Drop Off Your Car for Coffee

What Do You Think You're Looking At? #39

Jan 6

Today I was in Hyattsville, Maryland meeting a grad school friend. We met at a local coffee shop chain, at their downtown/“Arts District” location.

It’s an old-fashioned downtown street grid along U.S. Route 1, on the way into Washington, D.C. There’s been a lot of redevelopment and new construction there, as well as repurposing of some cool old buildings. It’s a neat place, and when the weather is a little better I’ll explore it more for this newsletter.

But for today, here’s our building:

Closer up:

This one isn’t hard to guess, but it’s even older than you might think. It’s an auto garage/shop, but this article from DCist earlier this year identifies it as a former Ford Model T garage! It’s so old, in fact, that it predates car-oriented development. It fits right into the downtown grid. Take a look at this interior shot, where you can see classic small-town buildings through the window!

It’s quite spacious, so there’s room here for a roasting operation. It’s very cool. (Did you know coffee roasting is sometimes zoned as a “light industrial” use, which means coffee roasteries can’t locate in some retail or restaurant areas?)

There’s another car-related building in downtown Hyattsville that’s also been reused, to great effect. I’ll get to that one at some point. But that’s all for today!

The Architectural Public Domain

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