The Georgetown Metropolitan

This week for Georgetown Time Machine, GM returns again to the wonderful archive of the Historical Society of Washington, DC for a photo of the demolition of the famous Key Mansion.

The photo is from 1948 and shows the former home of Francis Scott Key in the process of deconstruction. It was taken down in order to construct the Whitehurst Freeway. It stood, essentially, across the street from the former Exxon gas station.

The Streets of Washington wrote an elaborate and detailed history of the building. This also included its grim fate: it was deconstructed with the aim to be preserved and reconstructed somewhere else. But the entire house went missing and nobody knows where it went. (In truth, President Truman vetoed the funding of a bill to reconstruct a replica of the house using the old bricks. So the bricks probably just ended up in other projects.) Continue reading →

Photo by Rudi Riet.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Taste of Georgetown this Sunday.
• Where you can get a private dining room around Georgetown (and elsewhere).

3000 block of N St.

Makeup giant Sephora is moving its Georgetown location down to the other end of M St. Right now it’s located at 3065 M St. But apparently in order to have a larger space, it’s moving to 3241 M St. Someone should let them know it’s a cursed location.

This space most recently housed & Other Stories, a hip clothing store part of the H&M empire. It was open approximately five minutes before it closed in August. (Seriously it was only open one year).

The space underwent years of construction before & Other Stories moved in. Before that it was home to the Bandelaro, a short lived Mexican restaurant that was disowned by Mike Isabella before the restaurant ever had a chance to disown him. Continue reading →

Photo by Daniel Lobo.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• What the French bistro that is taking over the Morton’s space will look like.
• GM also noticed that this article from yesterday’s links also suggests that the Johnny Rockets might be losing its lease. (Which is really too bad since the chain is no longer owned by Dan Snyder, so it’s ok to visit now.)

3200 block of Volta Place

Would you like to live like the man who wrote James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Witches, and many more legendary books? Well, here’s your opportunity: the former Georgetown home of Roald Dahl is available for rent. As GM wrote about the home, 1610 34th St., in 2016:

Dahl lived for a short time in Georgetown (and supposedly painted the family jewels of the Dumbarton Bridge buffaloes white)…And that address is 1610 34th St.

Dahl was an ace fighter pilot for the British during World War II, operating mostly in Africa and the Middle East. While recovering from lingering health issues stemming from a crash, Dahl was appointed as an assistant air force attaché in Washington. And he lived at the above address. According to an article in the Post: “Dahl shared the two-story brick rowhouse on 34th Street with another attaché from the embassy. According to one biographer, the fledgling writer would work during the evenings after watering his tiny garden, pouring himself a whiskey and listening to music.”

Continue reading →

Photo by Joe Flood.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• THERE IS NOT A MOUNTAIN LION ROAMING GEORGETOWN! IT IS JUST A BIG HOUSE CAT NAMED COOKIE.
• Ben and Jerry’s to be replaced by Allbirds sneaker shop.

3000 block of R St.

One of the more popular community events around Georgetown are the summer concerts in the park in Volta and Rose Parks. Unfortunately they had to go on a bit of a hiatus this summer due to turnover from the dedicated group of volunteers behind them. But thankfully they are returning, first with a bonus late summer concert this weekend. Continue reading →