Posts by John DeFerrari — Guest Contributor
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A great afternoon newspaper and its great building
It was a sad day in Washington in August 1981, when The Washington Star ceased publication after more than 128 years of service. The Star‘s tenure had stretched back before the Civil War, an amazing run that witnessed the historic sweep of the city’s development from small town to sophisticated metropolis. “The Rock of Gibraltar in Washington journalism… Keep reading…
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Can the Ontario Theatre be saved?
The Ontario Theatre at 17th Street and Columbia Road NW has been neglected, abused even, for many years, and it hasn’t functioned as a movie theater in more than two decades. Although it takes some imagination to see what its possibilities are, one thing is certain: the theater has a long cultural legacy that will be lost if the building is demolished. As I recently detailed… Keep reading…
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Dumbarton House, a Georgetown gem
The Heights of Georgetown, along Q Street and above, are filled with the elegant homes of well-to-do Washingtonians. Most are still in private hands, but several beautiful public museums stand out. Dumbarton Oaks, owned by Harvard University and famous for its gardens and art collections, is a sprawling research and museum complex with a Federal-style house embedded in its… Keep reading…
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Sherman Building at Soldiers’ Home damaged in earthquake
The Armed Forces Retirement Home, known for many years as the Soldiers’ Home, is tucked away on a beautiful campus near North Capitol Street in upper northwest Washington. This past week’s earthquake did substantial damage—millions of dollars worth—to one of the most distinctive and iconic buildings on the entire campus, Scott Hall (now known as… Keep reading…
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Lost Washington: Hammel’s Restaurant
Restaurants come and go by the dozens in Washington. Only a few survive through the years as bona fide local institutions. One that did was Hammel’s, a German restaurant that stood for decades on 10th Street downtown, across from where the FBI Building now menacingly looms. It was hidden within a drab, not-particularly-inviting storefront, but perhaps the nondescript… Keep reading…
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Lost Washington: Mary Foote Henderson’s Boundary Castle
The Gilded Age, from the 1870s until the 1910s, was a unique period in Washington’s history. The city attracted many nouveaux riches who were drawn by the fact that upper-class Washington society in those days was wide open to anyone with lots of money, a circumstance not found in other major Eastern cities. Of all the wealthy people who moved to Washington to exert power… Keep reading…
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Lost Washington: King’s Palace on 7th Street in Chinatown
One of the most elegant storefronts in Chinatown is the broad and richly ornamented terra cotta façade of the R.F.D. Washington restaurant at 810 7th Street NW. This building was once the pride and joy of Henry King, Jr. (1834-1897), one of Washington’s most prominent retailers in the late 19th century. Henry King was born in the spa town of Baden-Baden in western Germany. Keep reading…
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Victor Evans and the Victor Building downtown
Victor Justice Evans (1865-1931) was one of those wonderful self-made men of the last century who put his nose to the grindstone as a young man, made tons of money, and then fulfilled the American dream by happily indulging his many and diverse eccentricities. While largely forgotten now, Evans left one enduring landmark in downtown Washington: the Victor Building at 9th Street… Keep reading…
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Lost Washington: The Grace Dodge Hotel
Magnificent Union Station, opened in 1907, was designed as a ceremonial gateway to Washington, welcoming visitors from far and wide. In the decades after it was built, countless thousands of newcomers got off their trains and wandered out on to the plaza in front of the station in search of a place to stay. Of the many hotels that were built in the immediate vicinity to accommodate… Keep reading…
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Chinatown’s Friendship Archway
Much of DC’s Chinatown is about symbols. The neighborhood is small and fragile, seemingly forever on the brink of extinction. Its identity hinges on a smattering of things Chinese: the restaurants (of course), the red and green lampposts, the Chinese characters on street signs. But without a doubt the most striking and enduring symbol of all is the great Friendship Archway,… Keep reading…