On the corner of 9th and R Streets, an imposing Victorian-inspired condominium building has arisen where another imposing Victorian once stood (I took a picture of it this morning on my camera phone but it's apparently too large to download sadly). The old building was an area landmark until its demolition in 2002. At that time, despite a movement to save and restore the building, falling bricks and concerns over the buildings collapse prompted the city to issue a raze order. The previous building was once the home of the Louis Thomas Caberet and the site of Duke Ellington's early professional gigs. Read more about the former building and its significance to the Shaw neighborhood here.
I recently noticed a stone tablet on the new building’s front right corner reading “Arlington Terrace.” Upon doing some internet digging, I found that this moniker for the 900 block of R Street adorned a white stone tablet on the old building also.
4 comments:
Your link no workie-workie por me.
Huh--that's weird; it works for me!
Here's the web address:
http://www.victoriansecrets.net/901obit.html
My musical idol, Billy Holiday, stayed and played "after hours" here, when Blacks were excluded from staying in white establishments. I stood and watched the hour-long demolition of this building. A chimney was structurally weak, so DCRA issued a demolition permit and the owner quickly availed himself of tearing the place down while Historic Preservation (HPRB) dilly-dallied for months harassing the owner about everything conceivable. Bunch of worthless bastards. All of three of them. I do not call this place a historic slum in jest.
and what happened to all those beautiful bricks? :-X
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