Category Archives: Uncategorized

Here’s your Northwest Georgetown March ANC Update (Sign up here to get these directly!):

Alley Buildings:

I wanted to focus this month on a project that the ANC reviewed this week that would be somewhat novel for Georgetown: a new alley dwelling.

Of course, alley dwellings have a long history in Georgetown. In the 19th and early 20th century, the small houses tucked away off the street were home to a large percentage of Georgetown’s working class residents, both black and white. While some were demolished as part of the city-wide alley clearance efforts of the 1920s and 30s, many in Georgetown were simply refurbished and remain, such as homes on Pomander Walk or Poplar St. Inevitably the working class residents were priced out and now the homes sell for six to seven figures.

But since then, few or no new alley dwellings have been built in Georgetown. But that may soon change. The District amended the zoning regulations recently to make it easier to obtain permission to construct a new alley building and use it as a home. (Zoning regulations are largely the reason alley dwelling construction ground to a halt in the first place). And a homeowner in our district is making use of these changes to construct a new home adjacent to her own (which, oddly enough, is itself technically an alley dwelling).

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Jayne Planck, whose son started Underarmour in her Georgetown house, dies.
• An ignoble end to a disastrous Hoya men’s season.

Primarily through the efforts of the Friends of Volta Park, the city has dedicated $700,000 to restore and renovate the park’s baseball diamond and grass field. And DPR and DGS are finally moving forward with the design and implementation of that project. As part of that, the project reps will be holding a community meeting in the park this Wednesday morning from 10-11. As the ANC commissioner covering the park, I will of course be there. So will leadership from the Friends of Volta Park. But if you are also interested in attending, please show up! It’s important that we make the most of this opportunity to improve the park and your input is critical to that end! So see you there!

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• An argument for GU’s tour guides to increase DEI considerations.
• That time Jack Nicholson, Linda Rondstat and….Carl Berstein partied in Georgetown after Carter’s inauguration.
• Check out the Ellington Experience Wednesday night to learn about all the programs the school has for its talented students.

You probably have noticed that due to the unseasonably warm weather, plants and flowers have concluded that spring is here, despite what the calendar says. On the one hand, this is a foreboding sign of possibly cataclysmic climate change. On the other, it’s a perfect chance to pull one over on Harvard University.

See, Harvard owns Dumbarton Oaks. And admission to the gardens is free during the winter. But on March 15th, which is almost always right as the spring fireworks kick off, the gardens start charging admissions. So in normal times, you have to pony up to get to see sights like these:

The ANC will be meeting for its March session next Monday, starting at 6:30 pm via Zoom. There are some pretty interesting items on the agenda, so I hope you will join us!

The most notable item, in my opinion, is a proposed new alley dwelling in my district. A homeowner who lives in a house in the center of the block confined by R St., 34th, 35th, and Filmore School has purchased some adjacent parking pads along an alley that comes off 34th:

The homeowner is proposing to combine the parking pads into a single lot and build a two-bedroom house on it. It is proposed to look like this:

Although it would legally be a free standing house, it would for all intents and purposes serve as an accessory dwelling of the primary home. The backside would open freely into the homeowner’s backyard. When I first saw this proposal, I assumed it would actually formally be an accessory dwelling. But the main home is itself technically an alley dwelling. (It’s actually the original home on the block and ended up somewhat stuck in the middle since the owners over the years sold off the surrounding lots.) And as an alley dwelling it’s legally not allowed to itself have an accessory dwelling.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• DC Council recognizes significance of Mt. Zion cemetery.
• Nice round up on various residential projects around the neighborhood.

While a great deal of Americans’ wardrobes consist of clothes made in Asia, it’s rare for the clothes to come from fashion designers actually based there, particularly Chinese designers. One new shop is trying to change that and is opening up a brick and mortar store in Georgetown at 1057 Wisconsin Ave. (currently an AT&T store).

The shop is called Fangyan. It has two other shops in Bethesda and Westfield, NJ. It also had a pop-up here Georgetown, but this will be a permanent shop. From their website:

FANGYÁN 方言 (fāng yán) is a brand and US-based multi-label retail e-commerce. The name is inspired by the language diversity in China, paying homage to the brand’s aim of curating pieces from all around the country.

FANGYÁN is translated as “dialect”, meaning a variety of Chinese languages.

It is a representation of the country’s melting pot culture where chaos meets order. In this context, FANGYÁN arises in its true colors, as a fashion project that delivers not only great designs but actively plays a role in this trend of redefining what China actually is to a new and curious global audience.

The website lists twenty different Chinese brands that it will offer. Personally, I’m not terribly well informed on fashion trends, let alone international ones, but it does seem like nice new option for people looking for something new.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Alexander Graham Bell-owned house on Pomander for sale.
• Magnolias already starting to bloom. Sure hope we don’t get a totally normal late February cold snap!

With the opening of Maman, which is directly next to another coffee shop, I think it’s fair to suggest that the coffee shop boom has resumed in Georgetown.

As you can see from the chart I pulled together above, the number of coffee shops in the neighborhood has fluctuated quite a lot over the last ten years. Starting early last decade, the numbers of coffee shops opening in Georgetown seemed to defy all rules of supply and demand. No matter how many opened, they were immediate packed at all hours.