alley survey final

8/11/2019 Alley Survey FINAL

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The DC

Historic AlleyBuildings Survey


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The DC Historic Alley Buildings Survey

Research and Text by Kim Protho Williams, Architectural Historian/National Register Coordinator, DC Historic Preservation Office

Design by Kim Elliott, Architect, DC Historic Preservation Office

Published 2014

Unless stated otherwise, photographs and images are from the DC Office of Planning collection.


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Table of Contents

Introduction

Project Overview Statement of Need Survey Methodology

Historic Context History of Alleys in Washington, DC

Survey Findings and Statistics Alley Building Distribution Alley Building Dates of Construction

Alley Building Types

Recommendations

Endnotes

Acknowledgments

Bibliography

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1ALLEY SURVEY

IntroductionProject Overview

The D.C. Historic Alley Buildings Survey is an exten-sive and on-going survey of the citys historic alley

buildings that began in the Spring of 2011. Thesurvey is being conducted by the D.C. HistoricPreservation Office (HPO) with the assistance ofvolunteers and student interns. The boundariesof the survey were dened to include all of thealleys within the citys designated historic districts,located within and just beyond the originalLEnfant Plan (the Old City). Phase 1 of the surveycomprises all of those alleys located in the citysnorthwest quadrant historic districts, includingGeorgetown, while Phase 2 of the survey consistsof the Capitol Hill Historic District. Subsequentphases will expand the survey work to other histor-ic districts outside of the original city limits and toareas not designated as historic districts knownto have notable collections of alley buildings.Although the survey project is still on-going, Phase1 and 2 have been substantially completed and itsndings have been compiled in this report.

The Alley Buildings Survey is a basic-level survey

designed to identify extant alley buildings deter-mined to be 50 years or older. The goal of theproject has been to provide an inventory of thesealley buildings, record basic information aboutthem, research and develop an historic context forbetter understanding and evaluating alley build-ings, and to make recommendations for futurepreservation action.

Using methodology developed by the HistoricPreservation Office, a team of volunteers and

student interns collected on-site and archival infor-

mation, photographed the surveyed alleybuildings and entered the historical and architec-tural information about the buildings into the cityshistoric buildings survey database (DCHPS) forrecordation and analysis.

The following report is a record of the surveyefforts to date. It describes the purpose of thesurvey, details its methodology, provides histori-cal background information for understanding theevolution of the citys alleyways and alley build-ings, and relates and analyzes the ndings fromthe survey. Based upon these ndings, this reportalso proposes recommendations and strategiesto guide the Historic Preservation Office and theOffice of Planning in the preservation of and urbanplanning for the citys historic alleyways and its

buildings.

Alley Building Streetscape at the rear of 600 block A Street, NE, Capitol Hill Historic District


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2ALLEY SURVEY

Statement of Need

Although alleyways were not included within theoriginal LEnfant Plan for the City of Washington,

they were introduced into the urban plan in theinitial years of the citys development, ultimatelybecoming an integral part of its cultural landscape.Due to changing social and economic trends thathave reduced the functional necessity of alleybuildings, they have become increasingly rare, andthose that do survive are often in poor repair andconsidered anachronistic. However, recent studiesand developments in D.C. and other cities showthat activated historic alleys can provide distinc-tive urban spaces that contribute to a vibrant socialrealm. We hope that this study is a step towardsthe re-discovery and re-invention of the citysalleys and its alley buildings.

Generally, the citys alleys and alley buildingshave not been the subject of any comprehensivestudy or documentation effort. Two of the cityssignicant and adjacent historic alleysBlagdenAlley and Naylor Courtare exceptional in thisrespect in that they have been officially recognizedfor their intact alley networks and their cohesivecollections of historic buildings. For architecturaland cultural reasons, these alleys have been desig-nated as the Blagden Alley/Naylor Court HistoricDistrict. The historic district is today celebrated asan important cultural landscape and is experienc-ing physical rehabilitation and social rejuvenation.Similarly, Cadys Alley in the Georgetown HistoricDistrict has been recently renovated, and itsformerly under-utilized collection of 19th centurystables, warehouses and alley dwellings have been

converted into an exclusive shopping district lled

with high-end designer show rooms, office spaces,and a restaurant.

This Historic Alley Buildings Survey project is the

rst attempt to comprehensively and systemati-cally document the alley buildings within the alley-ways of the citys designated historic districts. Asa rule, at the time that these neighborhoods weredesignated as historic districts, only the build-ings facing the citys principal streets had beenclosely examined. The buildings in the center ofthe squares were generally ignored, leaving anincomplete understanding of the architecturalhistory of these historic districts. A survey of thecitys alley buildings was needed to enhance thispartial understanding and to provide guidance inthe rejuvenation of the alleyways and their historicbuildings.

Map of Prathers Alley in the Mount Vernon Triangle Historic District showing a dense and varied alleyway of alley dwellings, stables, bakery complex, bl

and warehouse.Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, 1904

Cadys Alley, Georgetown Historic District


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3ALLEY SURVEY

Survey Methodology

The Survey consisted of an on-site and archivalstudy under the management of the Historic Pres-

ervation Office. With current-day maps in hand,survey volunteers walked the identied alleysand updated the maps, identifying extant anddemolished alley buildings. For those extant onesdetermined to be fty years or older, volunteerscompleted a basic-level survey form and tookphotographs of the buildings. The on-site surveycollected such information as address, buildingtype, building materials, building height, character-dening features, and notable alterations.

Recently renovated alley buildings in Blagden Alley Detail of stall window on stable in Green Court

Detail of carriage door, 946 (Rear) T Street, U Street Historic District

Volunteer Surveyor in Dupont Circle Historic District


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An archival study of maps and permits supple-mented the on-site information and provideda date of construction (or date range) for thesurveyed building, its original building type/use,

and the name of the architect, owner, and builder,if identied. This archival and on-site informationwas then entered into the D.C. Historic Preserva-tion Software system (DCHPS) for later retrievaland analysis. In addition, photographs of all ofthe surveyed alley buildings were uploaded intothe database. Simultaneous to the building-specic survey and research, a literature search wasconducted to compile information on the historyof alleys and alley buildings in D.C. This researchwas conducted to provide an understanding of the

history and evolution of the citys alleys and alleybuildings. A written overview of this historicalcontext is provided in this document.

This established survey methodology resulted inthe successful development of an inventory todate of 1,249 alley buildings. The collection of datahas provided the Historic Preservation Office withan important framework by which to evaluate thesignicance of the surviving alley buildings bothindependently and as a collection, and to begin todevelop a plan for the preservation and reactiva-tion of the alleys and their buildings.

Although only basic-level survey data wascollected during this phase, the survey providesa comprehensive inventory of historic alley build-ings in the selected historic districts. Subsequentphases of the survey will be expanded to includehistoric districts outside of the original city, andareas not currently designated as historic districts.

Building permit from 1907 for private stable (Codman Carriage House),1415 (Rear) 22nd Street, NW

Map of Blagden Alley/Naylor Court Historic Di strict showing buildings by dat

construction


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Historic ContextHistory of Alleys in Washington, D.C.

Any court, thorough-fare, or passage, privateor public, thirty feet ormore in width, that doesnot open directly with awidth of at least thirtyfeet upon a public streetthat is at least forty feetwide from building lineto building lineDenition of an alley according to the AlleyDwelling Act of 1934

Alleyways were introduced into the LEnfant Planduring the initial years of the citys establishment. The Original Survey of Squares dated 1793-1796,delineates the original city squares, subdividedgenerally with wide and deep lots that were bisect-ed in the center by public alleys. (1) The alleys variedin conguration, but most often had I-shaped orH-shaped forms that stretched 30-feet wide at thecenter of the square and were accessed from thepublic streets by narrower 15-foot alleys. (2)

Alleys were planned to provide access to the rearof the large lots which would likely have had kitch-ens, stables, carts, wagons, and animals, alongwith other dependency buildings, equipment andstorage areas.

As the walking city began to ll with houses,many of the large and deep lots became subdivid-ed, cutting off the rear of the lots from the publicstreet and creating lots that had frontages solely

on the alleyways. This phenomenon occurredas the citys population was increasing and landvalues were rising, making alley-facing lots appeal-ing both to property owners who could realizeincome from lot rentals, and to the citys poorestresidents who could not afford the rents of therow houses lining the public streets. As more andmore interior lots were sold or rented and modesthouses built upon them, there came to be an

extensive social system within the interior of theblocks that was wholly independent from theproperties fronting on the surrounding streets. (3)

Essentially invisible from the public streets, these

alleys were later dubbed blind alleys. Accord-ing to alley historian James Borchert and earlierresearch, the number of alley dwellings in the citybefore the Civil War was limited, but grew substan-tially in the decades following it. Prior to the CivilWar, only 348 heads of household were reportedin 49 alleys. These alley dwellings were rentedprimarily to the laboring classes and were 65%white-occupied. (4)

These plat maps from 1852 (left) and 1874 (right) of Square 140 show the typical evolution of the interior of city squares where large lots that originallyextended from the public streets to rear alleys were divided to create rear lots with frontages solely on the alleys. As shown here, lots 11-12 and 31-33 inthe 1852 plat were subdivided by 1874 for t he accommodation of alley dwellings. Atlas of Plat Squares, Washington, D.C., 1852 and Faehtz and Pratt RealEstate Directory of the City of Washington, 1874


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Following the Civil War, a large inux of AfricanAmericans into the city greatly increased thenumber of inhabited alleys and reversed the racialmake-up of alley dwellers from white to black.

Generally, the alley dwellings were built by whiteproperty owners who realized a considerable rateof return on their investment by building and thenrenting out cheaply constructed alley houses. By1871, the great majority of the citys alley dwell-ers remained unskilled workers and 81 percent ofthem were African American. (5)

The rst alley dwellings were of frame construc-tion with no indoor plumbing or heat. Sharedwater pumps, outhouses and lack of a sewerage

system contributed to unhealthful and insani-tary conditions which attracted the attention ofhousing and social reformers. In 1871, the citysrst Board of Health was established with theprimary mission being to condemn alley dwell-ings that were deemed unt for human habitation. The Board reported that many alleys were linedon both sides with miserable dilapidated shanties,patched and lthy. As a result of its ndings, theBoard condemned and demolished over 300 alleydwellings and recommended hundreds more forrehabilitation. (6)

Within its rst ten years of existence, the Board ofHealth was abolished, and condemnation proceed-ings of alley dwellings were halted. (7) With no morelegal restrictions preventing their construction, thedevelopment of alley dwellings boomed. As rentalrates went unchecked, so did population rates asmore people shared alley dwellings and the rent.

This view shows a collection of wood frame dwellings in a D.C. alley. Although thecitys rst alley dwellings were of frame, rather than brick construction, there are noframe alley buildings left in the city. Shorpy.com

During an alley dwelling building boom i n the 1880s, brick replaced frame as theprincipal building material. Shorpy.com

Photograph of children unloading truck in alley in Washington, D.C., Edwin Rosskam photographer, 1941 Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Collection


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During the 1880s alley building boom, brickreplaced frame as the principal alley dwellingbuilding material. Despite the brick construction,the houses still lacked basic amenities, includ-ing plumbing and running water. Overcrowdingcontinued as extended families shared the smallhouses and even rented out space to borders tohelp cover the rent. The insanitary conditions andthe perceived moral decay of alley inhabitantsagain attracted the attention of housing and socialreformers who mounted campaigns to improvethe living conditions for the alley dwellers. Again,Congress took action and in 1892, it passed alaw that prohibited the erection of dwellings inalleys less than 30 feet wide and not supplied withsewerage, water mains and light. Though no new

construction was permitted in the alleys by virtueof this law, the ban did not abolish alley housingthat already existed.

An 1896 house-by-house investigation of 35 alleysby the Committee on Housing of the Civic Centercompelled the Committee to conclude that thecitys alleys were unsanitary, overcrowded, andharbored disease and immoral behavior. The phys-ical conditions of the alley dwellings appalled theinvestigators. Houses were described as beingwithout cellar or attic; oors rested upon theearth and were not built to withstand the cold orrain; drainage and precautions for cleanlinesswere lacking; and a stench from decomposing ratsand cats and horse manure often permeated thealleyways and alley dwellings. (8)

An inventory of the citys alleys in 1912 determined that there were 3,337 alley dwell-ings in the citys 275 alleys identified as inhabited. According to the present survey,108 alley dwellings remain. Notable collections of alley dwellings survive on CapitolHill, in Georgetown and in Foggy Bottom. Three of theseF Street Terrace and Gess-ford Court on Capitol Hill and Pomander Walk (Bells Court) in Georgetown retain allof the original alley dwellings identified in the 1912 inventory. Whether built as partof a row, as a pair, or independently, the alley dwelling is, typologically, a vernacular

building that follows the same standard building form. It is invariably a two-story, two- bay-wide building set upon a low foundation, and covered with a flat roof.


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8ALLEY SURVEY

In 1904, reformers brought the noted humanitar-ian Jacob Riis to Washington to visit alleys andreport his ndings to Congress. This report and thepublicity attending it won over President TheodoreRoosevelt who, in a 1904 Congressional addressconcluded that the

hidden residentialalleys are breedinggrounds of vice anddisease and should

be opened into minorstreets.

As quoted in Blagden Alley/Naylor CourtNR nomination, p. 8-16.

Following this address, the Board for the Condem-nation of Insanitary Buildings was created in 1906with the stated goal being to condemn alley build-ings, and to convert the citys alleys into minorstreets or parks, thereby eliminating the blindalleys at the interior of the squares. While thislatter goal proved challenging due to physical andlegal constraints of the citys alleys, the eradicationof the dwelling units themselves continued by thecity, social reformers, and non-prot organizationsin an episodic manner over the course of severaldecades.

Other socio-economic forces also contributed tothe demise of alley dwellings. The introductionand expansion of the citys streetcar system in thelate 19th century, for instance, allowed for popula-tion dispersal beyond the walking city thereby

reducing the pressure to build housing in the

alleyways. Similarly, the need for horse stablingfacilities (and later garages) further encroachedupon residential life in the alleyways. As Washing-ton grew into a densely developed city, stablingfacilities became indispensable for housing thegrowing population of horses and carriages. Thelargest and most prominent of these livery stablestypically fronted public streets, but others could befound within the citys alley network next to, and/or replacing alley dwellings. In addition to largelivery stables, alleys offered prime real estate forprivate stables out of sight from the public streets,yet convenient to local residents.

The nal blow to alley dwellings came in 1934when Congress established the Alley DwellingAuthority (ADA) to eliminate all alley dwellingsand to encourage economic redevelopment ofthe squares. According to the law, no alley houseswere to be inhabited after July 1, 1944. To this end,the ADA was authorized to purchase, or acquire by

condemnation, any land, buildings, or structures

situated in or adjacent to inhabited alleys in D.C.,for the replatting and improvement of the square.Annual reports by the ADA documented the prog-ress of the its efforts. For instance, in 1936, a list ofthe years accomplishments included: the clearingof alley dwellings and dilapidated street housesin St. Marys Court pending redevelopment; theconstruction of 11 single-family rowhouses inHopkins Place; the construction of an apartmentbuilding in Blands Court; construction of threegarages in three different alleys; the sale of alleyacquisitions to private owners for redevelopment;and construction of an automobile repair shop inRupperts Court.

Stables, and later garages, began to replace alley dwellings as the principal alleybuilding type during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Shorpy.com

In 1936, the Alley Dwelling Authority published a report highlighting its annprogress, showing among other projects, this one in Rupperts Court that invothe replacement of a row of alley dwellings (top photo) with a garage (bottom

photo).Report of the Alle y Swelling Authority, 1936, Historical Society of W


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9 ALLEY SURVEY

The Authority made considerable progress inre-developing the citys alleys in the 1930s, but theadvent of World War II, and the resulting housingshortage postponed full enforcement of the aboli-tion of alley dwellings. In 1944, an official 10-yearpostponement of the enforcement went intoeffect. In 1953, all alley dwellers were told they hadtwo years to move to street-frontage buildings.By then, however, many of the citys alley dwell-ings, namely those in Georgetown, Capitol Hill andFoggy Bottom, had been renovated by wealthywhite residents who rose up in protest. Aided bycitizens groups and preservationists, these ownersbanded together and ultimately succeeded inhaving the Alley Dwelling Act repealed. In public

hearings over the issue, residents argued that theyhad essentially fullled the basic purpose of thelaw by cleaning up the dangerous eyesores. And,in so doing, the new alley residents of George-town argued, they had also brought back some ofGeorgetowns old Colonial atmosphere. (9)

During the 1950s, the local press reported onmany of the renovated alleys, with Schott s Alleyon Capitol Hill and Snows Court in Foggy Bottomgarnering signicant attention. Schotts Alley,renamed Schotts Court at the time of its renova-tion, was according to local press, transformedfrom a rat-infested, overcrowded and rowdy alleyto an L-shaped row of luxury type apartments.

While the social reform movement of the 19th and20th centuries sought to eliminate the unhealthyand dangerous conditions in the city s alleys toimprove the quality of life for alley dwellers, severalstudies and research by later historians, such as

James Borchert, argued conversely that

the efforts more often destroyed communities andupset tight-knit social relationships. In addition,while the crowded and unsanitary conditions inthe alleys reported on by social reformers wereundeniable, those reports on the dangers andevils of the alleys were likely over-exaggerated andmisunderstood. In 1970, Borchert reported that

there remained at least 20 inhabited alleys in the

city of Washington, a substantial decrease from thenumbers of alleys in the 19th century. Today, 108alley dwellings survive in the city s alleys, thoughnot all of them are occupied. On the other hand,other alley buildings, such as stables, garages andformer commercial buildings are being convertedinto residential use.


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10ALLEY SURVEYUnion Row at 14th and V Streets

Although many of the alley dwellings of George-town, Capitol Hill and Foggy Bottom were renovat-ed and survive into the present, those in the citysdowntown and neighborhood commercial areasdid not fare as well. After World War II when thecity experienced a major exodus to the suburbs,downtown D.C. lost much of its residential base. The alleyways as domestic service areas gave wayto commercial and semi-industrial spaces withwarehouses and shops replacing the earlier stablesand garages. Along 14th Street, for instance,an entire industry of service garages associatedwith the automobile sales shops grew up in theminor streets and alleys behind Automobile Row,contributing to the growing commercial character

of the residential blocks.

At the same time and later, many of the citys alleyswere closed entirely, not only eliminating the alleybuildings, but the rights-of-way themselves. Inmost cases, developers sought the alley closings inorder to amass a series of adjacent lots that wereoften separated by interior alleys, on which to buildlarge, multi-storied office buildings, hotels andapartment buildings that stretched from the frontstreets to the center of their blocks. According tocity law at that time, the City Council could closean alley if it was deemed useless and unnecessary.Opponents of alley closings argued that a lley clos-ings encouraged greater density and altered thehistoric character of neighborhoods. Despite thelarge loss of alleyways and alley buildings in Down-town and the citys residential neighborhoods overthe course of the city s history, many others surviveas viable functional and cultural spaces in need ofattention from preservationists, urban planners,

and city politicians.

In its Zoning Regulations Review of 2013, theOffice of Planning has begun to address at leastone aspect of alley life by allowing AccessoryDwelling Units as a matter of right in the citys resi-dential zones. This change would allow propertyowners to use existing alley buildings as Accessory

Dwelling Units, or to build new ones, in accordancewith city zoning and preservation laws and regu-lations. This proposed zoning change is a steptowards revitalizing what was once a vibrant partof the citys urban landscape.


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1 Codman Carrige House and Stable, 1415 22nd Street NW

2 Spencer Carriage House and Stable, 2123 Twining Court NW3 Manhattan Laundry, 1326-1346 Florida Avenue NW

4 Proctor Alley Livery Stable, 1211-1219 (Rear) 13th Street NW

5 Walsh Stable, 1511 (Rear) 22nd Street NW6 John J. Earley Office and Studio, 2131 (Rear) G Street NW

Historic Landmark Alley Buildings

Number of Alley Buildings by Historic District

1249 alley buildings identied

Downtown 9Mount Vernon Triangle 4George Washington 2Massachusetts Avenue 1

Georgetown 253

Capitol Hill 517

Dupont Circle 101

U Street 82

Shaw 74

StriversSection 14Mount Vernon Sq. 15

Other 1916th Street 22

Le Droit Park 31Foggy Bottom 31

14th Street 74

(based on survey to date)

Proportional Number of Alley Buildings

11ALLEY SURVEY

Survey Findings and StatisticsAlley Building Distribution

This rst phase of the Historic Alley BuildingsSurvey resulted in the identication of 1249 alleybuildings.

Alley Building Distribution by Historic District within the LEnfant Plan


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12ALLEY SURVEY

Alley Building Dates of Construction

The goal of the Historic Alley Buildings Surveywas to identify extant alley buildings that werefty years or older. The oldest alley buildings,constructed prior to 1878, are almost exclusivelystables and many of them are located in theBlagden Alley/Naylor Court Historic District. Twoof the oldest buildings, based upon tax bookresearch, date from between 1863 and 1874 andare much-altered attached former stables at 1219(Rear) 10th Street, NW and 1221 (Rear) 10th Street,NW. The most intact of the earliest alley buildingsis the Amzi Barbour stable in LeDroit Park, built ca.1873.

A review of the construction dates by decadereveals certain building trends. For instance, a highconcentration of alley buildings during the 1880srepresents the construction of both stables andalley dwellings before enactment in 1892 of a lawthat banned construction of new alley dwellings inthe city.

Although construction of alley dwellings wasbanned, stables continued to be built in the 1890sand the 1900s along with warehouses and work-shops. By the 1910s, as the mode of transporta-tion was transitioning from horse-drawn carriagesto automobiles, the number of stables decreasedas garages began to emerge. A large number ofgarages, both private and commercial continuedto be built through the 1930s, but dropped off inthe 1940s most likely as city dwellers left the cityfor the emerging suburbs.

Amzi Barber Stable (1873), Le Droit Park Historic District

The stable at 1601 (Rear) 16th Street, NW, built ca. 1878 (top) and the Amzi Barber Stable, built ca. 1873 (bottom) aretwo of the oldest surviving stables in the city.

Number of Alley Resources by Decade

1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960

432

122105

171

88

144

15 81 238


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Number of Alley Buildings by Typology

1249 alley buildings identied(based on survey to date)

Garages 723

Stables 325

Dwellings 108

Warehouses andWorkshops

69

Studios, Sheds and Others 24

13ALLEY SURVEY

Alley Building Types

The Historic Alley Buildings Survey identied avariety of building types from residential tocommercial to service-oriented buildings, includ-ing those from the horse-drawn and automobileeras. While more than 25 building types and sub-types were identied, the largest concentration ofbuilding types falls within the following categories:Stables; Garages; Dwellings; Warehouses and Work-shops.

A discussion of the survey ndings by these alleybuilding sub-types follows in order of concentra-tion.

STABLES

Stables of all kindscommercial and privatewere an integral part of all 19th century cities. AsWashington grew into a densely developed city inthe post-Civil War era, stabling facilities becameindispensable for housing the growing populationof horses and carriages. For the most part, sincehorses were expensive both to buy and maintain,the general public relied on commercial liverystables for the boarding of horses, or the hiring outof horse and carriage as necessary. The largest andmost prominent of these livery stables typicallyfronted public streets, but others could be foundwithin the citys alley network. More common,

however, were the private stables built by and forindividual horse owners or speculative buildersand located in the alleys behind primary residences.

For the purposes of this alley survey, the identiedstables have been classied as Private Stable andCommercial Stable. The private stable is muchmore heavily represented with more than 300examples identied. In contrast, only a handful ofcommercial stable buildings survive.

STABLES: PRIVATE

Denition: The term stable is generally used todescribe a building in which horses are housed,harnessed and fed. The term carriage house moreaccurately describes a building in which carriagesare stored, washed and maintained, and wherecoachmen, grooms and stablemen may reside. Inurban settings, stables and carriage houses were

commonly incorporated into one building, and

are referred to interchangeably as either carriagehouse or stable. Ironically, especially in urbansettings, stables did not necessarily provide stallsfor horses, but may simply have been used forthe storage of carriages, while the horses wereboarded at commercial liveries. Because it is notalways apparent whether a stable building includ-ed room for carriages, and/or stalls for horses, all ofthe identied stables and/or carriage houses in thissurvey are being referred to as stables. Those build-ings commonly called carriage houses (generallyassociated with wealthy Washingtonians) are stillbeing counted as stables for the purposes of thissurvey.

This angled stable building in Hillyer Court in the Dupont Circle Historic District,in 1903, was designed to align with the irregular alleyway.


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14ALLEY SURVEY

The citys private stables range from large andstylistically impressive buildings to more modestvernacular ones. Generally, the common stablestructure tends to follow an established vernacu-lar building form, while the larger stable buildingdoes not have standard massing or style. Thecommon stable is typically a two-story, two- orthree-bay brick structure with a wide carriage doorand pedestrian door on the rst oor and a hayloftopening and windows on the second story.

Wealthier Washingtonians often constructedmore sizeable and stylishly designed structuresthat deviated from the standard two- or three-bayexamples. Stall windows are most often locatedalong the side wall of the stable, but can also befound on the front or rear, or not at all. Although

stall windows were generally recommended in

historic treatises on stable construction for thehealth of the horses, not all of the citys surveyedstables featured stall windows.

a horses mind is keptkeener when he is thusallowed to see passingobjects than when tiedagainst a blank wall; andhis eyesight is certainlynot strained as is that of ahorse which is taken from

a dark stall into the brightdaylight.Jorrocks, The Private Stable: Its Establishment,Management, and Appointments. Boston:Little Brown & Company, 1899, p. 54.

Typical two-story stable, 1314 (Rear) T Street, NW, built 1906, U Street HistoricDistrict

Detail of horse stall windows on stable at 3310 (Rear) P Street, NW,

Georgetown Historic District

First oor plan and elevation of typical stable bui lding.


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Number of Stables by Historic District

302 stables identied(based on survey to date)

Capitol Hill 82

Dupont Circle 53

Georgetown 46

14th Street 31

U Street 28

Shaw 9Shaw (total) 34

25Blagden Alley/Naylor Court

Downtown 3StriversSection 2Foggy Bottom 1

16th Street 8LeDroit Park 14

15ALLEY SURVEY

Distribution:Blagden Alley-Naylor Court Historic District isremarkable for having the most intensive cluster-ing of stable buildings within its alleys. Twenty-four stables are located within the Blagden Alley-Naylor Court Historic District, including attachedand freestanding examples that provide the mostcomplete illustration of the citys historic alleycontext. The Guy Carlton (1899) and John Limerick(1906) stables located across from each other inNaylor Court and both recently rehabilitated andconverted into residential use, are particularly neexamples of the private stable building.

Still, other notable groupings of stables existoutside of Blagden Alley/Naylor Court. In particu-lar, in Georgetown and on Capitol Hill there areseveral ne collections of stables lining the alley-ways. Similarly, an array of six, two-story formerstables still lines St. Matthews Court in DupontCircle; seven stables survive in Square 242 between14th Street and Logan Circle in the 14th StreetHistoric District; and nine stables make up the alleybetween 4th and 5th Streets in Le Droit Park, justabove Florida Avenue.

This attached group of stables in the alley behind 3300 block of P Street, NWin Georgetown was built together by the same owner-architect team in 1902.

This stable at 1315 Naylor Court, built 1899, is one of 24 stables in the Blagden Alley/Naylor Court Historic District, notable for its sizeable collection of alley


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Number of Stables by Decade

1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920

122

1500

120

5678

14

16ALLEY SURVEY

Construction Dates: The highest concentration of stables occurred inthe period from 1880 to 1910. The earliest identi-ed stables were built between 1869 and 1873according to tax records and the most recentlyconstructed stables were built between 1913 and1919 according to map research. Interestingly, thelargest number of extant stables were built in therst decade of the 20th century, at the cusp of theautomobile era.

Several of the earliest identied stables (built priorto 1879), including the Amzi Barbour CarriageHouse in LeDroit Park, and the stables at 3042(Rear) N Street, the Worthington Stable at 1680(Rear) 31st Street, and the Charles Huntley CarriageHouse at 1601 (Rear) 16th Street, NW stand out assome of the most stylistically notable stables in thecity.

These attached stables in St. Matthews Court in the Dupont Circle Historic District arevisually intriguing for their staggered effect lini ng the diagonal alley.

This former stable at 1835 (Rear) 5th Street, NW in the Le Droit Park Historic District,built 1907, was recently renovated for use as a private residence.

This Georgetown stable at 1680 (Rear) 31st Street, NW built in 1878, hasone of the more ornate hay loft doors of the surviving cit y stable buildings.

Alley view showing two attached stables behind the 1300 block of Vermont Avenue,NW in the 14th Street Historic District.


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17ALLEY SURVEY

Building Style and Characteristics:As noted above in the denition, the citys privatestables are generally vernacular structures thatfollowed a common building form with a two-story, two- or three-bay conguration. All buttwo of the stables are of brick construction, theexceptions being the stucco-clad Heurich CarriageHouse and the 1885 stable in Georgetown built ofcut stone.

Whether or not it follows a common vernacularform, or is architecturally unique, the stable build-ing is universally characterized by certain elements,including carriage door openings, hayloft doorswith block and tackle hardware, and horse stallwindow openings. If present, stall windows are

found along the side or rear elevations.

Some stables offer architectural embellishments,including arched windows with voussoirs andimposts, corbelled cornices, integrated brickwork,stepped parapets, and bas-relief sculptural detail.

Quill Stable built in 1914 at 315 (Rear) Constitution Avenue on

Capitol Hill features a series of stall windows lining the buildingslong elevation.

The Wiehle Stable at 1619 (Rear) Connecticut Avenue, NWbuilt in 1899 is one of the most ornate stables in the city and

features intricate brickwork including this brick horse headbas-relief .

Block and tackle at Walsh Stable, 1523

(Rear) 22nd Street, NW

The Heurich House Carriage House, built i n 1902 for successful German-Americanbrewer Christian Heurich, is characterized by its Renaissance Revival style, design byarchitect Appleton P. Clark.

7

6

4

3

2

1

Dupont Circle Historic DistrictNumber of Stables by Square


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18ALLEY SURVEY

Wealthy residents often eschewed this commonbuilding form to build larger, more impressive andstylistically notable stable buildings that wouldmore appropriately showcase their wealth. Theselarge-scale and/or stylistically conscious exampleswere generally designed by architects and reect-ed a variety of styles that were either compatiblewith the owners principal dwelling, offered adifferent style that set it apart from the principaldwelling. Some of the most stylistically notablestables include Walsh Stable, Codman CarriageHouse, Spencer Stable, Heurich Carriage House,Fraser Stable, Wiehle Stable, Clover Stable, CharlesHuntley Stable, Toutoursky Stable, WorthingtonStable, and the stable at 1633 (Rear)16th Street,NW.

Several large private stables that dominate theiralleys are noteworthy simply for their size. Theextensive two-story brick stable in the alleybehind Kingman Place (now the Kingman PlaceBoys and Girls Club), is one of the largest stablebuildings surveyed and may have served commer-cial purposes. It measured 50 x 25 when rstconstructed in 1880, but was later added onto,further extending the building down the alleybehind Kingman Place. Similarly, two attachedprivate stables, built by Curtis J. Hillyer in 1886 inthe alley behind the 1500 block of P Street, nowknown as The Mews, extend more than 72 feetalong the center of the alley.

The Fraser Stable at 1735 Fraser Court , NW was built in 1892 for James Fraser who two years earlier had built the nearby Fraser Mansion at 1701 20th SJames Fraser hired the notable Washington architecture rm of Hornblower and Marshall to design both his house and stable.

The Clover Stable off of Church Street was built in 1892 for Mrs. Ri chardson Clover,who lived nearby in a house that no longer stands.

The Seth Ledyard Stable in the alley behind Kingman Place in the 14th StreetHistoric District is one of the largest stables identied.


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1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Tally Ho Stables (1883), 1300 Naylor Court, NWWilbur F. Nash Stable (1909), 926 (Rear) N St, NWWilbur F. Nash Stable (1914), 920 Snows Court, NWGreen Court Stable (1889), 1333-1335 Green Court, NWPhelps Stable, (1880)1529 (Rear) Kingman Place NWProctor Alley Livery Stable (1894), 1211 (Rear) 13th Street, NWSellman Stables, (1906) 1737 (Rear) Johnson Avenue, NWCurtis Hillyer Stables (The Mews) (1886), 1514-1520 (Rear) P Street, NW

Commercial Stable Buildings Still Standing

19ALLEY SURVEY

STABLE: COMMERCIAL

Denition: The commercial stable or livery stable is a largestable structure where horses and carriages couldbe had for hire, or where horses were kept and fedfor a xed charge. Of the more than 300 stablessurveyed, only eight are considered as havingpossibly been used for commercial purposes. (10)City directories indicate that the city had 40-70livery stables at any given period between the1870s and the 1910s. The vast majority of theselivery stables, however, had addresses on streetsas opposed to alleys. A lesser number of liverystables were located in the alleys during the sametime frame. Only a few of those are extant today.

2

1

3

4

5

7

8

6

The building permit for this stable in Green Court indicates that itwas built as a private stable, but based on the buildings size, it maywell have offered some stabling facilities for rent.

The Proctor Alley Livery Stable at 1211 (Rear) 13th Street, NW, a D.C. Landmark, isa rare surviving example of a large-scale commercial livery stable in the city. Thethree-story stable had its horse stalls on the second oor, as indicated by the stall

windows on the exterior.


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20ALLEY SURVEY

Distribution: The surviving commercial stables are evenlydistributed in the downtown area, though twoimportant examples are located in the BlagdenAlley-Naylor Court Historic District.

Construction Dates: The commercial stables range in date from 1880to 1914. City directories indicate that in 1932, onelivery and boarding stable still operated in the city,though it was not located in an alley.

Building Style and Characteristics: The extant livery stables are generally sizeablevernacular buildings with multiple carriageentrances, hayloft openings and stall windows. The livery stable is often three, rather than twostories in height, of brick construction, and tendsto have had its horse stalls on the upper level(s) asopposed to the ground oor. The horses wouldreach the upper level stalls via ramps. The ProctorAlley Livery Stable, the Tally Ho Stables and NashsStables in Snows Court all had their horse stallson the second oors, as indicated by horse stallwindows at those upper levels.

The former Tally Ho Stables at 1300 Naylor Court, NW currently serves the D.C. Archives

Tally Ho Stables, 1883

Historic rendering of Tally Ho Stables, built 1883, Washington Post, Decemb

Snows Court Stable, Foggy Bottom Historic District


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21ALLEY SURVEY

As private car ownership increased, so too did theneed to store them. Many new car owners demol-ished or remodeled existing stable buildings at therear of their lots to build their own private garages.At the same time, private developers and build-ers constructed large public garages in or nearresidential neighborhoods where local car ownerscould store their cars for a fee. At the outset,storage garages tended to be multi-functionaland offered service and repair facilities as well asparking. Eventually, though, purpose-built servicegarages arose, eventually representing a size-able percentage of the citys commercial garagebuildings. The garages in the Historic Alley Build-

ings Survey have been classied as either PrivateGarage (including single and garage rows), orCommercial Garage (including public and servicegarages).

PRIVATE GARAGES

Denition: The private garage represents the largest concen-tration of garage buildings surveyed and is denedfor the purposes of this survey as a buildingerected for the storage of a private vehicle or vehi-cles. The private garage tends to be a modest, one-story brick structure with single-bay openings for asingle car and located at the rear of residential lotsand facing the alley. Garage buildings are eitherfreestanding or attached and built independentlyor together in rows.

Distribution: The private garage as a building type is mostheavily represented in Capitol Hill and George-town, but is otherwise fairly evenly distributedacross the old citys historic neighborhoods.

Several factors likely contribute to the higherpercentage of garages in Capitol Hill and George-town: 1) distance from downtown beyond thewalking distance; 2) widespread residentialrenovation in Capitol Hill and Georgetown duringthe 1930s as automobile ownership became morecommonplace; 3) narrower streets and more diffi-cult street parking in Georgetown encouragedmore garages to be built in alleys. Easy alley accessand broad alleys provided for ample parking in

Capitol Hill.

GARAGES

Number of Garages by Historic District

656 garages identied

Downtown 3Mount Vernon Square 3Mount Vernon Triangle 1Massachusetts Avenue 1

Georgetown 144

Capitol Hill 324

Dupont Circle 40

U Street 35

StiversSection 1116th Street 13

Blagden Alley/Naylor Court 13Le Droit Park 17

Shaw 21

14th Street 30

Early 20th century detached garage at 2011 (Rear) R Street, NW, Dupont CircleHistoric District

Array of garages to either side of older two-story stables, converted into garages,Dupont Circle Historic District


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22ALLEY SURVEY

Construction Dates: The majority of the garages surveyed were builtin the 1920s-1930s. The earliest identied privategarage dates to 1900. It was constructed alongwith the principal dwelling at 2201 Massachu-setts Avenue, built for Capt. Federick A. Miller anddesigned by architect Paul Pelz. A single buildingpermit for the dwelling and garage identies thegarage as an automobile house and highlightsit as the rst. A 1902 garage on Capitol Hill wasidentied in permits as a Locomobile Shed. TheLocomobile Company was an automobile manu-facturing company founded in 1899 to buildaffordable steamcars.

Building Style and Characteristics: The standard garage forma small, one-story,single-bay structurewas fully developed andwidely built by the 1910s. Typically, the garageis purely utilitarian with a garage door openingon the front, sometimes a window on one sidewall, at roof, and little or no ornamentation.Garages were built as freestanding structures andas attached structures, both independently andtogether.

Garages generally extend linearly along the alley-way, with the garage doors opening directly ontothe alley. In some cases, however, where a garageoccupies an intersection of two alleys, car bays arearranged perpendicular to one another, such as at1325 (Rear) 21st Street.

The earliest private garages are often the most

stylish and architect-designed structures, most

likely since they were built by wealthy residentswho were, of course, the rst to buy and owncars in the city. Stylistically, these garages oftenmimicked the aesthetic of the principal housewhich they served. They often also served dualpurposes as stables and garages as they werebuilt in the transitional period between the horse-drawn and automobile eras. As a result, these earlygarages also often retained certain features of theearlier stable buildings.

Of par ticular note is the 1904 Auto Barn at 1618(Rear) 29th Street in the Georgetown HistoricDistrict built for Edmund K. Fox, a Georgetownbanker. Fox hired architects Speiden & Speidento design his two-story, buff brick structure witha garage in the center bays and stables at eitherend. Despite the inclusion of stabling facilities, thePermit to Build specically identies the building

as an auto barn and not as a stable.

The garage at 2201 (Rear) Massachusetts Avenue, NW, built 1900, is the rst knownprivate garage to have been constructed in the city and is identied as an AutoHouseon the building permit. It was built at the same time as the mansion house

which it served and was designed as a diminutive version of it.

The Edmund K. Fox Auto Barnat 1618 (Rear) 29th Street, NW and built in have served as both a car garage and horse stable, Georgetown Historic Distri

The garage at 622 (Rear) A Street, NE (1902), is identied as a Locomobile Shedand clearly intended to house a car manufactured by the Locomobile Car Company,established in 1899.


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23ALLEY SURVEY

Some of the early garages may not have necessar-ily included accommodations for horses or carriag-es, but were still modeled architecturally after theirpredecessor stable buildings. For instance, in 1907architect Nicholas R. Grimm designed a two-storybrick automobile shed at the rear of 1613 19thStreet. Despite its classication as automobileshed on the Permit to Build, the building is indis-tinguishable from the contemporaneous brickstables to either side.

One early private garage at the rear of 1432 UStreet was constructed in 1910 for a Dr. Coblentzwho lived in a house in front of the garage.Designed by architect Arthur Towne, the substan-tial two-story brick garage is notable largely forits size. The original permit notes that a familylived above the garage, but does not indicate thecapacity of the garage. It is likely that the buildinghoused several cars and that the chauffeur lived in

the building with his family.

Dr. Coblentz Garage, 1432 (Rear) U Street, NWDoctors were often the rst to have cars and garages to make house calls quicker and more convenient; this garage likely housed several cars for such house visi

Automobile shedat 1613 (Rear) 19th Street, NW (1907), Dupont Circle HistoricDistrict


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24ALLEY SURVEY

During the 1910s, chauffeurs quarters were oftenincluded within garages resulting in a 1-1/2-storygarage form that allowed for living quarters in theloft level. But by the 1920s, the garage had settledinto its one-story, at-roofed form without quartersabove, generally with one or two bays for cars. The garage row a row of three or more garagebays built as a single structural unit under acommon roofwas most common after the 1920s,though earlier examples also exist. In some cases,the garage row appears to have been built in asso-ciation with new apartment buildings, especiallyin Georgetown during the 1930s, but in othercases, it appears to have been a purely speculativedevelopment whereby builders constructed longrows of garages in the center of the citys historic

row house neighborhoods, with the intention ofrenting or selling the individual garage bays tolocal car owners and residents.

Garage Row, 120 (Rear) W Street, NW (1914), Bloomingdale neighborhood

Historic photograph showing rows of garages facing each other across a broad alley in Washington, D.C. Shorpy.com

Garage row at 1657 (Rear) 31st Street, NW (1909), Georgetown Historic District1 1/2-story garage with chauffeurs quarters in loft level, 1606 (Rear) New Hamp-shire Avenue, NW (1910), Dupont Circle Historic District


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Private Garages vs. Commercial Garages

723 total garages

-public-commercial business-auto repair

Private710 13 Commercial

25ALLEY SURVEY

COMMERCIAL GARAGES:

DenitionCommercial garages, as a building type emergedas automobile use and ownership became moreprevalent in the rst decade of the 20th centuryand a need to house, fuel, maintain and repair carsbecame necessary. For this reason, early commer-cial garages were generally multi-functional spacesand included storage areas for vehicles; batterycharging rooms for charging battery-suppliedcars; fueling rooms with gasoline storage tanksfor gasoline-operated cars; repair facilities for themaintenance and repair of cars; car wash roomsfor washing cars; and employee lounge roomsfor repair technicians and chauffeurs. In some

instances, garages also included display areas forthe display of cars for sale. Commercial garagesgenerally charged a monthly fee for storage andadditional fees for other services.

The commercial garage has also been dened bythis survey to include garages that were built bycommercial property owners to house their owneets of commercial vehicles.

DistributionMany dozens of commercial garages were built in thecity beginning around the turn of the 20th century,and although they were more commonly construct-ed along the public streets, or along minor streets offof important transportation corridors (i.e. JohnsonAvenue off of 14th Street, NW), others still were builtexclusively within the citys alleys. One commercialgarage, the Mount Pleasant Garage, began withconstruction of the garage at 2412 (Rear) 18th Street,NW in 1912, but soon expanded to include the largerand more architecturally imposing street-fronted

garage at 2416 18th Street, NW in 1916.

The Mount Pleasant Garage, 2412 (Rear) 18th Street NW (1912), Washington Heights Historic DistrictMount Pleasant Garage, 2416 18th Street, NW (1916), Wash-ington Heights Historic District

The Holzberlein Bakery Company Garage on Wiltberger Alley was built in 1914 w

capacity for 12 delivery trucks.


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Siting

Materials

Floor Plan

Fenestration

TechnologicalFeatures

Siting the commercial garage withboth street and alley frontage wasimportant for easy access into andout of building. And, location on a

sizeable lot was critical for the storageof fuel outside of the garage proper.

The garage was generally built ofreproof materials (concrete and brick)to protect the valuable contents withinthe building.

The commercial garage neededunencumbered open area for easymaneuverability and storage of cars.

Large windows and skylights weredeemed critical for lighting repair shops

and sales rooms.Elevators were needed to carry carsbetween oors.

Garage Conditions

26ALLEY SURVEY

Building Style and CharacteristicsDue to the multi-functional and evolving use ofthe building type, the commercial garage does notfollow a specic form. However, the building typedoes share certain features and relationships. Inparticular, according to period architectural jour-nals, the following conditions were considered inthe construction of the commercial garage:

Over time, as the public garage lost favor to privategarages, and automobile showrooms evolvedspecically for auto sales, the commercial garagebecame more singular in its function, and focusedexclusively on car repair.

Construction Dates The earliest known and extant public garage build-ing in D.C. is the Mutual Automobile Company(Belmont Garage) at 1711 14th Street. Constructedin 1904 and designed by B. Stanley Simmons, thebuilding extends the full depth of its lot from 14thStreet to the alleyway with garage doors facingdirectly upon the alley. (11) This public garage wasbuilt to accommodate 100-150 cars and repairshops. The garage features large arched windows,a key character-dening feature of early commer-cial garage buildings.

The Warrington Motor Company Garage in CedarCourt, NW, built around 1920, is a substantial brickbuilding with large upper story window open-

ings. Painted signage identifying the building asWarrington Motor Company is faintly visible on thebrick wall between the rst and second oors. TheWarrington Motor Car Company building is partof a complex of stable and garage buildings occu-pying the center of the square to the east of 14thStreet, between S and T Streets, NW.

Belmont Garage at 1711 14th Street, NW (1904) is the earliest sur viving public garagebuilding and has both street and alley frontages, 14th Street Historic District

The garage building at 720 (Rear) 11th Street, SE historically housed a eet of deliv-ery trucks for the Meinberg Bakery located at 719 12th Street, SE Capitol Hill Historic

District

Warrington Motor Car Company, 1349 Cedar Court, NW (1919), U Street Historic District


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27ALLEY SURVEY

ALLEY DWELLINGS

Denition The alley building as a building type falls intotwo categories: The alley building constructedbefore passage of the 1892 law that forbade theirconstruction, and the alley dwelling substantiallyrenovated or built anew during the mid-20th-cen-tury in spite of the law or after its repeal. In bothcases, the alley dwelling faces directly onto thealley with no street frontage and, as a rule, occu-pies its own lot separate from the street frontinglot to which it abuts.

DistributionDuring the late 19th century, the alley dwellingwas the most prevalent building type occupy-ing the citys alleyways. During the last century,however, the number of alley dwellings has beenreduced to a small percentage (3%) of its historichigh (according to the 1912 alley survey, therewere 3,337 alley dwellings in the city; today 108alley dwellings still stand). The existence of thealley dwelling suffered from various forces, namelythat of social reformers who sought to eliminatethem, and from new modes of transportation thatencouraged their replacement, rst with stables,and later with garages.

Today, alley dwellings are found in isolatedpockets throughout the old city, and several intactcollections of them are located in Foggy Bottom,Georgetown and Capitol Hill. The alley dwellingsof Foggy Bottom represent a particularly cohesivecollection, where rows of alley dwellings are clus-tered in a tightly-knit two-block area along SnowsCourt and Hughes Mews. Although the survivingalley dwellings in Foggy Bottom represent only aportion of the alley dwellings that historically char-acterized Foggy Bottom, this collection providesone of the best physical representations of thehistoric character and feeling of the citys interiorresidential alley fabric.

A pair of alley dwellings built in 1884 in Snows Court, Foggy Bottom Historic District

Number of Dwellings by Historic District

108 dwellings identied

Dupont Circle 1

Georgetown 40

Capitol Hill 18

Mount Vernon Sq. 2U Street 5

Blagden Alley/Naylor Court 11

Foggy Bottom 29


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28ALLEY SURVEYDwelling at 1 Pomander Court

Pomander Court

Rear Prospect Street

Cadys AlleyCherry Hill Lane

Scott Place

Congress Court

The alley dwellings of Georgetown and CapitolHill are located across a broader area, but are stillfound clustered on certain streets. In Georgetown,Cherry Lane and Pomander Walk offer good intactrows of 19th century dwellings, as do ArchibaldWalk, Millers Court and F Street Terrace on CapitolHill. Scott Place and Caton Place in Georgetownprovide examples of 20th century alley dwellings,built on the newly dubbed places and lanes.

14 10 8 5 2 1

Georgetown Historic District: Number of Alley Dwellings by Square


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29ALLEY SURVEY

Construction Dates All but eight of the alley dwellings identied werebuilt before passage of the 1892 law banningconstruction of alley dwellings. The eight 20thcentury ones are located in Georgetown, alongCaton and Scott Place, two historic alleys whichwere renovated during the mid-20th century.

Building Style and Characteristics The 19th century alley dwelling is typically a two-story, two-bay-wide dwelling measuring approxi-mately 12 x 30. Alley dwellings were built onlow brick foundations (no basements) and werecovered with at roofs, historically covered in tin.Front elevations often featured decorative brick-

work, such as corbelled cornices and jack-arched orsegmentally arched brick lintels.

The interior generally consisted of four rooms. Therst oor housed a front living room and a rearkitchen, while the upstairs held two bedrooms. The living room could also be used for sleeping.Alley dwellings often had small rear yards withouthouses.

Alley dwellings of the 20th century do not followa standard form. In some cases, these dwellingsare major renovations of historic alley dwellings,or have combined two alley dwellings into a singleone. Others are entirely new structures. The reno-vated and new dwellings tend to reect GeorgianRevival-style forms and features.

The original alley dwelling at 1601 Caton Place, NW built in 1891, was renovatedand sandwiched between two end wing additions i n the 1950s.

The dwelling at 3210 Scott Place, NW was built in the early 1950s on the site of ve19th-century alley dwellings.

Dwelling at 3210 Scott Place, built on the site of ve alley dwellings in the 1950s.

1326 Naylor Court, NW

Long row of alley dwellings in Snows Court, built 1884 and renovated in the 1950s,Foggy Bottom Historic District


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30ALLEY SURVEY

Cadys Alley NW

Alley dwellings in Terrace Court, NE (1889), Capitol Hill Historic Di strict

This row of four alley dwellings in Cadys Alley, was built in 1892 byDennis T. Keidy, after whom the alley was named.

These alley dwellings in Millers Court, NE in the Capitol Hill Historic District were built before 1888 and have distinctive pitched roofs.


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32ALLEY SURVEY5 2 1

Georgetown Historic District: Number of Warehouses by Square Holzbeierlein Bakery at 1815-1817 Wiltberger Street, NW (1913)

Printing Shop, 1232 (Rear) 9th Street, NW (1946), Blagden Alley/Naylor CourtHistoric District

Mid-20th-century warehouse, 3340 Cadys Alley, NW Georgetown Historic DisSheetmetal Warehouse, 1219 (Rear) Wisconsin Avenue, NW (1916), Georgetown HistoricDistrict


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33ALLEY SURVEY

Construction Dates The 43 identied warehouses date between about1888 and 1959. However, all but ve of those fallwithin the 20th century date range. The oldestdated warehouse is the pre-1888 tin shop locatedin Blagden Alley. The G.W. Mason Wagon Worksand Carriage Repository, constructed in 1893, isthe oldest of two surviving carriage manufactur-ers known of in the city. The other is the WilliamWalters Son Carriage Company at 322 (Rear) 3rdStreet NE, on Capitol Hill.

Of the 20th century examples, there are ve metal/pattern/printing shops, two blacksmith shops, twomachine shops, a hardware warehouse, and abattery shop.

This three-story warehouse building at 1240 (Rear) 9th Street, NW is identied as atin shop on the 1888, 1903 and 1927 historic Sanborn maps.

Clarence and Bessie Wise are listed as the owners of this pattern and cabinet shopbuilt in 1912 on Essex Court , NW downtown. Given the alleys proximity to thePatent Office, this warehouse may have built patterns for persons seeking patents fo

inventions.

The G.W. Wagon Works and Carriage Repository at 1074 (Rear) Thomas JeffersonStreet, NW (1893).


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34ALLEY SURVEY

Building Style and Characteristics The warehouses found in D.C.s alleys do not followany prescribed building form, though some havesimilar features to stables, such as large rst-storyopenings and loft doors. In general, all of the ware-houses share brick as the common building mate-rial and offer an astylar, vernacular quality.

Despite the vernacular quality, some of the ware-houses were actually designed by architects,according to identied Permits to Build. WilliamBeuchert who owned and developed PrathersAlley, hired architect B.F. Sneeling to design hisblacksmith shop, just as the Rose Brothers hiredFrank Russell White to design its warehouse at1349 Cedar Court. Clarence Wise acted as owner,

builder and architect on his pattern and cabinetshop, built at 618 (Rear) I Street, NW in 1912.

Prathers Alley, located between 4th and 5th Streets and I and K Streets, NW retainsan intact collection of three attached warehouse buildings. The oldest of these,Beucherts Blacksmith Shop shown at the far left of the group, was built i n 1912.Beuchert built the attached warehouse, in the center, three years later. The ware-house at the right si de of photo followed in 1918.

This building at 1414 (Rear) S Street, NW and identied as warehouseonits 1912 permit, is similar in form and detail to the alleys stables.

This two-story warehouse at 629 G Street, SE is identied as a mattressfactory on the 1904 Sanborn map

According to the building permit, architect Frank Russell White designedthis 1913 warehouse at 1349 Cedar Court, NW.

Detail of Beucherts Blacksmith Shop, 443 (Rear) I Street, NW (1912), showing ghost-ing of business advertisement at cornice line.

This building at 318 3rd Street, NE (1911) is adjacent to the William Walters Son

Carriage Repository and is identied as a Coach Shop on the building permit.


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35ALLEY SURVEY

STUDIOS, SHEDS, AND OTHERS

Other buildings, not readily classied under theestablished categories deserve mention for theirage or rarity. Of particular note are sheds andstudios. A review of the citys earliest and mostdetailed maps that include building footprints(1887 Hopkins and 1888 Sanborn maps) indicatesthat small sheds were a common element withinthe citys alleyways. Over time, these sheds werereplaced by stables and garages, were demolished,or simply fell down. Still, sixteen sheds survive. Two of these are substantial brick buildings thatdate from before 1888, and another is a woodframe one from the early 20th century.

Not surprising in a city where building was aprimary industry, architects, contractors andartists built their own studios, many of which werelocated along the quieter alleyways. The HistoricAlley Buildings Survey identied ve studios: theJohn J. Earley Studio (DC landmark), Mary BussardStudio, Henry Ellicott Studio, the Harvey PageStudio and the Joseph Wilkinson Workshop.

In addition to these purpose-built studios, manyof the alley buildings that historically served asstables or other purposes, were and continue tobe, converted into artist and other studios. TwoalleysSt. Matthews Court and Artists Alley (thealley behind the 3300 block of P Street, NW)became veritable artist colonies during the 1930s.Artists Alley housed studios for ve women artists,including Katherine Hobbs, animal sculptress;Gladys Jones, portrait sculptress; Virginia Curran,a ceramicist; Vivi Rankine, abstract painter; KittyClaude; a water colorist; and Thorberg Rostad, an

oil painter. The stables of St. Matthews Court not

only offered studios and living quarters for a groupof artists, but they also offered restaurants -- theFederation Tea Room (later the Iron Gate Inn),the Desert Inn -- and a community theater called Theater Lobby. As rents skyrocketed during thelate 1950s, New York artist Bruce Moore who wassculpting a bust of Billy Mitchell was in-residenceas its sole-surviving professional artist in the alley.

In 1911, artist Marie Bussard built a studio for herself at 2129 (Rear) G Street, NW

The two-story row of sheds at 611-619 G Street, SE date from before 1887, and are the oldest surviving sheds identied.


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36ALLEY SURVEY

The pretty home of Mr.and Mrs. Harvey Pageon Nineteenth street wasfilled with a gay com-pany from 4 to 6 oclockyesterday, who had been

bidden to a studio tea.Everybody wonderedwhat a studio tea would

be, and they found it to

be a delightfully infor-mal affair, where everyone was jolly, and noth-ing was stiff, and manypilgrimages were madeto the lovely new studioof Mr. Page, where thedelicious studio tea wasserved, which wasnt tea

at all, but a mysteriously- brewed punch from somemysterious recipe, knownonly to the host.From A Tea in a New Studio: Mr. and Mrs.Harvey Page Hold a Delightful Entertainment(Washington Post, 3/25/1890)

This frame shed at 316 (Rear) 3rd Street, NE was built in the early 20th century.

The Ellicott Studio at 1749 18th Street, NW built 1894, housed the studio otor Henry J. Ellicott, known especially for his Wineld Scott equestrian statuCircle.

Studio of architect Harvey Page, 1727 (Rear) 19th Street, NW (built 1889)This one-story brick building, built before 1888, is a rare surviving 19th-century shed

The two-story brick dependency building at 109 (Rear) 2nd Street, NE and built in1893 is identied through building permits as a fuel house. Fuel houses historicallydescribed buildings that wereused for the storage of wood for domestic purposes.

d


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37ALLEY SURVEY

RecommendationsAs indicated in the previous sections of this report,the alleys of Washington, D.C. offer a deep andfascinating history. More than one thousand build-ings survive from various aspects of this history,and together present an architecturally compel-ling story that evokes a palpable sense of time andplace.

In general, alleyways are visually appealing andsocially alluring spaces. These narrow and oftenhidden passageways offer lower density and small-er-scale buildings that create a humanizing andpedestrian friendly atmosphere. At the same time,the rear yard informality of alleyways often a llowsfor greater social activity. Indeed, in conjuring up

old world charm, most people envision a labyrinthof side streets and crooked alleys with a mazeof cafes and shops, such as those in Venice, thefamous hutongs in Beijing, the souks of Morocco,and the covered bazaars of Istanbul.

At the same time, alleyways have historically beenperceived as unsafe and unsanitary places that arebest avoided.

This recommendations section is intended toexplore opportunities for re-discovering andre-inventing the citys alleyways and its buildingsand to inspire an effort to more formally addressthe citys alleys as viable spaces for living, workingand socializing in an increasingly dense andexpanding city.

1 Increase Visibility of AlleywaysBy nature, alleyways are not readily visible andentrances into the alleyways are not easily recog-nized.

Name Alleys and Establish SignageHistorically, most of the citys alleyways werenamed. These names were often associatedwith their owners, residents, or activities thattook place in the alleys. Most alleys are nolonger known by their names. Officially desig-nating alleys by their names, with signage tothe alleys, will increase public awareness andvisibility of alleys.

Encourage Public ArtPublic art on the sides of buildings along alley-ways will increase awareness of the alleywayand encourage access to the alleys.

2 Encourage Heritage Tourism of AlleysDevelop virtual tours of the citys alleys,highlighting alley history and architecture

Develop walking and biking tours throughneighborhood alleys in conjunction withpreservation groups

Expand architectural survey of the citys alleysto historic districts outside of the city limits,including Sheridan-Kalorama, Mount Pleasant,and Washington Heights. Expand survey toother, non-historic districts such as Near North-east, Bloomingdale and Petworth.

Colorful concrete paving, San Francisco, CAArtistic trashcans in Nashville, TN

Alley mural, U Street NW, Washington, DC

Big Wheels Bike Shop, Cadys Alley, Washington, DC


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3 Develop Ideas to Re-invent AlleysRe-examine the functional vs. cultural landscape ofalleys and develop a plan to re-invent one or moreof the citys alleyways as a neighborhood amenityon a temporary or permanent basis. Other citieshave engaged in such re-inventions, holdingevents such as the Dally in the Alley in Detroit andthe Alley Palooza in Seattle.

Fairhold an outdoor alley fair with food andlive music

Film Screeningorganize a lm screening ona summer evening, drawing local residents and

tourists into the alley

Public Artencourage artists through grantfunds to introduce artwork into a speciedalley

Community Garden/Urban Farmdevelop anurban garden for local residents, or restaurantowners

Playgrounddevelop playgrounds or play

areas for children

4 Engage the Planning CommunityOrganize an alley planning team of alley resi-dents, planners and preservationists

Hold community workshops to eld ideas forre-activating alleys

Develop an Alley Master Plan that wouldencourage an array of alley uses throughzoning and other regulations

20 WIDE, collaborative case study in creating temporary activations for downtown

alleys, Austin, TX. Artists Dan Cheetham and Michelle TarsneyPhoto by Michael Knox, City of Austin, Economic Development Department

Bookstore in the alley, Boston, MA

Green wall landscape, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Alley Open House - Seattle, WA

World Cup Soccer watching party, Nord Alley, Seattle, WA


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5One of the stated goals of the alley survey was tobetter know the citys historic alleyways in orderto provide guidance for their rejuvenation. To thatend, the survey has identied several alleys thatwould be good candidates for a Re-ActivationCase Study. The identication of these alleywayswas based on the following characteristics:

Quality and cohesiveness of historicbuilding fabric

Potential for multi-use rehabilitation projects

Proximity of alleyway to existingcommercial nodes

Accessibility and safety of alleyway

Based upon these criteria, the following alleywaysare being proposed for a Case Study:

Congress Street/Oak Alley (Square 1208) The Georgetown Historic District

St. Matthews Court (Square 159) The Dupont Circle District

Square 242, The 14th Street Historic District

Browns Court (Square 514) The Shaw Historic District

Six-and-a-half-Court, NE (Square 868) The Capitol Hill Historic District

Develop Case Study for Re-Activating Alley(s)

N ST NW

WI S

C ON

S I NA V E NW

Potential sites for re-activating alleys

Oak Alley

Oak Alley St. Matthews Court Square 242 Browns Court

Six-and-a-half Court


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V E R M

O N T A

V E N W

N ST NW

M ST NW

5 T H

S T NW

4 T H S T NW

N E W Y O R

K A V E N W

Square 242

Browns Court


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Endnotes 1 Ellicott, Freeman, Fenwich, Brent, Briggs and Nicholas King, Register of Squares, 1793-1796, National Archives Record Group 351.2 According to the Blagden Alley/Naylor Court Historic District National Register Nomination, in the 1793-1796 plat of squares, 176 of the 487 squares with

alleys had the H-shaped conguration. By 1852, 223 squares had H-shaped alleys out of a total of 381 squares with alleys (as gleaned from Boyd Hamilton,Maps and Plats of the City of Washington, 1852).

3 Needs footnoteBorchert?4 James Borchert, Alley Life in Washington, Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C., vol. 49, p. 245.

5 James Borchert, Alley Life in Washington, Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C., vol. 49, p. 245. 6 Grace Vawter Bicknell, The Inhabited Alleys of Washington, D.C., p4. 7 The 1912 Alley Study speculates that the 1871 alley reclamation project may have been discontinued due to the political inuence of property owners who

were beneting nancially from the construction of and rental of alley dwellings.8 Need footnote here and check quotations.9 Chroniclers Report, September 23, 1953. Records of the Columbia Historical Society, vol. 153-156, p. 390-398.

10 The identication of the eight commercial stables was strictly based upon the size of the buildings. Building permits tended to identify all stables as privatestables whether used for personal or commercial purposes. This identication as commercial is thus purely conjectural and requires additional research.

11 Because the building faces a public street, it was not actually surveyed as part of the Historic Alley Buildings Survey. However, the building does have an

important alley frontage and thus a relevant example.

1716 (Rear) 19th Street NW 1619 (Rear) Connecticut Avenue NW 1721 (Rear) 19th Street NW


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Acknowledgments

Volunteer Mollie Hutchings surveying alley buildings

The D.C. Historic Alley Buildings Survey has beenundertaken by the D.C. Historic Preservation Officeunder the coordination of Kim Prothro Williams,National Register Coordinator, with help fromAmanda Molson, Preservation Planner, and ChardReid, Assistant Archaeologist. The survey work andresearch was conducted by the HPO and by a teamof student interns and interested volunteers. Thenal report was written by Kim Prothro Williamsand designed by Kim Elliott, Historic PreservationArchitect.

The project is indebted to the student interns andvolunteers who spent hours walking the citysalleys from the spring of 2011 through the winterof 2014 to identify and document surviving alleybuildings. The volunteers also helped conductmap and permit research and entered the infor-mation into the DC Historic Preservation Softwaresystem database for storage and analysis.

In addition to their efforts, these volunteer survey-ors brought great energy and enthusiasm to theproject, even as the numbers of one-story garagesbegan to outstrip the numbers of more architec-turally intriguing stables, warehouses, or other

more unique buildings.

The D.C. Historic Preservation Office is indebted tothe work of the following persons:

Namon Freeman student intern, 2011Courtney Ball student intern, 2011, 2012Clare Eberle volunteer, 20112012Lauren McHale LEnfant Trust volunteer, 2012Audrey Stefenson volunteer, 2012Nick Efron student intern, 2012Renan Snowden student intern, 2012Mollie S. Hutchings student intern, 2013Christine Huhn volunteer, 2014Jacqueline Drayer student intern, 2014

The HPO would also like to acknowledge Dr. DavidSalter who shared his vast knowledge on alleyhistory and alley revitalization with the officeand continues to send articles, blog posts, andother information on alley happenings across thecountry and in Canada. Dr. David Salter has hisown blog, PreservingDCStables and was, until late2013, a resident of Blagden Alley/Naylor Court. Hisalley research and interest in alley building pres-ervation and revitalization has inspired this studyand will continue to inform the office in its futurealley studies and projects.

ibli h


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BibliographyBooks:

Bicknell, Grace Vawter. The Inhabited Alleys of Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C.: Committee on Housing, Womans Welfare Department, 1912.Blagden Alley/Naylor Court Historic District National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, 1990.Borchert, James. Alley Life in Washington: Family, Community, Religion, and Folklife in the City, 1850-1970. Chicago, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1980.Borchert, James. Alley Landscapes of Washington, Landscape, vol. 23, no. 3, 1979Borchert, James. Alley Life in Washington: An Analysis of 600 Photographs, Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C., Vol. 49, 1973/1974, pp.

244-259Jones, Thomas Jesse. The Alley Homes of Washington, The Survey: A Journal of Constructive Philanthropy, Vol. XXIX, No. 3, October, 1912, p. 67-71Jones, Thomas Jesse, compiler, Directory of the Inhabited Alleys of Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C.: Housing Committee Monday Evening Club, 1912Kober, George M., M.D. Report on the Housing of the Laboring Classes in the City of Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1900.Proctor Alley Livery Stable National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, 1994

Selected Newspaper Articles:

Alley in Foggy Bottom Gets Old English Flavor, The Washington Post, June 21, 1961Alley Dwelling Renovators Get Council Baking, The Evening Star, April 17, 1954Alley Homes Defended by Residents, The Washington Post, April 10, 1954Alley Moving Day for 20,000 to be Delayed, Washington Post, March 15, 1944Alleys Not Always Slums, The Evening Star, September 26, 1953Bohemia by the Cathedral, Washington Daily News, February 22, 1957Capital Alleys Not Threatened by City Progress, The Evening Star, June 6, 1930Commissioners Seek End to Ban on Alley Homes, The Evening Star, April 19, 1954An Equestrian Statue: Innumerable Parts that Go to Make Up the Whole, The Washington Post, August 4, 1895Georgetown Groups Fight Subdivision, The Washington Post, March 10, 1956

Group Fights City Threat to Close Up Alley Homes, The Washington Post, September 16, 1953Last Christmas for Temperance Court, October 22, 1952, Washington Daily News, September 27, 1952Officials Seek to Ban New Tenants Moving into Slum Alley, The Evening Star, September 26, 1952Once Alley Always and Alley Under Law? The Evening Star, September 25, 1953Private Owners Reclaiming Neighborhood Once Known as Capitol Hill Slum. The Evening Star, August 23, 1947The Reclamation of Logan Court, The Evening Star, May 28, 1944Remodeled Alley Houses Put Commissioners on Spot, Washington Daily News, September 21, 1953Reprieve for Alleys, The Washington Post, February 3, 1954Slum Alley Goes Moderne, The Washington Post, July 14, 1955Slums of Washington: Superlatively Unsanitary Conditions in Shadow of Capitol, The New York Tribune, May 3, 1903Witnesses Appeal to Save Alley Homes, The Evening Star, September 28, 1953


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44ALLEY SURVEYE.J.Adams & Co. Stables, Naylor Court

Maps and Databases:

D.C. Permits to Build databaseSanborn Fire Insurance Maps, 1888; 1903-1904; 1927-1928; 1959Baist Real Estate Atlas, 1911; 1913; 1915; 1919; 1921; 1937


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Documents