Posts about LeDroit Park

Located at 455 Florida Avenue NW, Harrison's served everything from 20¢ hamburgers to lobster meals. The restaurant was popular among Howard University professors, musicians performing at the Howard Theatre three blocks away, and among LeDroit Park residents who were excluded from the tony restaurants downtown.

Robert Hilliard Harrison, the proprietor, first opened a candy store down the block at 467 Florida Avenue NW and in 1920 opened the cafe a few doors down at 455.

Attached to the cafe, Mr. Harrison also owned the Golden Room, which hosted banquets and private events. Above the cafe, Harrison's served liquor privately after the city's midnight liquor curfew.

After World War II, LeDroit Park, like other close-in urban neighborhoods suffered from disinvestment and decline. Mr. Harrison died in 1957 and the restaurant closed in 1962 after a 42-year run.

The undated photo above is from the Smithsonian's Scurlock photo archive. Addison Scurlock (1883-1964) was a prolific Washington photographer whose studio stood at the corner of 9th & U Streets NW from 1911 to 1976. During his lifetime, Mr. Scurlock's studio photographed mundane portraits and scenes in Washington, but also photographed famous people such as Frederick Douglass, Marian Anderson at the Lincoln Memorial, and Martin Luther King and FDR at Howard University.

Following the closure of the studio, the Smithsonian purchased its extensive collection of negatives. The Scurlock archive is a fascinating photographic chronicle of black Washington spanning from the Jazz Age to the 1968 riots.

Cross-posted at Left for LeDroit.

Further reading

• Fitzpatrick, Sandra. The Guide to Black Washington.
• Ruble, Blair A. Washington's U Street: A Biography.

Though Community Three will need the approval of the city's Historic Preservation Review Board for the overall project, they are not seek zoning variances.

The proposal calls for 14,000 gross square feet of space and features 14 residential units and four garage spaces— a mixture permitted by zoning. One of the units would be set aside for affordable housing.

Here are some drawings and diagrams from the concept. Note that the developer proposes to add a new rowhouse on the south side of the property (middle of the first drawing below). Some residents have expressed concern that the proposed rowhouse is too tall. The developer states that the added height was the idea of the Historic Preservation Office (HPO), since end-unit rowhouses were traditionally built to be bigger and more prominent than the intervening units.

In the next drawing, the concept preserves the historic carriage house (on the right) and connects it with the main house with a new structure (middle) with a hipped roof that mimics the former and dormers that mimic the latter. Some residents also expressed concern that providing only four on-site parking spaces for 14 units would overwhelm the adjacent streets with additional parked cars. The developer said he proposed five spaces, but HPO suggested four, so as not to overwhelm the site. One ANC commissioner asked the developer what, other than providing less parking, would the developer do to discourage car ownership. The developer had no other plans, but said he would consider bike parking and car sharing.

With the new connecting building and rowhouse, the project will increase the building footprint on the lot.

The developer clearly put a lot of thought into the proposal and it will be interesting to see in the coming weeks what modifications will be made to the plan in light of community input and further HPO staff opinion. Some residents are surprised by the number of proposed units, while others want to see construction start tomorrow.

Renovating LeDroit Park's unique historic homes (unique to Washington, in fact) is nothing new. A few years ago a developer renovated another historic LeDroit property, the Italianate-styled Juniper, and many consider that renovation an exquisite achievement.

This has several advantages:

• It's more intuitive. Rather than zig-zagging from Rhode Island Avenue to Florida Avenue to U Street then to 14th Street, then to K Street, the proposed route would simply follow Rhode Island Avenue all the way downtown. In fact, the route would become synonymous with the avenue, which is well known in the city and P.G. County as one of the main arteries. Riders familiar with the city but unfamiliar with the map will know exactly where the line goes.
  
• It avoids congestion on Florida Avenue. The 400, 500, and 600 blocks of Florida Avenue NW, on the edge of LeDroit Park, are frequently congested even during non-rush hour periods. Avoiding this section of road will reduce delays on the line.
  
• It's more direct. DDOT's route would take inbound passengers southwest along Rhode Island Avenue, and then northwest at Florida Avenue. This alignment cuts the distance from LeDroit Park to Washington Circle by 29% (2.0 miles versus 2.8 miles).
  
• It's more central to Shaw. The proposed route passes closer to the center of the Shaw neighborhood and passes by the Metrorail station entrance at 7th Street and R Street on Rhode Island Avenue. DDOT's alignment passes on the edge of Shaw and two blocks from the Metrorail entrance.
  
• It provides more redundancy downtown. In the event of a closure of the K Street Transitway (for an accident, vehicle breakdown, street protest, etc.) anywhere from Washington Circle to 14th Street, the proposed route provides a parallel set of tracks just a few blocks away allowing a quick diversion around the trouble spot.

This proposal will not reduce coverage at all, since the eliminated part of the route is already covered by at least one other proposed line.

Cross-posted at Left for LeDroit.