Monthly Archives: August 2010

The Morning Metropolitan

Photo by Brownpau.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

  • The Post tracks down Jeff Nelson and discusses his obsession with Dumbarton Bridge. Is it just a coincidence they decided to write about this topic just a week after GM did, or did they just not give him any credit?
  • GM’s back from the beach, so look forward to regular postings again starting today.

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The Georgetown Metropolis

1000 block of 33rd St.

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Field Guide to Georgetown Homes: The Odd Ones Out

GM is at the beach this week, in his absence enjoy this rerun of his series on Georgetown architecture:

This week GM has been delving into the varieties of historic architecture that we have around Georgetown. For the final installment he is going to highlight the odd ones out, in other words the homes that weren’t built in the dominant styles of Federal, Greek Revival, Italianate, Second Empire, Queen Anne and Romanesque.

First up: Neoclassical

The Neoclassical style was born at the 1893 Chicago’s World Columbian Exposition, where some of the greatest architects of the time gathered to design a grand city of monumental buildings based in the classical style. Since nearly 26 million people visited the “White City”, this new style had wide exposure and quickly became a dominant building style in the early 20th century. Downtown DC was basically rebuilt in the White City’s image. Continue reading

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The Morning Metropolitan

Photo by Knot.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

  • Price checking on Water Street.
  • Can you believe DC schools start up again on Monday? Two weeks before Labor Day? That’s cold. Anyway, keep an eye out for sleepy kids walking to school next week.

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The Georgetown Metropolis

Cady’s Alley

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Field Guide to Georgetown Homes: The Late Victorian Period

GM is at the beach this week, in his absence enjoy this rerun of his series on Georgetown architecture:

This week GM is exploring the variety of historic architecture around Georgetown. Today he explores the late Victorian Period. For Georgetown that means primarily two styles: Queen Anne and Richardsonian Romanesque.

First up: Queen Anne. The Queen Anne style was developed in England by a group of architects in the 1860s and 1870s. It was meant to evoke a medieval period of English architecture, although it was a bit of a misnomer since the architecture popular during the real Queen Anne was actually a formal renaissance style.

The Queen Anne style that dominated American homes during the 1880s is characterized by asymmetrical design with a variety of different towers and hipped roofs that form an irregular roof line. Also, the surface materials included a variety of textures such as scale shingles and the homes were often decorated with elaborate spindles and other fanciful woodwork.  Basically, the classic “gingerbread” home that comes to your mind when you think of Victorian homes is probably a Queen Anne. Continue reading

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The Morning Metropolitan

Rocks in Montrose Park by Gregw66.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

  • Here we go again: Philly Pizza bids to reopen.
  • Speaking of going again, all the ANC reps are seeking reelection (with the exception of Aaron Golds who will graduate before the end of the next term)

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The Georgetown Metropolis

3200 block of M St.

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Field Guide to Georgetown Homes: The Early Victorian Period

GM is at the beach this week, in his absence enjoy this rerun of his series on Georgetown architecture:

This week GM is exploring the variety of historical architectural styles around Georgetown. Today GM explores the early Victorian period.

The two styles that dominated early Victorian architecture were Second Empire and Stick. However, there are no examples of Stick architecture in Georgetown that GM could find (the Stick style is not surprisingly tailored to wooden homes, which was not a popular building material in bricky Georgetown). So for Georgetown early Victorian architecture means only Second Empire. Continue reading

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The Morning Metropolitan

Photo by M.V. Jantzen.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

  • A solution to the Town-Gown divide? (Answer: no).
  • Georgetown mayoral debate September 10 moderated by Carol Joynt.

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