Your House in Bloomingdale Might Have Once Been the Site of a Huge Greenhouse

The "Glorious Square 519"

Surrounded by R Street, 3rd and 4th Streets, and Florida Avenue, NW

             Long before the house at 319 R Street NW (below) was built between 1902 and 1903 by Harry Wardman and designed by Nicholas R. Grimm, an older brick house occupied the exact same location. It was constructed before the requirement of a building permit, which was necessitated by the City of Washington beginning in February of 1877. Utilizing a combination of maps, tax assessments, geneology and deed research, however, it has been determined that the house had been built about 1850.  Located outside the city at the time, it had no address, but eventually became known as 317 R Street. 

            It was built and owned by George Glorious, as was the entire Square 519.  As one can see on the 1887 Hopkins Map, illustrated above, Glorious operated a large scale greenhouse where he grew flowers for resale.  Early listings for his business reveal that it was located at what was then known as 316 Boundary Street (Florida Avenue today), with retail locations at 1112 7^th Street, NW and at stall number 247 at the Center Market (right).  It was located where the National Archives building stands today on Constitution Avenue, NW.          

            According to the 1870 census, which was taken at 317 R Street, George had been born in Prussia (Germany) in November of 1821.  He moved to Washington, DC in 1846 and shortly thereafter, established his floral business.  His wife Mary had been born in Bavaria (Germany) in April of 1824.  Together, they had five children that included Mary (born 1852), Andrew (born 1854), George Jr. (born 1856), Barbara (born 181858), and Ignatius (born 1865).   Glorious indicated that his real estate was then valued at $70,000, a tremendous sum at the time.  His personal property was then valued at $500.  Both sons Andrew and George indicated that they worked in the family business as gardeners. 

            

             The Glorious business was included in an 1884 publication titled Historical and Commercial Sketches of Washington and Environs, seen at left.  Glorious had established the business about the same time he came to Washington, DC, about 1846 at the age of 24.  His specialty was roses, but apparently conveyed all varieties of cut flowers and plants.

            The 1880 census taken at 317 R Street revealed that all the children remained at the house that year, all unmarried, and most of whom worked for the family business.  Son George was married and had his own son named George by 1884.  Eleven years later, the Washington Post reported that the young boy had been seriously injured when he fell off an awning pole at the house on August 15, 1895. 

            The 1900 census taken at 317 R Street lists only George, Mary, and their daughter residing at the house.  However, the family stayed close by – daughter-in-law Elizabeth and her two children resided at 320 Florida Avenue, and son George resided with his wife Anna and their five children at 316 Florida Avenue, NW. 

            With the city rapidly developing and expanding, the George Glorious decided to sell Square 519 to developer Harry Wardman.  The sale was announced in the November 1, 1902 edition of the Evening Star newspaper who reported it as “Glorious Square.”  The sale price was $35,500.  Glorious, however, wisely negotiated Wardman building a house for himself on the location of his former home, now known as 319 R Street, NW, where the family remained for many years.  Other houses in the development were also built for members of the second generation of Glorious family members. 

      319 R Street, NW (right) is currently being renovated (2018). 

Copyright Paul K. Williams

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[1] Building permits in Washington were not required until 1872, and not archived until 1877.  Permit No. 1 was issued to Martin McMalty on February 17, 1877 for a $50 repair to his house on H Street on Capitol Hill.  The first house issued a building permit occurred on the same day, when Thomas Henry was awarded Permit No. 2 for his $15,000 house to be built at 916 6^th Street, NW.

The lost history of Square 163: Conn Ave and K Street, NW

Bounded by K Street to the south, L Street to the north, Connecticut Avenue to the east, and 18^th Street to the west.

Like many of its surrounding neighbors to the south and west, Square 163 no longer has any evidence of its past architectural history based upon the modern office buildings that line the blocks today.  However, it is slightly unique in that individuals kept building residences on the block well into the 1890s, and even into the twentieth century, when surrounding blocks were becoming increasingly commercial in nature, or built with large apartment buildings.  A large swatch of Connecticut Avenue was owned by the Casino Association in 1887, according to the Hopkins map above, which had plans that apparently never realized to construct a large entertainment complex on the site, likely due to the nationwide economic recession in 1893.      

 

An example of the late period in which large homes were built, however, is the brick and stone house for real estate Brainard H. Wardner (1847-1916) and his wife at 1741 K Street that was built in 1895 at an impressive cost of $25,000.  Brainard, right, and his Wardner Construction Company are responsible for thousands of homes and apartment building that still exist throughout Washington, DC.     

Another residence was built at 1739 K Street for owner Charles Rauscher in 1895 that was designed by architect James F. Denson and constructed at a cost of $20,000. Houses continued to be built on the Square as late as 1910, in fact, when the $27,000 residence of Lambert Tree completely renovated the Rauscher house at 1739 K Street for himself.  Lambert Tree (1832-1910, left) was born in Washington, DC, the son of a post office clerk. He began his education in private schools in the capital, attended the University of Virginia, then continued on to read law and was admitted to the bar in 1855. That same year, he left the East for Chicago, where he became a wealthy and influential figure as the junior partner in the Clarkson and Tree firm. For Tree, the capstone of his achievements came in July of 1885, when President Grover Cleveland appointed him Minister to Belgium.  He worked in Brussels for three years before being promoted to Minister to Russia in 1888, a position he occupied for only a month before the inauguration of Republican president Benjamin Harrison caused his resignation. Tree had one son, Arthur, who married a daughter of Marshall Field, who he later divorced for desertion.       

Commercial buildings did begin to be erected on the Square, however, by 1903, when Tree built a 77 by 142 foot brick store building at 1000 Connecticut Avenue at a cost of $27,000, designed by the Poindexter and Pelz architectural firm.    The Wardman Construction Company built two large apartment buildings on the Square in 1928: 1018 Connecticut Avenue that cost $1.7 million, and 1028 Connecticut Avenue that cost $1.2 million.  Both were designed by architect Joseph Baumer.  The Square also housed a gas stations at one time built at 1746 L Street in 1952. 

Looking west on K Street from Connecticut Avenue, NW

The photograph above shows K Street looking west from Connecticut Avenue in 1948.  Famous author Frances Hodges Burnett authored Little Lord Fauntleroy in 1886 while residing in the 1700 block of K Street.  The block as it appears today, bottom.    

Copyright Paul K. Williams

Metropolis View, South Brookland, and Edgewood Developer William O Denison

 Developer W.O. Denison, as he was known, was responsible for developing the Northeast Washington suburbs known as Metropolis View and South Brookland out of the Edgewood estate beginning in the 1880s.  He had been born on March 15, 1832 in Elmira, New York.  He graduated from Dundee Academy in Dundee, New York, and immediately established a printing business in that town.       

           

            He moved to Cleveland, Ohio for the opportunity of printing the city’s first city directory.  He then moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where he established and ran the Daily Courier newspaper until 1862, when he moved to Washington, DC.   

            Having been appointed a position at the Treasury Department, during the Civil War, Denison served in the Treasury Department Regiment, and participated in the attacks on Washington by General Breckinridge and General Early.  He continued to be employed by the Treasury until 1878, when he entered the real estate business in Washington. 

            Denison maintained a real estate and insurance office at 923 F Street, NW, and in 1891 briefly formed a partnership with James W. Sands known as Denison & Sands.  Like many in the real estate business at the time when Washington was rapidly expanding, he was the subject a several lawsuits and allegations of hiding profits from purchasers, sellers, and fellow real estate brokers.     

Denison had married twice, the first time on July 7, 1857 to Georgia Carr, the daughter of Judge Wyatt Carr of Cleveland, Ohio.  She died about 1899.  His second marriage was to his cousin, Miss Georgeana Booth Armstrong, the widow of Col. Armstrong and the daughter of Edwin Booth, at one time the editor and proprietor of the Columbia Times newspaper in Cincinnati, Ohio.  

In Washington, William and his first wife resided in 1890 at 2020 R Street, NW, but the following year, they moved into his own Metropolis View development in a house (left) at the corner of 7^th and Galena Place (now Girard) Street, NE (later 2900 7^th Street, NE).  It has since been razed.   

Development of Metropolis, South Brookland, and Edgewood

The area where 2815 6^th Street exists today is shown on the 1887 Hopkins Map, below, where one would extend 6^th Street to the upper right of the map, just above the Chase estate coined “Edgewood.”  An 1888 “Act to Regulate the Subdivision of Land Within the District of Columbia” mandated that newly plotted lots maintain the grid and alphabetic system found within the original boundaries of Washington, which then lay south of Florida Avenue.   

From Mansion to Apartment: the Saunders Mansion at Wyoming and Connecticut Avenues

The Saunders mansion at Wyoming and Connecticut Avenue

The Washington city landscape began to change dramatically after the turn of the twentieth century, as newly built apartment buildings began to replace mansions and estates situated on valuable urban property and large city lots.  One such example of this is the razing of the Saunders mansion in the late 1930s that had stood on the prominent northwest corner of Connecticut and Wyoming Avenues since its construction in 1890.  The site today is occupied by the art deco styled apartment building at 2100 Connecticut Avenue. 

      

 The Saunders mansion faced south onto Wyoming Avenue, with a large corner turret at the intersection of Connecticut Avenue.  It was built beginning in June of 1890 to the designs of architect Robert Stead for owner Lorin M. Saunders.  It cost an astonishing $12,000 to construct, and was built measuring 41 feet wide by 63 feet deep.  Its address was 2101 Wyoming Avenue. 

      

Lorin M. Saunders

Architect Robert Stead was first listed in the City Directory as a draftsman in 1876.  Stead was first listed as an architect in 1883 when he was hired by Susan Okie to design a townhouse at 1714 N Street, NW.  He also designed the house at 2026 Hillyer Place, NW in 1887.  He retired in 1923, and died in Philadelphia twenty years later at the age of 87.   

Owner Lorin Maxson Saunders made a fortune in his legal practice, real estate development, and in banking.  He had been born on November 2, 1840 in Leon, located in western New York’s Cattaraugus County.  His parents were William Saunders and the former Parmelia Marsh.  After teaching school for a short period, he was known to have left the rural enclave with a mere $30 in his pocket to seek fortune in Washington, DC, obtaining employment at the Treasury Department from 1864 to 1865.

Soon after, he obtained his law degree from the Columbian University (The George Washington University today), and retired from government service in 1870.  His personal fortune that year was estimated as $5,000 in the federal census.  In 1881, Saunders realized that great profits could be realized from real estate development in this city, and he opened a real estate company at the corner of 11^th and F Streets, NW (below).