The Georgetown Metropolitan

Some serious work is being done to two of the buildings that previously long housed cheap suit stores. 1357 and 1359 Wisconsin Ave. (the two storefronts north of Tugoo Toys) have been getting worked on for months. And while the facades remain, there’s basically nothing left behind them.

If you peak through the paper blocking the windows, you’ll see the scene above. Some of the structure remains, but not much.

This is actually a great sign. These buildings had been allowed to decay over the decades. Now that serious money is going into the effort to restore the buildings, they will hopefully be more attractive to more upscale shops than places that will sell you two suits for $75.

Of course, that was the plan for the Georgetown theater, and yet Robert Bell struggled to find a tenant to take the space. Last GM heard it was a Foot Locker spinoff, which is not exactly what most people had hoped for. Oh well, we’ll see.

Photo by John Weiss.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Sad story of when ten people drowned at a rowing regatta in 1904 along the Georgetown waterfront.
• GM expanded upon the Georgetown alley that was bought story here.
• New skin care shop, Take Care, now open at 1338 Wisconsin (the former Helia’s space).

3500 block of O St.

When you’re walking by N and Wisconsin, look up. A new mural has been painted on the building above Paolo’s. It’s a trompe l’oiel, which is French for “deceives the eye”. In other words, it’s a mural that’s meant to slightly trick you into thinking it’s real. In this case, it’s meant to fool you into thinking several windows line the west side of the house, which really is just a blank brick wall.

This is a new version of the mural that used to be on this wall, and which was definitely showing its age:

It’s a lovely addition to the neighborhood, and will hopefully bring a smile to passers-by for many years.

Photo by Beyond DC.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• The story behind the planned restoration of Julia Child’s Georgetown house.
• Interview with Virginia Burton, the woman behind Georgetown’s Burton Optician.

Georgetown Waterfront

GM walked back from dinner last night and passed this scene. It’s a car up on the sidewalk on the 3200 block of Q St.

From a secondhand report, GM heard that what occurred was that the driver of the silver car was rear-ended and then went to slam on the brakes, but hit the gas instead. Her destruction went halfway down the block. A young tree was totally knocked over. And two historic metal stoops were completely mangled. Continue reading →

Photo by Beyond DC.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Check out a huge collection of old Q&A Cafe interviews.
• The early reviews of the new Blue Bottle coffee shop.

C & O Canal

This week for Now and a Long Time Ago, GM again returns to the marvelous Wymer’s Map collection. In particular, GM is showing what the row of buildings at the foot of Wisconsin Ave. used to look like.

It’s not so different from how it looks today, honestly. The first three of the four buildings show are still around. The center one is called the Dodge Warehouse, but all three are fantastic examples of the commerce-oriented architecture that once dominated lower Georgetown.

The three buildings were built in the late 18th century and are genuine federal style buildings (unlike all the Victorian style homes in Georgetown that real estate agents call federal). The Dodge Warehouse was owned by various Dodge family members throughout the 19th century. Francis Dodge originally bought it (along with his brother Allen) in 1807 for $3,000 (which is supposedly about $56,000 in today’s dollars, but that’s probably not a terribly reliable calculation). Continue reading →