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- Mood:TGIF
There are other great old photos of Mt. Pleasant and Columbia Heights in the online archive, and over time, rockcreek and I hope to capture a few more before-and-after pairs, and post them in the newly-created group for that purpose on Flickr.
- Mood:
curious
Inspired by the essay that appeared in the New York Times on the subject, I've been thinking about what buildings in Washington DC I'd like to see demolished, and replaced by pretty much anything else. After mulling the choices for a day, my list of terrible DC architecture follows:
1. The Hirschorn Museum - this circular concrete bunker has all the charm of a cinder block, and replaced a perfectly fine old brick building that once stood on the site.
2. The Kennedy Center - the white, gold and red colors are garish, and the boxy shape is uninspiring. Again, I would have preferred the arts center had simply restored the existing brick buildings of the Heurich Brewery that were originally located there.
3. The FBI Building - I wish they'd just move to a secure campus already, and give the huge lot over to commercial developers. When the FBI building was built, dozens of small businesses were displaced. It would be nice to get a little of that retail back.
4. Department of Energy/HUD/Department of Education - this trio of executive agency office buildings represents an architectural "axis of evil". Walking past any of these brutalist edifices simply deadens the soul.
5. The National Museum of American History - soon to emerge from an interior makeover, nothing can be done to liven up the bland exterior of this 1960s museum. It seems that everything that was built in the 60s and 70s is tainted by bad design or shoddy workmanship. The Fort McHenry flag and other artifacts deserve a better looking home.
There are obviously many, many more buildings that can be added to the list, but that's all I have time for now.
- Mood:
okay
My brother is feeling better, and we had a pretty good time in NYC during my visit.Since we're both interested in architecture and urban planning, we went to the Skyscraper Museum, located in the ground floor of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel at 39 Battery Place, adjacent to Battery Park. The current exhibit is Vertical Cities: Hong Kong | New York, which is based on the premise:
Hong Kong and New York are the world's iconic vertical metropolises. Both island cities with perfect harbors, they evolved from colonial ports into dominant centers of international finance and commerce. As they grew, each embraced the skyscraper as the principal instrument of modern urbanism.
True enough, but I much prefer New York's grid system and older building stock to Hong Kong's more modern style of architecture and layout. Some of the new buildings underway, or planned for HK look pretty cool, others somewhat generic. The density is much higher than most Americans are used to, though you won't hear me arguing against that. Overall, it was a pretty interesting and informative exhibit. The Skyscraper Museum is small, but hopefully over time it will expand in size and scope.
Unfortunately, the weather sucked on Saturday when I was in New York. My brother and I made it to the Skyscraper Museum just as the first downpour of the day started. It was cool and breezy for August; as the rains came down, I began regretting my attire of shorts and sandals. After we emerged from the museum, it had subsided to a drizzle, but then started to pour again. We took shelter under a building overhang, and eventually made a mad dash for a bus. My brother hates getting wet as much as I do. The sun came out for a little while in the afternoon, but then after dinner, it rained again and we had to catch a cab to his apartment instead of taking a leisurely walk back as we had planned. I've never had very good luck with the weather, and this trip was no exception. This is why I never make any plans for outdoor activities: no Screen on the Green, free Shakespeare in the park, Wolf Trap, etc. I just know a storm will blow through, and the outing will become a fiasco, so I don't bother. Fortunately, New York City has plenty to do indoors, and lots of shelter and transportation options for weather weenies like myself.
- Mood:alert
The area was originally developed in 1887 as the Forest Inn, a shingle-style resort hotel with a stop on the B & O Railroad. In 1894, it was expanded and became the National Park Seminary; not a religious institution, but an expensive finishing school for the daughters of the upper class. At the Seminary, the students were taught horseback riding, piano, foreign languages, dance, art, and other skills and pursuits necessary to become a proper society matron. There was a well-equipped gymnasium, a ballroom, and sorority houses designed to resemble architecture from around the world. On Mondays, the girls traveled to Washington, DC by train, to visit the museums and monuments, or to shop at Woodward & Lothrop. It sounds good to me!
With the gradual decline of the old upper-crust families, especially after the Great Depression started, the National Park Seminary morphed into a traditional women's college, and the name was changed in 1937 to National Park College. The campus was renowned for its beauty, with the eclectic, whimsical architecture, sculpture and fountains dotting the grounds, and a staff of dozens of gardeners to keep everything looking good. The college would have likely continued to evolve, perhaps admitting men today, and they probably would have built a few ugly 1970s buildings on the campus. However, World War Two began with the attack on Pearl Harbor, and in 1942 the U.S. Army appropriated the entire campus for military use, and the college was permanently closed.
From 1942 until recently, the site was used as an annex to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and wounded soldiers recovered there in the former sorority houses and classrooms. Unfortunately, the Army was not a very good steward of the unique, historic property. They did things like cover polished wood with 20 layers of institutional green paint, allowed footbridges to collapse, roofs to leak, and worst of all they didn't secure the property. Statues and fountains were vandalized, stained-glass windows were smashed or stolen, and arsonists burned down the Odeon Theatre. The preservation group Save Our Seminary pretty much saved the campus from complete ruin, and worked with local government and private developers to come up with a plan to rehabilitate most of the buildings. The former National Park Seminary will contain a mixture of single-family houses, condominiums, rental apartments, affordable units, as well as a small facility for the homeless. It would be nice, in my opinion, if there was some retail planned, so the residents won't have to drive everywhere, but so far that isn't the case. There should also be a shuttle to the nearest Metro station.
It was great fun trudging around the site, which is partly in ruins, partly under construction, and rife with poison ivy, which I thankfully avoided. It will be interesting to visit again in a couple of years, when the restoration is complete.
- Mood: okay
Next, I walked to the Embassy of the Argentine Republic at 1600 New Hampshire Avenue NW. It was another stately old mansion from the turn of the last century, with a slightly gloomy interior. Maybe it's haunted! The nicest feature, I think, is the original stained glass skylight. Unlike the Colombian Embassy, they allowed me to use their bathroom, which was nice and hospitable.
I was getting tired at that point, but pressed on to the Embassy of India at 2107 Massachusetts Avenue NW. My wife loves all things Indian, food, movies and music, so if I skipped that one I'd get in trouble. They also had food samples, which served as my lunch, and had tons of goodies and brochures out for the taking. I almost cried when the dancing started, though, because J really really would have wanted to be there instead of at a conference in Chicago. In the room set up as an auditorium, five dancers came out in costumes and did a dance routine to piped in music. It was very Bollywood, and J would have loved it. Maybe next year!
Finally, I waited on a long line to get into the Embassy of Indonesia, which was the architectural highlight of the day. The interior was stunning; the three-story grand staircase would have a rival to the one on the Titanic. By the time I finished the tour there, I was pretty tired and ready to go home. A big Mr. T thank you to all the participating embassies, as well as Cultural Tourism DC for putting it all together. I can't wait until next year!
- Mood:
satisfied
I have no problem with there being a Latino-American Museum in Washington DC, but that building seems totally unsuitable for it. It's a high Victorian structure, dripping with ornamentation, lots of nooks and crannies inside, and serves as a symbol of 19th century technological and scientific progress. It's basically an American version of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.
What would be better than to move the National Medical Museum from Walter Reed, with their security restrictions and poor mass transit access, back down to the Mall!? Their somewhat macabre collection was originally housed in a similar brick building on the site of the Hirschorn Museum, so to move the museum to the Arts and Industries Building next door would make for a sensible homecoming.
Another feel-good cultural museum = boring.
Severed limbs and pickled fetuses in a lavish 19th century setting = awesome!
- Mood:
devious
It's been kindof a rough year so far, and I haven't been feeling well lately, so I really needed a good, relaxing weekend, and I got it. This past weekend was perfect! The weather was gorgeous both days, for a change, and it turned out there weren't any delays yet on the Green and Yellow lines, so I was able to get around efficiently.
On Saturday, I went down to Dupont Circle to take in some of the open houses at the EU Embassies, and got there early enough to avoid the longest lines. Portugal, being closest to the Metro, was jam-packed, so I skipped it and went on to the Embassy of Luxembourg. They were kind enough to let me use the bathroom there, a nice one, with real hand towels and marble surfaces. Then it was on to Greece, where there was a large free food spread with a long line. I skipped that, preferring to take photos of the architecture instead. Then I went into the Romanian Embassy, which was pretty nice. The Ambassador's office was open, but there was a sign prohibiting photography, and a velvet rope. Otherwise, I took many photos of the embassies, and will gradually upload them to Flickr as time permits.
After touring the embassies, I was pretty hungry, and on the way home stopped at the new Pete's Apizza in Columbia Heights. I had a couple of slices and a soda, and it really hit the spot. Their counter seating is a great location for people-watching, facing right towards the Metro entrance.
Later on, I also accomplished some chores: I got the car washed, did the grocery shopping, and
hooked up the digital converter to the old TV in the back room, which now gets all the HDTV broadcasts, not in HD of course. Best of all, I took a couch nap with the kitty, who has been well-behaved and affectionate while my wife is out of town. Good boy!
On Sunday, the weather was again spectacular, so after breakfast and coffee with M at Mayorga, I grabbed my camera and headed downtown. I ended up walking a couple of miles, passing through the Enid Haupt Garden behind the Smithsonian Castle building, and hanging out at the Cinco De Mayo Festival by the Slyvan Theater for awhile. I got to see some of the performers close up, and took a couple of decent photos. The music was good, but there wasn't much food around as far as I could tell. I finished the afternoon by walking around The Ellipse, and photographing the First Division Monument before heading home. The new camera is doing well, and I think I got some decent shots today while playing with the various modes.
After such a perfect weekend, it's pretty disappointing to be back at the office. Oh well, looking forward to the next one!
- Mood: happy
Despite my still-achey-but-slowly-improving back, on Sunday I attended a second of the WalkingTown tours, sponsored by Cultural Tourism DC. This tour was the Mount Vernon Triangle Development Tour, which was led by Bill McLeod of the Mount Vernon Triangle Community Improvement District. The Mount Vernon Triangle is bounded by 7th Street, and New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts Avenues NW. We started off in front of the old Central Library with a discussion of the history of the area, and then proceeded east to the 5th and K City Vista construction site where condominiums, a Safeway, results gym, and Busboys & Poets restaurant will be opening soon.
I should point out that in the middle of the construction zone, I spotted a cute, young-looking cat sitting there. He or she ran off before I could take a picture, but I mentioned it to the City Vista people, who told me they were aware of the situation and have been feeding and trying to capture the cat, who did not appear to be feral. Perhaps the Washington Humane Society would be interested in investigating further?
From there, we walked through some historic cobblestones alleys, past a strip club that has been in the neighborhood for years, met a member of the MVTCID Clean Team, and ended by getting a tour of a brand-new office building at 455 Massachusetts Avenue NW. The developers let us wander around the raw, unfinished tenth floor where we had refreshments and took in the views in all directions. It was an interesting tour, and I was glad to hear that for every one of the patchwork of vacant and parking lots in the neighborhood, plans were in place for future development. As Bill McLeod pointed out, anytime you see a surface parking lot in the middle of a city, it indicates an economic or urban planning failure, and an opportunity for the future. I couldn't agree more.
- Mood:accomplished
- Mood: impressed
Who needs athletic fields, anyway? School sports only lead to unrealistic dreams of professional athletic careers, and let's not forget the inevitable brutalization of the weak by the strong in gym class. Dodgeball is nothing more than state-sanctioned bullying, you can lose an eye in a towel-snapping incident in the locker room, and there's the trauma of being picked last in team sports. They already have an outdoor basketball court next to the school, and presumably a gym inside, so it's time for the jocks to let the nerds win a round. Seriously, why not make it a magnet school, or a computer science lab?
The old brick school has survived years of neglect, 1960s riots, and budget cuts over the years. It has "good bones" as they say. They don't build them like that anymore. Let's not tear it down.
Thanks for the mention in the morning roundup, City Paper!
- Mood:inspired
Famous individuals buried in Rock Creek Cemetery include: Upton Sinclair (pictured), Henry Adams, Emile Berliner, Montgomery Blair, Evalyn Walsh McLean, Christian Heurich, Alice Roosevelt Longworth, and Harlan Fiske Stone. I didn't have a map, and the office was closed, but I managed to find most of the important sites with J's help. Hardest to find even though I'd been there before was the Adams Memorial, the eerie brooding figure by my favorite sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, on a plinth designed by Stanford White, of McKim, Meade and White - my favorite architects.
It's off the beaten path, not Metro-accessible, and you're doomed if there happens to be a zombie uprising while you're there, but Rock Creek Cemetery is definitely worth a visit.
- Mood:
cold
While walking down F Street NW one morning, on the way to work from the Gallery Place Metro, I noticed something interesting. Inside one of the renovated storefronts on the south side of the 900 block of F Street was a faded old mural or something. There were workers going in and out, apparently using the space for a construction office during the building of the nearby condominiums. Each time I walked by, I got a better look, and determined it to be a tile mosaic from a long-gone restaurant. "Republic Cafe" or "Cafe Republic" is clearly spelled out. It's beautiful, and marks a strong contrast with the crappy plastic signs we use today. Eventually, I realized it was in danger of being covered or destroyed as the construction progresses, and a future retail tenant moves into the space, so I took a photo and posted it on Flickr. It's not the best photo possible, as I was shooting through dusty glass, but better than nothing.
Flickr user rockcreek is also interested in local history, and did some digging on the subject of the Republic Cafe, and made a fascinating discovery. He located an advertisement for the restaurant that appeared in a Washington Post dated 1920. The ad describes it as featuring Chinese and American cuisine, with a "business men's" lunch special. The faded tilework and advertisement add up to something, but it's not quite enough to paint a vivid mental picture of what this restaurant at 910-912 F Street NW was really like in the 1920s. If a copy of the menu turned up, or a photo or postcard of the interior, it would fill in some major gaps. Unfortunately, while most major historical events are well-documented, the history of small retail establishments like The Republic Cafe fades away after the business closes and all the employees and former customers die off. For now, I'll be adding another search to my list on eBay, in case anything else turns up.
- Mood: curious
It's good to see progress occurring, with the opening date scheduled less than two months away. I've been holding off on buying badly-needed consumer goods, waiting for the Target to open. I'm anticipating a lot of impulse purchases - it could be dangerous living within walking distance of DCUSA!
- Mood:impatient
The fun part of the expedition, at least for me, was stopping at the 2007 Rockville Antique & Classic Car Show, on the grounds of the Glenview Mansion. The mansion itself is beautiful, as you can see, with lush green lawns and gardens. Unfortunately, the main building wasn't open, but we did walk around and revel in the beautiful, sunny weather. The car show was huge, and included a wide range of vehicles on display, from Alfa-Romeo to Volkswagen. I'll put up the highlights on Flickr soon. Later, we got salads at Whole Foods, and returned to DC, exhausted.
Sadly, we had to get up relatively early on Sunday, too, so it wasn't a good weekend for catching up on sleep. There was a monthly cleanup scheduled on our block at 10:00, and then J was off to a clothing-swap brunch. When J returned from that, we went for a long walk around Mount Pleasant, and finished up the weekend sitting on our stoop, eating frozen treats from Rita's.
- Mood: relaxed
It's so encouraging to see this beautiful 1924 Mediterranean revival movie palace in use by a local arts organization as well-respected as the Gala Hispanic Theatre. With the final retail tenant, a hair salon, opening any day now, the old Tivoli Theatre will be fully occupied. The historic building has come full circle from being a boarded up, vacant eyesore, to once again being a neighborhood hub of arts and retail activity.
- Mood: excited
Then, on Sunday, I tagged along with J on another Maryland field trip. We drove to a new yarn store in Hyattsville called A Tangled Skein, so J could buy yarn for her latest knitting projects. It's located in the heart of the new Hyattsville "arts district" in a restored old bank building, across the street from Franklin's brewery and restaurant. While J shopped, I walked around the town and took pictures which will again eventually appear on Flickr. The area shows much promise, but also has a long way to go, with little pedestrian traffic and many vacant or underutilized storefronts. Hopefully, the yarn store will help spark additional revitalization.
After that, we drove a little further and went to the College Park Aviation Museum, which is small but surprisingly rich in displays and artifacts. They had a flight simulator which I used to take a spin in a 1918 Curtiss Jenny. I climbed to altitude, did some maneuvers, then turned back toward the airstrip to land. Unfortunately, some kids were standing behind me watching, and pressuring me to give them a turn, so I put the plane in a nose dive, aiming for a large gas tank, hoping to spark an explosion. I missed it by a few yards, dammit! No explosion, just a crunch. Anyway, it's a neat little museum and blissfully free of the tourist hordes at the Air & Space Museum on the Mall.
- Mood: good
The children's book shopping expeditions of the previous week inspired J and I to venture to the National Building Museum and its wonderful gift shop. They have tons of great toys, books and assorted gizmos for children, including the nicest sets of architectural building blocks I've ever seen. I also found a beautifully illustrated children's book on the glories of the late, great Penn Station (Old Penn Station, by William Low), and its unfortunate demolition. It would make a perfect gift for the junior historic preservationist in the family. We'll come back around holiday shopping time. And G, they have a whole section of green design and living books. For adults, there are books galore, and a surprising amount of sleekly designed kitchen wares.
The rest of the museum was nice, too, I've been there several times over the years. I love the massive old pile of bricks, with the wraparound frieze, soaring atrium inside, giant faux-marble columns, and ample natural light. To me, it is no less representative of Washington architecture than the Capitol or White House, yet few tourists seek it out. There are only a couple of similar spaces in the city, where you pause on entering, and for a split second almost expect to see whiskered men in tophats and 19th century garb walking around.
For dinner we grilled up some tuna burgers from Trader Joe's, and also grilled orange pepper slices, zucchini, and eggplant. It was good, though the tuna burgers stuck to the grill a bit, and it required a little elbow grease to clean.
- Mood: cheerful
On Saturday, J and I went to Tenleytown and hiked around the grounds of Fort Reno, the highest point in DC at 429 feet of elevation. I've always been intrigued by the medieval-looking water towers located on the site, but haven't seen them up close until this weekend. After a circumnavigation of the grounds, we headed to Washington National Cathedral, a little ways south on Wisconsin Avenue NW.
At the Cathedral, we ascended to the 7th floor observation level in the west towers, and I took a series of photos of the surrounding area which I'll eventually post on Flickr. You could see for miles without the usual DC summer haze in the air.
On Sunday we met M for coffee at Mayorga as usual, and then headed down to Georgetown. J did some shopping, we had lunch, and walked over the Key Bridge so I could take more pictures.
We finished up the weekend grilling dinner on the balcony, which consisted of chicken and vegetables on skewers. It was pretty good, and only took 25 minutes or so to cook.
- Mood: relaxed
The weather was excellent for a bike ride yesterday, and fortunately it was my day off, so I went for one. My objective was to find and photograph the Triceratops, and Penn Station Eagle sculpture in the National Zoo, so I set off in that direction through Mount Pleasant. The most direct route is down Harvard Street, but I forgot about the steep hill and was soon blazing down at maybe 25 MPH. Fortunately, the light at the bottom was green and I swooped through the intersection and over the bridge into Rock Creek Park, and then to the Zoo's back entrance.
Once on the Zoo grounds, bicyclists have to dismount and walk their bikes, you're not allowed to ride on Zoo property. There was a completely unoccupied bike rack in front of the Zoo Police headquarters, so I parked it there, with several curious children watching, and walked over to where the Triceratops was installed. I found it and took a few pictures (see below) and unlocked the bike and began my search for the Penn Station eagle. It was slow going pushing the bike uphill, around large crowds of tourists, and onto narrower and narrower paths. Eventually, I found the Bird House, and almost circled all the way around it before finding the Penn Station eagle in a quiet, secluded spot. I guess they wanted the eagle to be as close to the birds as possible, but it would be nice if the sculpture was a little more prominently displayed. The identification marker was in rough shape, but still legible.
After taking a couple of pictures of the eagle, I kept going uphill until I reached the main zoo entrance on Connecticut Avenue NW. What happened to the Zoo Market in the building across the street?! As tipped off by G, it's been replaced by a generic 7-11. I rode north on Connecticut through the horrible construction zone on the Klingle Road Bridge. While trying to avoid metal plates and being run over in heavy traffic, I noticed some graffiti on the bridge's beautiful art-deco light fixtures by the same asshole taggers that plague the poorer neighborhoods. Hopefully it will be cleaned off as the bridge restoration is completed.
At Connecticut and Porter, I paused to take a couple of pictures of Yenching Palace, the historic Chinese restaurant with the cool neon sign and colorful enamel facade, soon to be replaced with more retail generica: Walgreen's. The shortsighted folks who crafted the anti-restaurant zoning ordinance in Cleveland Park must be pleased with themselves. I took a little detour up Porter Street to take a picture of a friend's building, and then headed back to Columbia Heights. A special shout-out to the cell-phone talking car driver who tailgated and honked at me as I was doing about 30 down the big hill, instead of just passing me in the other lane. then there was the long, uphill climb-out from the other side of the park.
So, it was a short ride, but I took some decent pictures and in general enjoyed being on 2 wheels. Back to work today.
- Mood:productive
