The Deleted Scenes - A D.C. Building Mystery
I saw a thread about this old building in Washington, D.C. on Twitter the other day, and it was too good not to share as an entry in this series. Unfortunately, the building in question is no longer standing—the whole block was torn down when one of the convention centers was built (I believe the first one, in the 1980s, but I’m not positive.) Here’s how it started: A Sunday morning sleuthing opportunity: a c. 1906 postcard view of an unidentified DC building w/some impressing awnings. A too-pricey eBay item, so this is the best image I have (and the name of the ground floor lunch room isn't legible). Where are we? Here’s another image of that building: It’s a single, fairly tall building with a very distinctive turret/tower feature on the corner. There are a few different guesses as to what building/street corner it is in the thread. But one fellow does incredible, detailed detective work and figures it out. I wish I’d written this! @OldTimeDC I'm about 75% sure this is the SW corner of 9th/NY NW, The Mount Vernon.
By 1961, the bldg has lost several floors, esp on the corner. Similarities:
- rounded corner tower
- rusticated stone band above windows
- canted bays w/2 windows+decorative panels
-triple windows btwn bays More images of the severely redone building: @hgil @OldTimeDC Weird, I know. But look at those blank walls; the obvious common architectural features on corner & sides; and total lack of roof line/elements on the corner stump.
More post-disfigurement photos: This might look confusing—you click through to view the tweets and photos in full if you want. But what you’re looking at is a single building that 1) lost a couple of floors, 2) lost its circular turret feature, and 3) had its bottom floor redone into what looks almost like a strip mall. If you’re not seeing it, look at the really gutted area at the corner, in the first picture in the tweet directly above. That’s the corner where the tower was. The person who figured this out used old property maps as well, and the handwritten description on the original postcard photo—a misspelled name—tipped him off to which corner we might be looking at. @OldTimeDC What led me here was the idea that maybe "Erwin" is a misspelling of "Irwin."
And Minnie L Irwin lived at 904 NY NW, which is the Mt Vernon.
Note also the ~80-degree angle of the corner, which matches my earlier observation. So much history and so much change in our everyday surroundings. Fascinating. This is not the kind of research you can google. It takes knowledge of, and access to, stuff like these old photo archives, maps, and records. And it also helps to have deep, granular knowledge of a specific place. This is true of this early 20th century/late 19th century building in downtown Washington, D.C. It’s also true of the Pizza Hut in suburban Maryland I wrote about last month. Another point here: it’s sad to see a beautiful building chopped up like that, but it’s also kind of cool, in a way. It demonstrates how buildings used to be—and still are—raw materials and tools, more than products with a definite lifespan. Cities are habitats, and people adapt them in lots of different ways. When buildings are built to the cheapest possible specs with the expectation of being torn down wholesale when their “design life” is over, I think we lose something. All of this building, rebuilding, renovating, and retrofitting happened at a scale where ordinary people and local businesses could be involved. This kind of built environment was participatory, in its physical and economic scale alike. This is why I think old fast food buildings and similar structures that have had many different uses over the years are so interesting and kind of meaningful. They show that the basic use, reuse, and evolution of the built environment still operates in suburbia, which I see as a good thing. This is related to a couple of pieces I’ve written on strip malls that have evolved to be more like town squares or community anchors than simply shopping centers. (Here, and here.) When we resist this, when we rigidly separate uses and look down on informal commerce—flea markets in old box stores, vendors in underutilized parking lots—we’re really trying to hold back the very human tendencies that allow us to build cities in the first place. But this post is about an old building on an old postcard. Hope you found it interesting! Related Reading: The Architectural Public Domain What Do You Think You’re Looking At? #24 Please consider upgrading to a paid subscription to help support this newsletter. You’ll get a weekend subscribers-only post, plus full access to the archive of nearly 300 posts and growing. And you’ll help ensure more material like this! You’re a free subscriber to The Deleted Scenes. For the full experience, become a paid subscriber. |
Older messages
Have You Seen the Price of Gas?
Tuesday, March 1, 2022
Thoughts on an expense that is not inevitable
Another Look at Two New Jersey Towns
Monday, February 28, 2022
We love them, but could we built them today?
The Howard Johnson's Sign
Saturday, February 26, 2022
Being the only person to record a piece of trivia
New and Old #46
Friday, February 25, 2022
Friday roundup and commentary
Forgotten But Not Gone
Thursday, February 24, 2022
More thoughts on dead blogs
You Might Also Like
RI#224 - Digital mine/Fight mosquitoes/Social calendar app
Sunday, May 19, 2024
Hello people ! I'm Alex, the author of the Rabbit Ideas Newsletter. Every week I find useful resources online and share them with you. You can support what I do by upgrading to premium or if you
6-Second Sunday: On humanness, virtue, and mirrors
Sunday, May 19, 2024
6 Ideas. 6 Second Skim. 6 Minute Read. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
"The Excursion" by Tu Fu, translated by Florence Wheelock Ayscough
Sunday, May 19, 2024
How delightful, at sunset, to loosen the boat! Facebook Twitter Instagram Poem-a-Day is reader-supported. Your gift today will help the Academy of American Poets continue to publish the work of 260
“WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT” (SHORT STORY)
Sunday, May 19, 2024
The old poet would say hello to everyone. So everyone is shocked when he seems to have simply vanished, disappeared. After a lifetime of living in the city, no one can find him. “Warning: Distressing
Blake Lively Just Wore The One-And-Done Outfit Of Our Dreams
Sunday, May 19, 2024
So chic.
1 Kettlebell. 30 Minutes. Total Body Strength
Sunday, May 19, 2024
Mens Health Shop logo Get shredded all over in just 30 days! No Gym Required: Kettlebells One Kettlebell, Serious Results One Kettlebell, Serious Results Want to build major muscle? Save yourself some
Over 65% Off Tech, Gym Gear, and More From Amazon’s Memorial Day Sale
Saturday, May 18, 2024
Memorial Day sales typically start a few weeks before the actual holiday weekend, which is May 24th through the 27th this year. Amazon kicked off the celebration early with discounts on everything from
The Week in Review
Saturday, May 18, 2024
Week of May 13th — Inflation Eases, South Surges, Construction Cools ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
11 of the Best Methods for Decluttering Your Home
Saturday, May 18, 2024
30 of the Horniest Erotic Thrillers Ever Made. There are many effective methods you can use to declutter—you should choose the right one for you and your home. Not displaying correctly? View this
Joy Annoy
Saturday, May 18, 2024
Why is it annoying when people love things you hate? ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏