Georgetown Time Machine: Snow Day

This week for Georgetown Time Machine, I take a look at another image from the DC Historical Society. It is an picture of an oil painting that is entitled “Georgetown Rowhouses in Snow (Wisconsin Avenue And 34th Street)”. It is from 1949 and the artist is identified as Peder Kitti.

A lot surely has changed since 1949, but not so much that I think this is actually depicting 34th and Wisconsin. It is much more likely to be 33rd and Wisconsin. (If you’re wondering if actually maybe 34th and Wisconsin looked like this in 1949, the answer is almost certainly not. This is what that intersection looked like from above in 1951:

That said, the painting isn’t really a perfectly accurate depiction of 33rd and Wisconsin either. The large window on the left is correct. And the next couple buildings to the left match. But the right side of the row doesn’t really reflect the actual buildings. The painting seems to have a corner entrance that doesn’t exist. The building that houses A Mano isn’t quite right either.

But overall I think this is meant to be 33rd. And that leads me to wonder if that large beautiful tree also stood there. I think the answer is yes. This is that intersection in 1951:

As with so many photos of Georgetown in the mid 20th century, the trees look so much larger and healthier than they do today. This section of Wisconsin Ave. was completely covered by the tree canopy! That’s remarkable. Compare that to today:

It does appear from the historic shot that there was one very large tree right at the corner.

It looks like the tree lasted a while longer. Here’s a photo of the African Union Embassy in 1961, when it was the West Georgetown School. You can see a large tree creeping in on the right:

Looking through the historical satelite photos, it appears the foliage really started to take a beating in the 1980s. That’s pretty consistent with a story of a city running out of cash and an environment getting hotter. The latter of which, of course, will eventually mean the painting’s snowy scene will also become nothing but a memory.