The Georgetown Metropolitan

After two years of pandemic-driven closures, the spring traditions of Georgetown are returning this year. Check out the details below:

The Georgetown House Tour

First of the two grand dame tours, the Georgetown house tour will be held this year on April 22nd (it’s 90th year!) It is held every year to benefit St. John’s Episcopal church. As the title states, this tour gives you a chance to walk through 8-10 of Georgetown’s nicest homes. The patrons party is always the place to hobnob with the nobbiest hobs.

The Georgetown Garden Tour

Of the two tours, the Garden Tour is probably my favorite. Like the house tour, you get a chance to look behind the gates of 8 or so homes, but I just think there’s something more interesting about gardens than interiors. This year the Garden Tour will occur on May 13th. This year will feature a rare opportunity to tour Everymay’s grounds!

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Sad day: Legendary spot Booeymongers has permanently closed.
• GU drops vaccine mandate.

Yet another bank seems to have closed in Georgetown. Over the last couple days, it appears that BB&T Bank closed its location at Wisconsin and O St.

This would be the fifth bank location to close in Georgetown over the last several years. That list includes the full branches of Capital One (at Q and Wisc.), HSBC (at R and Wisc.), and M&T Bank (at O and Wisc.) and an ATM location for Chase Bank near the Key Bridge.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Emancipation Day event held at Mt. Zion Cemetery this Sunday.
• JFK and Jackie house on Dent for sale.

Dumbarton Oaks

This week for Georgetown Time Machine, I’m diving back into my collection of photos from 1993. And this one threw me for a loop for a bit. Would you have guessed that this is actually the foot of Wisconsin Ave?

It shows roughly 1015 Wisconsin Ave., which is the east side of the street. Nowadays it’s the Ritz Carlton complex. But back in the early 90s, it looked like a nondescript suburban office park. It even had off street parking in the front of the building. This looks like something off of Rockville Pike (right down to the Karate school and rental car shop).

You can see how this block fit in to the area in this 1963 aerial photo (north is to the right):

It’s the office block at the top center. Just below that (which is to say, to the east) sits the Georgetown incinerator, which was built in 1931 and later incorporated into the Ritz development. To the left you can see the Capital Traction Powerhouse.

Of course, another notable feature of the first picture above is how the sidewalks were just poured concrete. The brick sidewalks you see there now were added during the Georgetown Project early this century (whew, what a phrase to use…) They are not really historic and are a good example of how historical pastiches lacking authenticity can become embraced as the real thing given enough time. I’ve recently learned that actual historic sidewalks in Georgetown were more likely to be made of slate than brick…

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Nice shot from within the old Dean and Deluca showing how much work still needs to be done before Stephen Starr’s restaurant can open.
• Two perspectives on the Transformers saga.

I included this guide at the end of my monthly ANC newsletter on Monday. But since it was an awfully long post, like our ANC meetings themselves, a lot of people might not have reached the end! So here it is alone for you enjoyment!

As I mentioned in the newsletter, this is a guide I drew up to hand out to the group I escorted around for the CAG architectural tour a couple weeks ago. I hope it helps people begin to discern between the architectural styles that proliferate in Georgetown. Of course, I am far from a trained architect, but I’ve picked up plenty of useful bits of information over the years (particularly from Virginia McAlester’s Field Guide to American Homes) and I hope I’ve got it at least mostly right!

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Jack Evans seems to confirm that he’s contemplating running for office again.
• Georgetown Village moves into new digs.

As mentioned in my April newsletter, this Saturday the Friends of Volta Park will be hosting a Spring Cleanup of the park starting at 8:30 am. Please grab your rakes, shovels, gloves (or whatever you’ve got) and join us to beautify the park for the season.

Free coffee and bagels for all volunteers!! See you there!