Then and Now: Park Place, NW

History

Then and Now: Park Place, NW

by Kent Boese • April 20, 2009 4:01 pm

Click on an image to enlarge.

Then (left): 3644-3654 Park Place & 608 Rock Creek Church Road, NW. Image from the Library of Congress National Photo Company Collection. On January 2, 1916, the Post published the following information on these homes:

Seven dwellings containing many novel features have been started by Kennedy Bros. Incorporated in the region around the Soldiers' Home grounds, which they have already improved with 200 homes out of a projected 300. The latest addition is probably the last that will be undertaken for some weeks or until warmer weather makes building operations more desireable.
Six of the houses will run from 3644 to 3454 (sic) Park place northwest and the other will stand at 608 Rock Creek Church road. On Park place, the two corner house will be semidetached, occupying lots with frontages of 46 and 42 feet, while the others will have a frontage of from 21 to 30 feet on lots 80 feet deep, allowing ample parking space in front.
The dwellings will be two stories ... of gray tapestry brick ... and with green slate roofs. They will contain six rooms. Underneath each will be a fireproof garage.

Now (right): 3664-3674 Park Place & 608 Rock Creek Church Road. The homes are largely intact. There are minor changes, such as the stone walls, no more shutters, and the porch balustrades have been replaced and changed. The back of 608 RCCR also no longer has its original sleeping porches or garage doors. One interesting change it that the homes on Park Place have been renumbered.

4 comments

Tags: DC, history, Park View

Then and Now: 3615 Warder (Apr 15, 2009)
Then and Now: Fort Totten (Apr 24, 2009)
Then and Now: New Hampshire and Rock Creek Church Rd. (Dec 11, 2010)
Then and Now: 519 and 521 Rock Creek Church Road (Jul 1, 2009)
Then and Now: Surratt Boarding House (May 8, 2009)

Kent Boese posts items of historic interest primarily within the District. He's worked in libraries since 1994, both federal and law, and currently works on K Street. He lives in the Park View neighborhood, and is the force behind the blog Washington Kaleidoscope.

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Also, "parking" meant something like a little park in your front yard. It didn't mean a place to store an automobile.

by Cavan on Apr 20, 2009 5:22 pm • link • report

Good reminder; I added a link to that word.

by David Alpert on Apr 20, 2009 5:33 pm • link • report

That the balustrades on some of the porch roofs still remain, even in altered form, amazes me. Mount Pleasant has many houses where you can see paint outlines of porch roof balustrades that have long since been removed.

by Gern on Apr 20, 2009 5:59 pm • link • report

Nice. I love these. Keep these posts up; it's one of my favorite lunchtime reads.

by JMS on Apr 21, 2009 12:45 pm • link • report