The Government Printing Office in Swampoodle

The reputation of DC's charmingly-named Swampoodle neighborhood was for its tough Irish street brawlers. Both the Irish toughs and their swampy ground are now gone, but one immense institution has remained there through it all, the Government Printing Office at H and North Capitol Streets, NW. The printing office—nicknamed "The Swamp" in its early days—has been one of Washington's most contradictory institutions. Once a grimy factory of hard-working laborers culled largely from the surrounding rough-and-tumble neighborhood, for 150 years it's also been an elite producer of elegant government documents, including extraordinary hand-bound volumes of the nation's most precious records.

GPO's 1903 building (postcard from the author's collection).

The 1903 GPO building today (photo by the author).

Last of K Street's Mansions Is Threatened

On the northeast corner of 11th and K Streets NW stands the last dilapidated vestiges of what K Street was once all about—large, elegant Victorian mansions that were the homes of the city's most powerful and influential citizens. For the last seven years, the mansion at 1017 K has been quietly crumbling behind the humiliating wrap of a massive fabric billboard. It's a mystery why the city allowed such an obnoxious misuse of the structure, but saner actions have been taken more recently. According to Washington City Paper's Lydia DePillis, after she contacted the DC Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs in March, the city raised the tax rate on the property in consideration of its blighted condition. Rather than undertaking repairs that would remove it from blighted status, owner Douglas Development Corporation recently filed for a raze permit. The building's interior is apparently in poor condition, having been neglected for many years, and some floors are reported to be partially collapsed. Reclaiming it won't be easy. Yet however much the structure has suffered, we owe it to ourselves to save this fine old mansion.

Photo by the author.

The Old Post Office, a stand-out on Pennsylvania Avenue

The Old Post Office building at 12th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW is easily recognized and admired these days, though it wasn't always so. The building was threatened with demolition in the early 1970s and spurred the creation of Don't Tear It Down, a group dedicated to preserving the city's historical heritage. After successfully pushing to save the Old Post Office, Don't Tear It Down, which eventually was renamed the D.C. Preservation League, went on to advocate for many other historical structures in the city and continues to be the city's leader in encouraging real estate development that doesn't needlessly destroy important historic structures.

Postcard view of the Old Post Office (Author's collection).

The Equitable Building: Progressive Banking (and Dancing) on F Street

The former home of the Equitable Co-operative Building Association at 915 F Street NW, completed in 1912, is a small but eminently distinguished bank building. One glance at the facade dominated by four great Ionic columns, and you know what type of business operated here. What's less obvious is that this was a uniquely progressive financial institution, meant to help the "little guy" save money, and it was founded by one of Washington's most prominent and civic-minded citizens, John Joy Edson (1846-1935). The unique building—designated as an historic landmark both for its exterior and main banking room—has survived years of neglect as a nightclub and is currently being rehabilitated for retail use by the Douglas Development Corporation. It will be the site of the D.C. Preservation League's 41st annual gala fundraiser on April 26, 2012, where attendees will have a unique opportunity to enjoy the beautiful former banking room inside.

The Equitable Building in 2010. Photo by the author.

A walk down Connecticut Avenue, circa 1907

This old postcard (click the image to enlarge it) shows a fashionable downtown street, fully built up with important institutions. The uncluttered, tree-lined sidewalks make for a pleasant Sunday morning stroll as the occasional streetcar or automobile rolls past. Now, some 100 years later, the street looks very different. Virtually all of the buildings have been replaced, and the grassy open space between the buildings and the sidewalk has been taken over by a much-widened street. The old-time elegance is a thing of the past.

The view is facing south along Connecticut Avenue from just below M Street. A street-level view from roughly the same location appears below.

Now let's take a look at each the buildings that line the left (east) side of the street in the original postcard view.