The Georgetown Metropolitan

Photo by Tim.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Hoyas get ironic.
• Little bit of Havana on Dumbarton.

3200 block of M St.

Today on Now and a Long Time Ago, GM uses his Photoshop skilz to show you approximately where the Key Mansion once stood. It’s there in the middle of Francis Scott Key Park, across from the Car Barn.

The Key Mansion is where Francis Scott Key lived when he lived in Georgetown. Typical of Streets of Washington, the blog has the definitive article on the building here. Here’s a short clip:

The house, seen in this postcard from about 1909, was originally built by a merchant named Thomas Clark in 1795, long before any bridges or the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal disrupted the local landscape. In those days, terraced gardens sloped down gracefully behind the house to the Potomac River. Francis Scott Key leased the house in late 1805 and was residing there in 1814, when he went on his mission of mercy to Baltimore to secure the release of Dr. William Beanes from the British. While detained on a British ship in Baltimore Harbor during the siege of Fort McHenry, he penned what would become our national anthem.

Key moved out of the house around 1830 partially because the C & O Canal was built in his backyard. The house sat there for about 75 years before a group of preservationists turned the house into a museum. The banners and signs they put up can be seen in this merged photo (click the photo for a larger image). Continue reading →

Photo by purplebean18.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Despite the frequent police presence, the P St. 7-11 was robbed.
• A couple Georgetown homes were among the top ten most expensive sales in 2014.

Waterfront

GM got a tip the other day about a controversy brewing on Dumbarton St. The lovely house you see above is at 3107 Dumbarton. It once housed John Foster Dulles. Although the reason it’s being discussed is not its history but rather its architecture.

According to the local ANC rep, this house has been the subject to repeated stop work orders for unauthorized and unpermitted work. Continue reading →

Photo by Marcus Fields.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Chez Billy Sud among the most notable openings of 2014 in DC.
• Speaking of tasty food, Bluebird Bakery will pop-up at the After Peacock room.

Georgetown Waterfront Park

For no particular reason at all, GM was wondering the other day: where is the center of Georgetown? The “spiritual” center may be M and Wisconsin (which is a problem). But where is the actual geographic center?

Turns out this is a more complicated question than GM anticipated. There’s no textbook definition of geographic center. There are a variety of methods, each one resulting in a slightly different result. GM chose two of the simpler methods and applied them to Georgetown:

The first method is to simply draw the smallest box around the exterior points of the area and find the center of the box. Using the official boundaries of Georgetown, GM did so. The result centers on the northwest corner of Hyde-Addison, essentially where the gazebo is. Continue reading →

Photo by Mrs. Gemstone.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• More info on that P St. inn.
• Cooke’s Row manse sold to a billionaire, apparently.