Engine Company No. 24
Engine Company No. 24 demonstrates technological advancements in fire safety, as well as the development of the firehouse as a neighborhood institution in Petworth.
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As the first fully motorized fire company in Washington, DC, Engine Company No. 24 demonstrates the technological advancements of firehouses in the early-twentieth century. Built originally to house horses and horse-drawn equipment in 1911, the station stripped this equipment within a year of its construction and added two new motorized engines, heralding the end of the era of the horse in the DC Fire Department. Engine Company No. 24 also housed the city’s first motorized pumper, "Big Liz."
Engine Company No. 24 illustrates not just technological change, but development of the firehouse as a neighborhood institution. This particular firehouse anticipated urban development of the Petworth neighborhood, including the prevalent Mediterranean revival houses. It soon became a visual landmark at Petworth’s major commercial intersection.
The firehouse reflects the "Eclectic Period," popular for municipal buildings of the time. Designed by the local architects, Luther M. Leisenring (1875-1965) and his partner Charles Gregg (1872-1950), Engine Company No. 24 features a Florentine Renaissance façade of brown brick with pointed-arch truck doors, limestone quoining, patterned brickwork, an iron balcony, and an overhanging tile roof.
DC Inventory: March 17, 1993
National Register: June 27, 2007
