market. Between 1935 and 1941, sixty percent of the funding for residential housing in D.C. was allocated for the construction of apartment buildings. Many of these buildings incorporated stylistic revival-design elements into their architecture while maintaining a modest appearance of affordability. The Hampshire apartments, two three-story brick building with Tudor Revival style adornments, are emblematic of this interwar architecture.
Located on the west side of New Hampshire Avenue NW in D.C.’s Brightwood neighborhood, the Hampshire offered public transport through streetcar and bus lines that ran alongside the apartment building. This proximity to transportation networks became critical for apartment buildings in the interwar period, as the increasing amount of government workers sought easy access to downtown jobs. Federal employees required affordable rental units for their families, nearby commercial establishments (accessible without an automobile), and transportation corridors—the Hampshire is representative of apartment buildings designed for these new federal workers.
At the time of the Hampshire’s construction, racially-restrictive covenants were common in D.C. and limited housing based on race. While there is no evidence of explicit racial restriction at the Hampshire, the surrounding areas in Brightwood were limited to white residents until a Supreme Court ruling against restrictive covenants in housing in 1948. However, residency at the Hampshire remained 96 percent white from its opening in 1936 until 1960. Within a decade, following the Civil Rights movement and subsequent white flight into the suburbs, the numbers flipped—with 90 percent of the Hampshire being occupied by Black residents.
Today, the buildings continue to operate as an apartment building, offering 53 residential units within walking distance to metro and bus stations.
DC Inventory: December 16, 2021
National Register: February 4, 2022
]]>The Washington National Cathedral has been a landmark of religious significance for over a century, and its surrounding structures date back to the early twentieth century. The Cathedral Close (an enclosed area surrounding the designated spot for the Cathedral) was selected in the late 1800s, an open space that seemed more suitable for religious worship than the cluttered center of the city. The space also allowed for future expansion.
First opened to the public in 1901, the Cathedral Close gardens and grounds soon filled with administrative buildings, greenhouses, and schools. The first building constructed on the site, the Renaissance Revival style Hearst Hall, was designed by Robert Gibson to “harmonize with the future cathedral.” Construction of the National Cathedral began in 1907 after the completion of numerous buildings in the Close. Despite this lapse in timing, the majority of buildings were designed in the Neo-Tudor and Neo-Gothic styles, providing the historic district with a cohesive feel. The Cathedral was finally completed in 1990 -- a full 83-years after construction began.
The Close is bounded by Woodley Road on the north, Wisconsin Avenue on the west, Massachusetts Avenue at the southwest corner, Garfield Street on the south, and 34th Street on the east.
Today, the Close is home to notable schools (such as St. Alban’s and the National Cathedral School for Girls), an expansive garden (tended by the All Hallows Guild), and various administrative buildings for National Cathedral staff.
DC Inventory: March 7, 1968
National Register: May 3, 1974
]]>Hillcrest/National Presbyterian Church reflects the merging of two early 20th century Washington institutions into the current historic properties of The Washington City Orphan Asylum (Hillcrest Children’s Center) and the National Presbyterian Church. The first resident of the space, Washington City Orphan Asylum (referred to as Hillcrest Children’s Village following a 1920s construction project), was one of the oldest charitable institutions in the nation’s capital. Founded in 1815, the institution sought to provide proper care for the city’s expanding orphan population – in contrast to the government’s solution of sending children into poorhouses and workhouses. After a series of moves to meet the increasing demand for additional residential space, a large donation in 1920 resulted in the acquisition of 13.1 acres of property along Nebraska Avenue NW. Appleton P. Clark Jr., a master architect well-known for his design of orphanages and children’s homes, designed remarkable Tudor Style cottages that evoked a home-like feel in lieu of a sanitized, institutional quality traditionally assigned to children’s homes. Clark was assisted by landscape architect Rose Greely and architect Horace Peaslee, who specialized in landscape design. Only part of Clark’s proposed Hillcrest Children’s Village was constructed, but a few of the cottages survive and remain remarkable examples of Tudor Revival architecture. In the 1960s, the property was sold to the National Presbyterian Church (NPC) and Hillcrest transitioned its services to a facility at 1325 W Street NW. The NPC’s history can be traced to the late 18th century; as early as 1794 and 1795, a group of Scottish stone masons gathered to hold Presbyterians services on land that the White House currently occupies. Originally known as the Covenant-First Presbyterian Church, desire for a national space of worship resulted in a 1971 name change. In 1963, after acquiring the Nebraska Avenue property, the NPC asked architect Harold E. Wagoner to draw up plans for the new national church. His Modern Gothic design echoed the church’s desire for a stately, dignified, and impressive national space. Wagoner’s incorporation of the four Clark-designed cottages into the church campus contributes to the architectural and historic significance. Today, the church remains an active, national space of worship in Northwest Washington.
DC Inventory: September 26, 2019
National Register: January 12, 2022
]]>The Park View Playground, designed by DC Municipal Architect Albert L. Harris, is most notable for its association with community efforts to end segregation in DC's playgrounds. Although the Park View community was mostly African American by the late 1940s, the legacy of the once all-white neighborhood's segregation remained visible, especially in its playground, which was only open to white children.
As the community pushed to give their children a place to play, the DC Board of Recreation agreed in 1948 to allow Black children to use the playground at certain times, but the playground remained whites-only during school hours. Even as the neighboring elementary school became an African American school, the playground remained partially segregated until 1952, when the Board of Recreation agreed to community demand to desegregate it. Two years later, all DC playgrounds followed suit.
The community activism that eventually led to the desegregation of the Park View Playground played out locally, in other DC neighborhoods, as well as nationally in the years that followed. As the site that initiated the public debate that ultimately led to the end of segregation in DC playgrounds, the Park View Playground is a significant site in DC's civil rights history.
DC Inventory: July 25, 2013
National Register: February 24, 2014
]]>Following a petition by the Northeastern Citizens' Suburban Association, Old Engine Company No. 26 formed in 1908 for better fire protection for the new Langdon neighborhood. Because the firehouse served a suburban area beyond the city's fire hydrant system, the firehouse received a chemical engine and became known as Chemical Company No. 3.
Designed by A.B. Mullett & Sons, Old Engine Company No. 26 is the most domestic of the city's firehouse designs—a half-timbered, sixteenth century English manor house, with modifications to accommodate fire equipment.
In 1940, Old Engine Company No. 26 moved in with Truck Company No. 15 at 1340 Rhode Island Avenue NE, when the restructuring of the fire department led to the disposal of redundant stations. After, the city proposed to adapt the Old Engine Company No. 26 building into a library, but the Rhode Island Avenue Citizens' Association suggested a community center. Instead, the building sold to the highest bidder. Old Engine Company No. 26 sold again to a church, which currently occupies the building.
DC Inventory: June 23, 2005
National Register: August 8, 2007
]]>An example of an apartment building constructed during the building boom following World War I, Tudor Hall Apartments combined the luxurious elements of earlier buildings with affordable pricing that middle-class residents could afford. Designed by Walter Granville Guss in 1918, the Tudor Revival style building contains a large and intricately designed lobby with modest and cost-friendly units throughout.
While DC residents were initially hesitant toward apartment-style living, buildings like Tudor Hall capitalized on the attractive design elements of early luxury apartments with the increasing need to house middle-class residents who preferred to be close to downtown office buildings for work. These elements attracted residents and led to the building having few vacancies for many years. Its location on Massachusetts Avenue also attracted renters, with multiple apartment buildings popping up along the thoroughfare during this same time period.
After 63 years serving as apartments, the building was converted into a luxury hotel in 1981. The property owners wanted to enhance the English style of the building, even purchasing authentic, antique English art and furniture to maintain the English aesthetic of the building.
DC Inventory: September 26, 2001
]]>Constructed between 1925 and 1935, the houses of the Foxhall Village Historic District form a cohesive community of Tudor Revival-style homes that emulate the image of a traditional English village.
The land on which Foxhall Village was built had previously been the site of Spring Hill Farm, which was the summer retreat of Columbia Foundry owner and onetime Georgetown mayor Henry Foxall. Well-connected in DC society, Foxall entertained many important figures at Spring Hill Farm, including Presidents Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe.
Many decades later, after the land had been sold and subdivided, Henry K. Boss returned from a trip to England with an inspiration for a new development in Northwest DC. In the aftermath of World War I, the relationship between the U.S. and England had grown stronger, and the two countries often sought to emulate each other. Boss’ vision employed the Tudor Revival style that was already popular across the U.S. thoroughly enough to create an entire village that resembled the English towns he had visited.
The community now known collectively as Foxhall Village began as three separate developments. Boss, with Herbert Phelps (as Boss and Phelps, Inc.) constructed 190 row houses between 1925 and 1930 for a community they named Foxhall Village. (Over the years, Henry Foxall’s name had sometimes been recorded as “Foxhall”; Boss and Phelps went with this version, and the added “h” has stuck.) Waverly Taylor, Inc. started work on an adjacent development called Foxall Village in 1928 and built 106 houses, and Cooper Lightbown and Son built six additional homes in an area they called Foxhall Heights. The three developers designed their houses to be intentionally harmonious with each other, which gives the historic district of today its cohesive appearance.
All of the houses built as part of these developments represent variations of Tudor Revival style, as does the single commercial building in the district. In order to add variety, the developers employed several architectural elements typical of Tudor Revival style in different combinations, with different roof treatments, windows, and entrances to make each house distinctive. The houses all share the same basic style, however, built of brick and stucco with decorative brickwork and half-timbered designs. Slate roofs with gables and dormers, decorative chimney pots, and wooden front doors contribute to the unique style of the neighborhood.
To recreate the feeling of a traditional village, developers grouped the dwellings differently from other row house developments of the time. Rather than imposing a grid system on the neighborhood, developers designed a street plan that followed the natural topography of the land. In fact, the developers paid equal attention to architecture and landscape planning, creating landscaped traffic circles and terraced properties with brick retaining walls. Advertised as “a village in the city,” Foxhall Village earned acclaim and even awards for its romantic, Old-World sensibilities, which helped to create the appearance of a quiet and remote neighborhood despite its proximity to the center of the city.
Although the district was built as three developments, a cohesive Foxhall Village community grew quickly. The formation of the Society of Little Gardens in 1927 joined residents interested in developing gardens and maintaining landscaping in the neighborhood, and the Foxhall Village Citizens Association, originally made up only of residents of Boss and Phelps' development, began admitting residents of Waverly Taylor’s Foxall Village in 1932. The opening of the Hardy School in 1934 helped to further develop the sense of community, bringing the neighborhood closer to being the village Boss had envisioned.
In subsequent decades, the fabric of Foxhall Village has seen remarkably little alteration. Now a designated historic district, the Tudor Revival-style neighborhood remains a model of an English village in Northwest DC.
DC Inventory: July 26, 2007
National Register: November 29, 2007
]]>Bernard Danzansky, a former tailor and ice cream and stationery seller, established the first Jewish funeral parlor in DC in 1912, meeting the needs of a growing population of Jewish residents of the city. In 1923, Danzansky moved the business to this location, following the migration of Jewish residents to the area. The Danzansky Funeral Home operated on Fourteenth Street for more than fifty years, as Danzansky became a central figure in DC’s Jewish community. The establishment occupied a four-story corner rowhouse and its neighbor, which are part of a trio of brick rowhouses built in 1910 by prominent developer Harry Wardman (1872-1938), following designs by architect Albert H. Beers (1868-1911). In 1938, Danzansky customized his buildings by replacing the front porches with a Tudor Revival addition that expressed the business use and introduced a large corner entrance.
DC Inventory: April 26, 2007
]]>The garden-style construction at 3901 Connecticut Avenue NW fulfilled many of the aesthetic and logistic needs of the residents that lived there. The building had direct streetcar access that allowed commuting workers to easily travel to and from work, while also maintaining aesthetically-pleasing elements like its Tudor Revival exterior, suburban-like landscaping, and a large entrance lobby.
With all of the design elements and convenient location, the building appealed to middle-class residents for many reasons. With major growth in D.C.'s population in the interwar years between World War I and II, 3901 Connecticut Avenue NW had everything a federal employee needed in order to live comfortably within the city. The increase in social acceptance towards apartment-style living also helped with the transition towards many D.C. residents living in apartment buildings versus single-family homes. Designed by George T. Santmyers, this apartment building exemplified new housing and population trends within the city.
DC Inventory: March 28, 1996 (including lobby interior)
National Register: September 11, 1997
This site is a stop on the D.C. Apartment Buildings tour as an example of a Garden apartment building.
]]>Situated diagonally across from Washington National Cathedral on one of the highest points in the city, the Alban Towers apartment complex is notable for its distinctive architecture. In 1925, a proposed zoning regulation allowing for the construction of apartment buildings on Massachusetts Avenue garnered opposition from many local residents, including Bishop C.F. Bratenahl of the National Cathedral. David A. Baer, who went on to develop Alban Towers once the zoning regulation passed, persuaded Bratenahl to allow construction by promising that the apartments would not clash with the Cathedral and instead would stylistically complement it. Bratenahl, in return, granted Baer permission to name the complex after Mount Saint Alban, the hill on which the Cathedral is located. Constructed in 1928, the six-story brick and limestone building was carved by Italian stonemasons, likely the same ones who had worked on the National Cathedral years earlier. Elements of Gothic Revival and Tudor Revival architecture complement the Cathedral. The exterior features carved owls, gargoyles, shields, and crests, as well as decorative tracery, battlements, finials, and Tudor arches. The 1920s saw the construction of an unprecedented number of apartment buildings in DC. Postwar prosperity had inspired growth in the federal government and increased the number of federal employees, but these employees’ salaries had not kept up with the increasing price of real estate. Many began renting apartments instead, and the apartment-hotel arrangement modeled at Alban Towers (which offered twenty-four hour maid service, as well as substantial amenities, including a lunch counter and a travel agency) was particularly popular with businessmen and Congressmen, who sought flexibility and convenience. Consequently, the complex met with immediate success, and its original 125 units went quickly. Developers purchased more land to build an additional eighty units, which went on the market two years later. The building’s unusual shape, featuring seven courtyards, is due in part to this addition. The Gothic and Tudor designs on the exterior of Alban Towers also carry through to its interior lobbies and hallways. In order to keep the complex economical, the original interiors of individual apartments were relatively bland, but the large lobby seating area at the building’s entrance made up for that, featuring elaborate crown molding with British symbols—roses, acorns, thistles—to fit in with the building’s English Gothic vernacular style. In the interior hallways, Tudor arches spaced between every three apartments feature bas-relief depictions of Zodiac symbols, with shields above them decorated with crosses and dragons. Alban Towers has changed hands various times over its lifetime, including several decades of ownership by Georgetown University. By 1998, the building was again owned by a developer and had fallen into disuse, boarded up, and vacant. Between 1999 and 2001, careful restoration work was undertaken, with special attention to preserving the building’s historic character. Residents began to occupy the building once more, and additional modernization work was completed in 2017. DC Inventory: May 15, 1991National Register: September 9, 1994
This site is a stop on the D.C. Apartment Buildings tour as an example of a Luxury apartment building.
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