This report was prepared by Carolyn Long, Armesleigh Park resident since 1987.

This year we celebrate the one-hundredth anniversary of Armesleigh Park. The first houses in this early twentieth-century suburb were built and offered for sale by Harry A. Kite in 1919, coinciding with the opening of the Connecticut and Wisconsin Avenue streetcar lines, the homecoming of World War I soldiers, and the end of the Spanish influenza pandemic. By 1925 Armesleigh Park encompassed the 3800 blocks of Albemarle Street, Alton Place, Yuma Street, part of Windom Place and Warren Street, and the 4300, 4400, and 4500 blocks of 38th and 39th streets between Albemarle and Warren. There were also five houses in the 3900 block of Alton Place, two in the 3900 block of Yuma Street, and two in the 3900 block of Windom Place.

I have researched and written this report for the Tenleytown Historical Society (tenleytownhistoricalsociety.org), the Tenleytown Neighbors Association, and for the residents of Armesleigh Park. It is based in part on the 2003 “Tenleytown Historic Resources Survey” prepared by Paul Kelsey Williams for the Tenleytown Historical Society, and on preliminary work on Armesleigh Park that I did in 2004. In 2019 I accessed property sales from the Recorder of Deeds Office, now at the DC Archives, and Tax Assessment records on microfilm at the Washingtoniana Division of the DC Public Library. Fortunately, a lot of other information is now available online. I searched for local newspaper articles though GenealogyBank and ProQuest, found and copied Surveyors maps through SurDocs, the website for the Office of the Surveyor of Land Records Management System, and was able to download larger area maps through the DC Public Library, the Historical Society of Washington, and the Library of Congress. With the exception of photographs of interior details contributed by Armesleigh Park homeowners, all exterior and interior photographs of Armesleigh Park houses were taken by me between March and December 2019. Photographs of neighborhood parties are used with permission from the individuals depicted.

This report was printed by the Tenleytown UPS Store at 4200 Wisconsin Avenue; thanks to franchise owner Rich Habel for his assistance. The cost of printing was funded by a grant from ANC 3E and by donations from Tenleytown Neighbors Association and Tenleytown Historical Society.

© 2020 by Carolyn Morrow Long

1

SECTION 1 1890-1916

HOW THE LAND THAT BECAME ARMESLEIGH PARK PASSED FROM THE ESTATE OF ARIANNA LYLES TO HARRY ARTHUR KITE

2

ALBEMARLE

ALTON

YUMA

WINDOM

WARREN

This diagram is from “Builders in Greater Tenleytown, Tenleytown Development, Northwest DC,” part of “Tenleytown Development, Washington DC,” prepared by the District of Columbia Office of Planning. Dark blue indicates houses built by Harry Kite in Armesleigh Park (arranged from north to south) on Albemarle, Alton Place, Yuma, Windom Place, Warren, 38th and 39th. (https://planning.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/op/publication/attachments/Tenleytown_Hi story%20in%20Maps%20opt.pdf.)

3

THE REST—THE LOVE-LYLES-MAGRUGER PROPERTY

The history of Armesleigh Park goes back to the eighteenth century, when what became Tenleytown was situated on part of the 3,124-acre “Friendship” tract granted by Charles Calvert, Lord Baltimore, to James Stoddert and Thomas Addison in 1713. A portion of Friendship eventually passed to Charles Jones of Clean Drinking Manor in Montgomery County, Maryland, and around 1800 Jones gave one hundred acres to his widowed sister Sarah Love. This became the Love-Lyles-Magruder estate. Sarah Love’s original brick residence known as “The Rest” still stands at 4343 39th Street at the corner of Windom Place. In 1835 this house, constructed in the earliest years of the 1800s, passed to Sarah Jones’ niece Arianna Jones Bruce, widow of Dennis Lyles. Mrs. Lyles ran it as a farm and orchard using enslaved labor.1 Subsequent deeds of sale make reference to the Lyles estate being “distinguished as part of a tract of land called Friendship.”

This view of The Rest facing 39th Street is actually the side of the house. The large mill stone, now used as a planter, came from Charles Jones’ “Clean Drinking Manor.” There is still a Jones Mill Road in the Maryland suburbs. Photo by Carolyn Long 2012.

This view of The Rest facing Windom Place is actually the front of the house. It was originally a simple rectangular brick Georgian colonial. The porch and tower were added in the 1890s. Photo by Carolyn Long 2012.

4

The Hopkins District of Columbia Real Property Atlas for 1887 shows a large pink area bounded on the west by the Georgetown and Rockville Road (now Wisconsin Avenue), on the north by Grant Road, on the east by the lands of various owners, and on the south by Pierce’s Mill Road. Note the small black square—The Rest—connected by a roadway to the Georgetown and Rockville Road. The area is marked “Mrs. A. J. Lyles,” referring to Arianna Jones (Bruce) Lyles.

On November 23, 1885, five years before the Armesleigh Park subdivision was first conceived, Arianna Lyles sold a portion of her land bordering on Grant Road to Joseph Michael Curran and his wife Mary Louise Divine Curran for $100.2 A building permit for their large frame dwelling was issued on April 13, 1891. This 1959 photograph from Judith Beck Helm’s Tenleytown DC: Country Village into City Neighborhood (p. 246) shows the Curran House at 4419 39th Street before the roofline was changed and the front porch was removed.

The Currans had twelve children born between 1873 and 1899. Their oldest son Robert became the “huntsman” and “master of hounds” for the Chevy Chase Hunt Club.3 When Albemarle Street was cut through in 1897, the Currans sold some of their Grant Road property to the District of 5

Columbia for $4,000 and were later awarded an additional $2,170 for 2,258 square feet taken by eminent domain.4 Joseph Curran continued to live in the family home at 39th Street corner of Alton Place until his death in 1936, and some of his adult children lived there through the 1960s. The imposing house still stands on this corner.5

Arianna Lyles died at The Rest on March 4, 1888, in her ninety-first year. She had already made her will on September 14, 1886, leaving her property to her granddaughters Arianna Elizabeth Marshall (Ward) and Eleanor Ann Helen Marshall (Magruder). Arianna (born 1848) and Eleanor (born 1852) were the children of Mrs. Lyles’ only daughter Sallie with her husband Thomas Marshall. Sallie Lyles Marshall died in 1855, when Arianna was seven and Eleanor was three. Thomas Marshall immediately remarried, and the two little girls went to live with their new family in Virginia. By the time of the 1880 census Arianna and Eleanor had come home to live with their grandmother at The Rest. Arianna Lyles’ disposed of her Tenleytown estate as follows: “I Arianna J. Lyles do…give and bequeath to Arianna E. Ward and Eleanor Ann Magruder all my property real and personal in the District of Columbia…. I also will that the furniture of this my house be equally divided between the two sisters my granddaughters and I appoint them both executors of this my last will and testament.”6 A June 1888 plat from the Library of Congress Division of Geography and Maps (G3852.T4G46 1888 .L3) documents the subdivision of the Lyles estate into two lots bounded on the west by the Tennallytown to Georgetown Road, on the north by Grant Road, on the east by various property owners, and on the south by Pierce’s Mill Road. Pierce’s Mill Road disappeared when Van Ness and Upton streets were cut through. The inscription by surveyor William J. Salsman described “a tract of land known as ‘The Rest’ containing seventy-one and 17/100 acres” and went on to give the dimensions of the two portions. Arianna Ward kept the lower part containing forty and 13/100 acres, and Eleanor Magruder kept the upper part containing thirty-one and 4/100 acres. A small square on the map indicates the family home. The sisters formalized this arrangement by a deed dated July 1, 1889.7

On December 27, 1889, Arianna Ward sold her share of the land to Austin Herr for $47,500.8 Austin Herr was listed in the DC city directory as a partner in “Austin Herr and James W. Walsh, bankers and brokers, Sun Building, 1315 F Street.” Herr had no interest in developing the property, 6 and on September 30, 1891, he sold it to Charles C. Glover and Thomas E. Hyde, both of whom were real estate investors and officers of the Riggs Bank. An article in the Sunday Herald and Weekly National Intelligencer, titled “An Important Deal,” described the sale to Glover and Hyde and commented that “This purchase is but another of Mr. Glover’s shrewd transactions in real estate.... Land in this neighborhood is rapidly developing and prices should advance there…. It is high and picturesque and affords excellent opportunities for suburban homes.”9 The land that Austin Herr sold to Glover and Hyde now comprises the area bounded by 39th Street/Wisconsin Avenue, Warren Street, 38th Street, and Upton Street (squares 1832, 1831, 1830, and 1829). In 1923 developers William S. Phillips and W.L. King laid out streets and lots and began to build and sell “semi-detached brick and hollow tile houses in North Cleveland Park for $13,500 to $15,250.”10

GEORGE AUGUSTUS ARMES

Photographs of George Armes from Wikipedia

Eleanor Magruder’s portion of the Lyles estate became Armesleigh Park. It has been generally accepted that the plan for Armesleigh Park was conceived in the late nineteenth century by Civil War Union Army Major George Augustus Armes, who bought the tract of woods and farmland from the heirs of Arianna Lyles. In Tenleytown, D.C.: Country Village into City Neighborhood, the respected local historian Judith Beck Helm wrote that in 1890 Major Armes “acquired many acres south of Grant Road and east of the Rockville Pike…laid out public streets at his own expense, and named it Armesleigh Park…. But it was not until 1918, after the death of George Armes, that builders Harry and Sam Kite were able to develop Armesleigh Park.... After 1922 the Kites acquired a little more land and built houses on Windom Place and 38th Street.”11

7

The actual sequence of ownership from Arianna Lyles to her granddaughter Eleanor Magruder to George Armes to Harry Kite is much more complex, involving a confounding progression of trustees, bankers, real estate brokers, and investors. Although Armes gave the subdivision his name, he only owned it from 1890 to 1892, after which it passed through many other hands. Harry Kite acquired the entire parcel in 1916, and Armes did not die until 1919. George Armes had the reputation around Washington as an eccentric character and notorious trouble-maker. He owned a large house called “Fairfield” on a twelve-acre lot at what is now Ellicott Street and Connecticut Avenue, which he shared with his wife Lucy and their nine children. From 1894 to 1897 Armes and his wife were involved in an acrimonious divorce suit in which she accused him of cruelty, stating that he had “a furious and ungovernable temper.”12 On March 28, 1889, while attending a function at the Riggs House Hotel following the inauguration of President Harrison, Armes got into a fracas with retired general and Pennsylvania governor James Addams Beaver. Armes attempted to pull Beaver’s nose, and Beaver, who had lost a leg in the war, swung at him with his crutch. Armes was escorted out of the hotel by security, court-martialed for “conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman,” and dismissed from the Army. After his divorce from his wife, Armes enlarged Fairfield and rented it to a succession of individuals to operate as a boarding house or hotel. He squabbled with all of them. One landlady complained that Armes “constantly trespassed upon the premises and acted in a loud and boisterous manner, greatly injuring her business and harassing the lodgers to such an extent as to cause them to leave the house.” A later manager actually shot and wounded Armes over a disagreement.13 In 1900 Armes became romantically involved with a Miss Ella M. Platt, who brought a $50,000 suit against him for “breach of a promise of marriage.”14 George Armes was also a real estate wheeler-dealer. In 1890 he became affiliated with the Chevy Chase Land Company, Francis G. Newlands, and the so-called “California Syndicate.” A March 1, 1890, article in the Washington Evening Star titled “The Big Real Estate Deal,” explained that “The extended real estate purchases [958 acres of land] along the line of Connecticut Avenue extended, which have been made through real estate broker Maj. George A. Armes for the California Syndicate, represent an expenditure of over a million and a half dollars. This immense deal is now being consummated as rapidly as the titles can be searched and the deeds made out.” Newland’s goal was the development of the “high-class subdivision” of Chevy Chase. Inspired by Francis Newlands’ Chevy Chase project, George Armes cast his eyes on the land that Eleanor A.H. Magruder had inherited from her grandmother Arianna Lyles. On May 12, 1890, Mrs. Magruder and her husband George C.W. Magruder sold her property to George Armes for $70,000. They never dealt directly with Armes, but sold through a deed of trust to Charles H. Burgess and Henry W. Turpin. The trustees acted as middlemen who then interacted with George Armes’ trustees Joseph W. Davis, Arthur A. Birney, and Joseph J. Waters. The agreement was for “part of a tract of land called Friendship…excepting only a certain part…containing [a little over] one acre with dwelling house” reserved by Eleanor Magruder for her family’s use. George Armes was granted permission to “subdivide the land into lots and squares and lay out streets, avenues, and ways therein…provided only the amount of ground in the excepted portion is not diminished or the dwelling house thereon injured.15 This left about thirty acres that would eventually become Armesleigh Park. Armes was to pay $10,000 to Eleanor Magruder on the date of the sale and make 8 yearly payments of $10,000 for the next six years. If Armes defaulted, the trustees could sell the land at auction, protecting the Magruders from financial loss. On March 14, 1891, a plat for Armesleigh Park was created by the surveyors Fava, Naeff, and Company. The document is preserved in the Office of the Surveyor for the District of Columbia, County Book 7, page 147.16 The street names going from south to north were Xenia, Austin Place, Yuma, and Lyles Place (for Arianna Lyles). Albemarle Street had not yet been cut through.

The subdivision was originally divided into “blocks” numbered 3-15 (there were no blocks 8 and 9), with numbered building lots, and these block and lot numbers are referred to in subsequent transactions. In the twentieth century the block numbers were replaced by “squares” with differently numbered lots. Note that the land just below the Armesleigh Park boundary belonged to Austin Herr and, as was agreed in the May 12, 1890 deed of sale, block 6 was “reserved by Mrs. Magruder.” On the page adjoining the plat was a statement “reserving without prejudice to the full right of use the 34 feet between the west front line of the…subdivision and the Tennallytown Road [Wisconsin Avenue] until such time as there shall be an actual widening of said road,” and further stating that “We hereby subdivide part of a tract of land called Friendship in the District of Columbia into lots, squares, and streets as shown herein to be known as Armesleigh Park.” The document was signed by George A. Armes and his trustee Joseph J. Waters, by Eleanor A.H. Magruder and her husband George W. Magruder, and by the Magruders’ attorney William Payne. 9

The name Armesleigh Park first appeared on the Hopkins Map of the District of Columbia from Official Records and Actual Surveys for 1891 (Library of Congress Geography and Maps Division), still bearing the street names Xenia, Austin, Yuma, and Lyles. Albemarle had still not been cut through. (In 1905 the streets were changed to Warren, Windom Place, Yuma, and Alton Place in conformity with Washington’s alphabetical street-naming plan.) Note the short street labeled “Armes Place,” site of George Armes’ Fairfield House. Also note the proximity of the tract owned by the Chevy Chase Land Company and, above Tennallytown, the area labeled “Reno.” This was the predominantly working-class, African American community that was so vigorously objected to—and ultimately obliterated--by the developers of nearby white suburbs.17

10

The 1894 Baist Real Estate Atlas, volume 3, plate 17, shows block 6 labeled “Mrs. Magruder,” with The Rest situated near 39th Street. The adjacent area to the south is designated as belonging to Glover and Hyde.

George Armes never intended to create a neighborhood of related houses in Armesleigh Park. His objective was to make a large profit from the sale of individual lots in his subdivision. During all of 1891 Armes was aggressively advertising in the Sunday Herald and Weekly National Intelligencer :

“Maj. Geo. A. Armes, 1405 F Street is now offering his lots in Armesleigh Park at great bargains. The location for suburban residence cannot be surpassed. In short distance of two electric railroads. Special terms to those who will build immediately.”

“Mr. Geo. A. Armes of 1405 F Street has only a few of those beautiful lots left in Armesleigh Park at 25 and 50 cents a foot, and will soon double his prices if he concludes to sell them, it having been established they are in one of the best locations for suburban residences around the city, on account of the conveniences of electric railroads, beautiful scenery, and a select neighborhood. Lots will be sold only to parties well known.”

11

“Real Estate Dealers—Armesleigh Park—Major Geo. A. Armes of 1405 F Street will, for the next few days sell a limited number of lots in this beautiful subdivision for $800, one-third cash, balance to suit.”18

Despite the hyperbole about the desirability of Armesleigh Park as a residential location, Armes made no sales. The Georgetown & Tennallytown streetcar line had opened in 1890, but the streets of his subdivision had not been graded and amenities such as electricity, water, gas, and sewer had not yet been provided by the city.19 The Washington Post announced on May 21, 1891, that Armes had sold two entire blocks abutting the Tennallytown Road to the previously mentioned real estate investor Charles Glover: block 5 (now square 1780) and block 12 (now square 1789).20 Armes keenly desired to divest himself of the rest of this property for which he was still obligated to make four more yearly payments of $10,000 each to Eleanor and George Magruder through their trustees Burgess and Turpin.

BENJAMIN HEAD WARDER

On May 19, 1892, George Armes sold the rest of Armesleigh Park to Benjamin H. Warder for $11,000 plus assumption of the $40,000 debt he still owed to the Magruders. This sale did not include block 6 (square 1834), which still belonged to Eleanor Magruder, or blocks 5 and 12, which Armes had recently sold to Charles Glover. The 1899-1900 tax assessment record for Washington County shows Warder owning squares 1778, 1784, 1833, 1835, 1836, 1889, 1890, and 1891 in Armesleigh Park.21 Benjamin H. Warder could not have been more different from the volatile and bombastic George Armes. In 1886 Warder came to Washington from Springfield, Ohio, where he owned a company that manufactured agricultural machinery—it later became International Harvester. In Washington he invested in real estate and was known as a respected businessman and philanthropist who was devoted to his wife and daughters and to a hospital and orphanage sponsored by St. John’s Episcopal Church. He was a member of the executive committee of the American Security and Trust Company. Benjamin Warder made his will on February 19, 1893. He provided handsomely for his wife, children, nieces, and his favorite charities, and bequeathed the rest of his estate--including his real estate holdings--to the American Security and Trust Company for the future support of his heirs. The “entire net income” from his property was to be “paid over to his wife during her lifetime, and after her death to his surviving children…. The American Security and Trust Company is appointed executor of the will.” Warder died January 12, 1894, while on a trip to Egypt with his family. His remains were returned to Washington by steamship for his funeral at St. John’s Church.22 The American Security and Trust Company diligently carried out Benjamin Warder’s wishes, holding his real estate investments until such time as their sale was required to benefit his heirs. On October 1, 1916, American Security, “Trustee under the last will and testament of Benjamin H. Warder,” sold three parcels of land-- “Alliance,” “Reservation,” and “George A. Armes subdivision Armesleigh Park”-- to Luther A. Swartzell for $110,000.23 Swartzell, according to the 1915 city directory, was affiliated with the real estate and investment firm of Swartzell, Rheem, and Hensey, where he was in charge of real estate, loans, and insurance. 12

On November 29, 1916, Luther Swartzell sold the Armesleigh Park subdivision to Harry Kite. The sale was for the same blocks conveyed to Benjamin Warder by George Armes in 1892. It did not include block 6, most of which, as we will see below, was sold to Kite by the Magruder heirs. On December 1, 1916, Swartzell also conveyed to Kite the “strip of land thirty-four feet wide between the westerly line of…Armesleigh Park…and the easterly line of Wisconsin Avenue” as stated in the original 1890 agreement between Armes and the Magruders. 24

Eleanor Magruder had been deceased for ten years when Harry Kite acquired most of Armesleigh Park; she died at age fifty-four on August 11, 1906. On April 19, four months before her death, Mrs. Magruder made her will: “I give to American Security and Trust Company...my real estate consisting of the original block 6 in the sub-division known as ‘Armesleigh Park’...bounded on the west by 39th Street, on the east by 38th Street, on the north by Yuma Street, and on the south by Austin Place [now Windom]...for the use...of my children, Nannie [Eleanor, age 28], Bruce [age 24], Marshall [age 21], and Lyles Magruder [age15], to be...retained in trust until such time as the youngest of my living children shall attain the age of twenty-one.” Nannie was to receive the part of the property fronting on 39th Street, including The Rest, and the three sons were to have the remaining part extending back to 38th Street. Mrs. Magruder expressed the hope that her children would live together at The Rest “until by reason of marriage or otherwise they shall deem it necessary to live apart from each other.”25 By September 14, 1911, Lyles, the youngest child, had turned twenty-one, and following the directives of Eleanor Magruder’s will, American Security and Trust turned over to Bruce, Marshall, and Lyles Magruder “all of block 6 in Armesleigh Park…except the west two hundred feet thereof…to be conveyed to the daughter of the testatrix [Nannie].”26 The three Magruder sons began a series of transfers that held the land in trust until they could determine how best to use it.27 The family had scattered within a few years after Eleanor Magruder’s death. Her husband George moved to Oklahoma, where the 1910 census shows him operating a farm near Cass Township with his brother Julian. Bruce and Marshall Magruder became officers in the U.S. Army during World War I, as did Nannie’s husband Herndon Sharp, and their military postings took them all over the United States and to foreign countries. Lyles Magruder settled in Oklahoma City.28 On October 29, 1914, Bruce Magruder, living in San Antonio, Texas, and Marshall Magruder, living in Fort Riley, Kansas, sold their land in block 6 to Marshall’s brother-in-law, Harry Peyton of the District of Columbia “to hold the parcel of land until a full and final disposition shall be made.”29 Peyton sold this land to Harry Kite for $7,500 on November 4, 1916.30 Kite now owned all of Armesleigh Park except for the western end of block 6 (now square 1834), including The Rest, which still belonged to Eleanor “Nannie” Magruder Sharp. Like her brothers, Nannie had left Washington with her army officer husband. In 1914 she began renting The Rest to Pinkney Cross, a captain with the District of Columbia Fire Department. On December 3, 1920, Mrs. Sharp sold the property to Cross, and the Cross family lived there until the 1970s.31

13

NOTES FOR SECTION 1

1 Carolyn Long, “The Rest,” draft for a National Register nomination prepared for the Washington DC Historic Preservation Office.

2 Liber 1150, folio 349-351, Recorder of Deeds, now at DC Archives. Note that it was the custom of the Recorder of Deeds Office to use the Latin terms liber and folio instead of book/volume and page.

3 Between 1901 and 1911, the Washington Evening Star and the Washington Post mentioned Robert Curran his brothers Mahlon and Pete participating in activities of the Chevy Chase and other hunting clubs. All newspaper articles accessed through GenealogyBank or ProQuest.

4 Liber 2246, Folio 96-98, DC Archives. “Jury Awards for Property,” Washington Post, March 4, 1898.

5 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930 and 1940 census Joseph Curran and family; city directories 1885- 1948, accessed through Ancestry.com. The 1910 census lists Joseph Curran as a watchman at the Naval Observatory. One of Joseph and Mary Curran’s sons, Mahlon, lived at 4501 39th Street (now 3837 Albemarle), known as the Christian-Curran House and believed to have been moved to its present location from the grounds of the Naval Observatory around 1890. It is now part of the Grant Road Historic District (Grant Road Historic District Nomination https://planning.dc.gov/publication/grant-road-historic-district). On December 16, 1959, Joseph Curran’s daughters Margaret and Adele sold the family property, subdivided into lots 10 and 32, to George L. Ellis. A large brick house was built around 1985 on lot 32, now 4423 39th. According to a Curran descendant contacted through Ancestry.com (November 11, 2019), “the last occupants of [the house at 39th and Alton Place] were Adele “Della” and Margaret. They were there in 1967. Della died in 1967 and Margaret in 1970.”

6 Will of Arianna Jones Lyles, DC Archives.

7 Liber 1419, folio 115-118, DC Archives.

8 Liber 1458, folio 181-184, DC Archives; Evening Star, February 18, 1890, p. 9; Evening Star, March 1, 1890, p. 6.

9 “An Important Deal, Sunday Herald and Daily National Intelligencer, October 4, 1891, p. 13.

10 Evening Star, December 22, 1923, p. 16.

11 Judith Beck Helm, Tenleytown, D.C.: Country Village into City Neighborhood , 101, 177.

12 “The Armes Divorce Case, Evening Star, November 19, 1894, p. 3; “Accuses Him of Cruelty, Evening Star , July 13, 1894, p. 2; “Major Fails to Pay the Required Alimony, Evening Star, July 15, 1896; “Divorce Granted,” Evening Star, April 23, 1897.

13 “Charges Trespass, Evening Star, June 16, 1898, p. 12; “Boarding-House Keeper…Wants Lease Cancelled, Evening Star, August 24, 1899; “Major Armes Shot,” Evening Star, August 21, 1902, p. 2.

14

14 “Asks for an Order,” Evening Star, August 16, 1900, p. 3.

15 Liber 1498, folio 67-72, DC Archives; Evening Star, May 13, 1890, p. 7.

16 Office of the Surveyor of Land Records Management System, accessed and downloaded through “SurDocs” https://dcraonline-rms.dcra.dc.gov/SurDocsPublic/faces/t0.jsp.

17 Neil Heyden, “The Fort Reno Community: The Conversion and Its Causes.” Paper submitted to Dr. Beisner, Department of History, American University, April, 1981; Helm, Tenleytown DC, 199- 203; Neil Flanagan, “The Battle of Fort Reno,” Washington City Paper, November 2, 2017, https://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/news/article/20981322/the-battle-of-fort-reno.

18 Sunday Herald and Weekly National Intelligencer, March 22, 1891, p. 24, continued through April 12; May 31, 1891, p. 22, continued through May 24; September 20, 1891, p. 26, continued through October 11.

19 The ambitious 1896-1897 subdivision of American University Park by investors John Croissant and David Stone failed after a few grand but lonely houses were built because the streets had not been paved, the promised streetcar line had not been extended that far, and gas, electricity, water, and sewer lines had not yet been provided. See Jane Waldmann and Kim Williams, Nomination for the National Register of Historic Places, “American University Park in Washington DC: Its Early Houses,” section E, p. 11. For more on the Georgetown & Tennallytown streetcar line, see John DeFerrari, Capitol Streetcars: Early Mass Transit in Washington, D.C., 94-95.

20 “Real Estate Transfers,” Post, May 21, 1891. Armes sold squares 5 and 12, Armesleigh Park, to Glover “for $10,” meaning that Glover made a token payment of $10 and owed the rest.

21 General Assessment, 1899-1900, Washington County, microfilm Washingtoniana Division, DC Public Library.

22 “Death of B.H. Warder, Evening Star, January 12, 1894, p. 2; “B.H. Warder’s Will,” Evening Star, February 1, 1894, p. 6; “Mr. B.H. Warder’s Funeral,” Evening Star, March 7, 1894, p. 4.

23 Liber 3929, folio 168-170, DC Archives.

24 Liber 3945, folio 263-265, DC Archives.

25 Will of Eleanor A.H. Magruder, DC Archives.

26 Liber 3457, folio 259, DC Archives.

27 Lyles Magruder to Offutt and Muncaster, September 13, 1911, liber 3457, folio 157; Lyles Magruder to Florence Fraser, wife of George Fraser, January 10, 1912, liber 3489, folio 282-283; Bruce Magruder to Fraser, August 12, 1912, liber 3565, folio 388-389; Lyles Magruder to his wife Margaret, September 29, 1913, liber 3661, folio 119, DC Archives.

28 Information from census and military records accessed through Ancestry.com.

29 Liber 3932, folio 297-298, DC Archives.

15

30 Liber 3936, folio 255, DC Archives.

31 Liber 4468, folio 184, DC Archives.

16

SECTION 2 1916-1931

HARRY ARTHUR KITE AND THE CREATION OF ARMESLEIGH PARK

17

HARRY ARTHUR KITE

Harry Kite was a prolific builder involved in projects all over the city. According to the online publication “DC Builders & Developers” he founded his business, Harry A. Kite, Inc., in 1911. “Kite was responsible for the construction of over fourteen hundred houses and apartment buildings in the D.C. area.”1 His brother Samuel Kite was vice president of Harry A. Kite, Inc. and oversaw the bookkeeping, but his name never appears on any of the building permits or advertisements. He did sometimes notarize the deeds of sale. Armesleigh Park had been conceived in 1890 and first platted in 1891, but it remained an undisturbed area of farmland, orchards, woods, and rolling hills until 1919. World War I had ended and men were returning to the United States eager to establish homes and families. Streetcar lines had opened on Connecticut and Wisconsin Avenues, finally making rural Tenleytown convenient for those who worked in downtown Washington. Water, sewer, gas, and electric utilities had been extended into Tenleytown. The time was right for an ambitious developer/builder to construct attractive but affordable housing. A temporary setback occurred when the “Spanish influenza” swept through the District of Columbia between October 1918 and February 1919, resulting in nearly 3,000 deaths. City officials initially downplayed the seriousness of the epidemic, but eventually businesses, churches, and schools were closed and public gatherings were banned. These orders were rescinded in November 1918 when it appeared that the danger was over. There was a resurgence of influenza cases in December, but this time the city remained open. By February life in Washington DC had returned to normal.2 When creating Armesleigh Park, Harry Kite often obtained building permits in groups of five; the estimated construction cost for five houses was $35,000, or $7,000 each.3 There were a limited number of house styles that had basically the same double-hung and casement windows, clapboard or shingle siding, slate roofs, interior trim, solid wood or glass-paned French doors, hardware, lighting, kitchen and bathroom fixtures, plumbing, wiring, hot water radiators, and furnaces. Kite might have used precut lumber and mass-purchased fixtures, enabling him to put the houses up quickly. The granite basements, foundations, support piers, fireplaces, chimneys, and retaining walls were constructed by Tenleytown’s famous Italian stonemasons, the Perna family.4

18

For unexplained reasons, some houses randomly located throughout the subdivision have brick foundations, fireplaces, and chimneys, and the cottages built in 1924-1925 on Windom Place and Warren Street all have brick foundations, fireplaces, and chimneys.

Armesleigh Park was constructed in three phases: Phase One—1919-1920--squares 1834 and 1835. Phase Two—1921-1923—squares 1836 and parts of squares 1834, 1889, 1890, 1891, 1778, 1780, and 1784. Phase Three—1924-1925—square 1833. Another look at the original plat map, with square numbers inserted, will make this more clear.

19

PHASE ONE 1919-1920 SQUARES 1834 AND 1835

In the spring of 1919 Harry Kite began building in squares 1834 and 1835, designated as blocks 6 and 11 on the 1891 plat map. George T. Santmyers is credited with designing the colonial revival houses, foursquares, and bungalows on the east side of 39th Street, the south side of Alton Place, and both sides of Yuma Street.5 Santmyers signed the surveyor’s plat maps for squares 1834 and 1835 along with Harry Kite, but he is not listed as the architect of record on the building permits.

Plat for square 1834 signed by Harry Kite and witnessed by George Santmyers on May 15, 1919, Surveyors Office, Subdivisions Book 59, p. 193.

Plat for square 1835 also signed by Harry Kite and witnessed by George Santmyers on May 15, 1919, Surveyors Office, Subdivisions Book 59, p. 194.

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The colonial, Dutch colonial, and large foursquare were the “top of the line,” the large bungalow was more modest but still roomy, and the small bungalow was tiny, with four rooms and a bath plus a dormered attic. Five of these small bungalows, distinguished by a gabled half porch with vertical roof supports, were built at 3804, 3808, 3809, 3813 Yuma and 3814 Alton Place. 3809 and 3813 Yuma remain in relatively original condition. The others have been creatively enlarged.

3809 Yuma 3813 Yuma

3804 Yuma 3808 Yuma 3814 Alton

It has been suggested that these earliest houses were based on the popular catalog homes of the 1920s, with modifications by Santmyers who oversaw the construction crew. When a 1920 Dutch colonial at 3802 Alton Place came on the market in 1996, an article in the October 16 real estate edition of the Northwest Current proclaimed, without any documentation, that it was a “Sears House.”6 A search of published catalogs shows houses that are very similar, but none that are exactly like Harry Kite’s Armesleigh Park houses.7 A catalog or “kit” house can often be identified by numbers marked on the boards to facilitate construction; these can be found on unpainted wooden elements in attics and basements. So far none of the homeowners have discovered such markings. George Santmyers was a respected Washington DC architect who began his practice in 1909 and opened his own architectural office in 1914. He is credited with designing more than 16,000 buildings in Washington, including apartment buildings, rowhouses, and single-family homes.8 Santmyers is listed as the architect on permits for a number of dwellings in squares adjoining Armesleigh Park: brick duplexes in the 3800 block of Warren; brick duplexes and single houses in the 3700 blocks of Warren, Windom, and Alton Place; and two brick houses in the 3900 block of Yuma. These were constructed by various builders in the mid-1920s to mid-1930s.9 On May 26, 1919, Harry Kite obtained the first building permits for two colonials, a foursquare, and a bungalow at 4409-4415 39th Street between Alton and Yuma (square 1835, lots 31-34). On June 18, 1919, he received permits for 3809-3815 Yuma (square 1835, lots 27-30). The

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permits for 3808-3814 Alton Place (square 1835, lots 35-37) were issued on November 11, 1919, and on February 9, 1920, Kite obtained permits for 3800-3806 Alton Place (square 1835, lots 39-42). A colonial revival house at 4415 39th corner of Alton Place was the original sales office, managed by Richard Hamilton. The first houses were sold within six months of issuance of the permits—a large foursquare at 4411 39th Street on December 29, 1919, and another large foursquare at 3811 Yuma the next day, December 30, 1919. A typical deed of sale shows that the buyer would make a cash payment of $10. This, according to DC Archivist William Branch, was a “ceremonial figure used to fulfill the definition of a contract which includes as a basic element adequate consideration.” On the same or subsequent days the buyer would take out a mortgage for the entire purchase price with monthly payments. For example, the deed for 4413 39th Street shows that George and Katherine Moore paid $10 to Harry Kite on August 28, 1920, and immediately arranged a mortgage for $4,250 with the brokerage firm of B. Francis Saul and G. Percy McGlue (now B.F. Saul).10 Harry Kite built only seven houses on the south side of Yuma Street. The permits were issued on August 25, 1919, for 3800-3812 Yuma (square 1834, lots 10-16). The western end of this square, bounded by Yuma, 39th, and Windom and designated as lot 9, included The Rest and was still owned by Eleanor Magruder’s daughter Nannie.

Harry Kite’s Armesleigh Park subdivision was featured in several enthusiastic articles in the Washington Evening Star. Note that Kite always used the spelling Armsleigh instead of Armesleigh.

On August 23, 1919, the Star announced Kite’s “big home building project” in Armsleigh Park. “Nineteen detached homes already have been built or are rapidly being completed, and the entire development is to comprise more than 200 homes…with distinctive two- story frame dwellings of colonial architecture, with old-fashioned broad clapboards, hip roofs, colonial stoops, big rough stone chimneys, stone or hollow tile foundations, stone fireplaces, etc. The bungalows…are of the modified type with roomy upper stories under sweeping roofs into which attractive dormers are built.” Development of the subdivision included “opening and grading of streets, laying cement sidewalks, putting down water and gas mains, constructing a sewer system, and installing electric connections.” The article also noted that the “Widening of Wisconsin Avenue…removal of a lot of old and unsightly structures, and completion of the Armsleigh Park development are expected to work a complete transformation of

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Tenleytown.” By December 20, 1919, Kite was advertising that “detached 6 and 8 room homes in Armsleigh Park are ready for immediate occupancy.” 11

On March 6, 1920, another piece in the Evening Star stated that “nearly all of the homes completed in the previous operation are now occupied by their owners,” and that “more homes in Armsleigh Park will be ready for occupancy late in summer.” The number of houses to be built had been scaled back from 200 to 150. The article noted that “an innovation in the construction of these homes is the provision of steel beams set in concrete under the first floor.” 12

These steel beams are indeed found in the basements of Armesleigh Park houses. Notice the raised lettering “Bethlehem” in the upper photograph.

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Every Sunday Harry Kite placed advertisements in the real estate section of the Evening Star. Houses cost from $9,650 to $11,500 and could be had for a down payment of $1,000 cash. This ad from the Star of March 20, 1920, offered a Dutch colonial, a foursquare, and a bungalow at 4409, 4411, and 4413 39th Street.

Here are the same houses on 39th Street as they look today. Note the addition on the back and the enclosed side porch on the Dutch colonial.

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This advertisement for Armsleigh Park appeared in the Evening Star on April 9, 1921. The houses depicted are four-squares and two bungalows at 3811, 3809, and 3807 Yuma, all built in 1919 and sold in 1920. These, and the ones reproduced in the previous advertisement, are the only known photographs of Armesleigh Park houses when newly built.

The 1919 Armesleigh Park houses on Yuma Street look like this today.

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The model home/sales office was at 4415 39th Street corner of Alton Place. As seen in the advertisement from March 20, 1920, R.E. (Richard) Hamilton was Harry Kite’s sales agent in 1919 and 1920. Hamilton may have been living there rent free, but he did not actually buy the house until December 30, 1921. He sold it in 1923.13

Permits for houses on Alton Place near the corner of 39th were issued November 11, 1919--a Dutch colonial at 3810 and a large foursquare at 3812 (small bungalow at 3814 not visible).

Permits for 3804, 3806, and 3808 Alton Place—two large foursquares and a large bungalow--were issued on February 9, 1920

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PHASE TWO—1920-1923—SQUARE 1836 AND PARTS OF 1834, 1889, 1890, 1891, 1778, 1780, AND 1784

In late 1920 Harry Kite began a collaboration with the architect Alexander H. Sonnemann. Sonnemann studied architecture with his father (who had taught at the University of Giessen, Germany) and began his own practice in 1901. He worked extensively for Harry Kite, designing rowhouses and apartment buildings including the acclaimed Kew Gardens at 2700 Q Street.14 Sonnemann’s designs differed from those of the 1919-1920 houses attributed to Santmyers and included three models of cottages and two smaller foursquares. Permits for a small foursquare and four cottages in the 3900 block of Alton Place (about which we will hear more later) were issued on October 27, 1920. Between 1921 and 1923 more of these houses were built in the 3800 blocks of Alton Place and Albemarle, the 3900 block of Windom Place, on the east side of 38th Street, and in the 3800 block on the north side of Windom.

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Harry Kite built small foursquares and cottages designed by Alexander Sonnemann on the north side of Alton Place in 1921 (square 1836, lots 23-31, permits April 25 and June 22, 1921).

3817, 3815, 3813, 3811 Alton Place

3801, 3803, 3805 Alton Place

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The arrangement of the nine houses on Alton Place is perfectly symmetrical. In the middle (3809) is a foursquare with a full flat-roofed front porch, and on either end (3817 and 3801) is a foursquare with a porch pediment on the left or right. In between are saltbox cottages (3815, 3811, 3807, and 3803) with roofs sloping to the left or right, alternating with vertical cottages (3813 and 3805).

The saltbox cottages in the 3800 block of Alton have arched pediments over the front entry. These must have been more difficult to build; later versions of this cottage style on Albemarle, 38th, and Windom Place have gabled pediments.

All over Armesleigh Park, some houses of various styles have a “swag” motif of holes within the gabled pediment; these may have been purely decorative or may have been inserted for ventilations. Many of them have been lost during subsequent renovations.

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In early 1922 Kite built the same small foursquares and cottages on the south side of Albemarle (square 1836, lots 33-44, permits October 10 and December 17, 1921). According to the Washington Post of March 5, 1922, “Harry A. Kite reports that six new houses, numbers 3800 to 3810 Albemarle Street, are now nearing completion, and six additional houses, numbers 3812 to 3822 Albemarle will be completed and ready for occupancy about May 10…. The completion of these houses makes a total of 53 houses built by Mr. Kite in his new subdivision known as Armsleigh Park.”15

Kite constructed a saltbox and a vertical cottage in the triangular space on 38th Street between Albemarle and Alton Place (square 1889, lots 8 and 9, permits August 14, 1922). The rest of this square was never part of Armesleigh Park.

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In the 4400 block of 38th Street between Alton Place and Yuma Kite built two cottages and two small foursquares (square 1890, lots 16-19, permits August 13, 1922).

A Dutch colonial, two cottages, and a small foursquare were built by Harry Kite in the 4300 block of 38th Street between Yuma and Windom (square 1891, lots 12-15, permits September 1, 1922). Note the alterations to the two houses on the left. As is the case with square 1889, the rest of squares 1890 and 1891 were never part of Armesleigh Park.

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Eight similar houses are found on the north side of Windom (square 1834, lots 24-27, all permits January 14, 1923).

There are also two large bungalows—identical to the earlier ones attributed to Santmyers--at 3805 and 3821 Windom, but Sonnemann is listed as the architect of record.

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As mentioned earlier, Harry Kite built five houses in the 3900 block of Alton Place backing on Grant Road (square 1778, lots 1-5, permits October 27, 1920). They are seen below in the 1924 Baist Real Estate Atlas.

Nebraska Avenue was cut through the western edge of Armesleigh Park in 1932. A detail from the April 13 surveyors’ map titled “Condemnation of Land for Nebraska Avenue and 39th Street” shows a red stripe wiping out two of the five lots in Square 1778. Nebraska Avenue also cut through square 1779, which belonged to Charles Glover.16

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This picture, taken in 1947 from the future location of the Wisconsin Avenue Baptist Church across Alton Place, shows two cottages and a small foursquare remaining at 3905, 3903, and 3901 Alton Place.

What happened to the houses at 3907 and 3909 Alton? Fortunately, they were not demolished— they were moved to a vacant space on Yuma Street in the large original lot 9 in square 1834, by then owned by Pinkney Cross. New building permits for 3816 and 3818 Yuma were issued on August 4, 1932, with N.W. Chappell listed as the architect and H.T. Brennan as the builder.17 The houses in the 3900 block of Alton Place had brick foundations, fireplaces, and chimneys, which might have made them easier to move.

Notice the orientation of the two cottages after being moved from Alton Place to Yuma Street. The one on the left, 3816 Yuma, had to be turned sideways to make it fit into the available space.

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Between 1921 and 1932, lot 9 was further subdivided into lots 805-809. The Rest, originally designated lot 807, became lot 32. In 1924 a brick duplex was constructed at 3831-3833 Windom (lot 808-809) by Meatyard Construction. A frame house was constructed by Elmer Decker at 3814 Yuma (lot 805) around 1935, and a brick house, long the home of three unmarried sisters--Mary, Helen, and Catherine Law--was constructed at 3820 Yuma corner of 39th by John Norris in 1932.

Yuma Street

39th Street

Windom Place

This 1960 map shows the layout of what had been designated as lot 9. The Rest is the large house in the lower left, corner of 39th and Windom. Next to it on Windom Place is the 1924 brick duplex. In the upper left is the 1932 brick house at 3820 Yuma occupied by the Law sisters. The two cottages moved from Alton Place became 3816 (lot 31) and 3818 Yuma (lot 30). The 1935 frame house is at 3814 Yuma.

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Harry Kite built two small foursquares at 3900 and 3902 Windom Place (square 1784, lots 9 and 13, permits September 21, 1923).

The two large foursquares at 3904 and 3906 Yuma Street (square 1780, lots 809 and 810, permits January 28, 1923) are an anomaly. They are similar to the earlier foursquares on Alton and Yuma, but they have square instead of round columns and the lower level is covered in pebbledash instead of clapboard. As with the bungalows at 3805 and 3821 Yuma, Alexander Sonnemann is listed as the architect. Harry Kite never owned square 1780; recall that George Armes sold it to Charles Glover in 1891. The building permits list Kite as the owner/builder but the deeds of sale do not list Kite as the seller and do not refer to “Harry A. Kite’s subdivision of Armesleigh Park.”

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PHASE THREE—1924-1925—SQUARE 1833

The final phase of construction of Armesleigh Park was undertaken by Harry Kite in 1924 and 1925, with Alexander Sonnemann again listed as architect on the building permits. Kite and Sonnemann introduced a new style of colonial house and three new cottage styles.

Only two of the newer style of colonials were built at 4301 and 4315 39th between Yuma and Windom (square 1833, permits April 4, 1924). Like most Armesleigh Park houses, this one originally had a side porch.

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Cottages like this were designed by Alexander Sonnemann and built by Harry Kite on the north side of Windom Place and the south side of Warren Street (square 1833, lots 20, 22-27, 30-38, permits March 31 and November 4, 1924, March 8, 1925). All have clapboard siding and all have brick, not stone, foundations and chimneys. The last house, 3820 Windom, was sold on December 1, 1925.

Ninety-three houses were eventually built in Armesleigh Park, of which there were fourteen different styles. The designs changed from the earliest colonials, large foursquares, and bungalows attributed to George Santmyers to the cottages and smaller foursquares designed by Alexander Sonnemann, but they form a charming and cohesive enclave that is distinguishable from the surrounding neighborhoods by their 1920s “craftsman-style” esthetic, their frame construction, their (mostly) stone foundations and chimneys, and their original ground level front, side, and back porches and second story sleeping porches.

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Some houses retain their original cabinetry, light fixtures, bathtubs, sinks, floor tile, and doors.

Original kitchen cabinets are found at 3806 Albemarle and 4403 38th Street. 4403 38th retains its built-in living room bookcases and 3803 Alton Place has bookcases with columns.

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This corner cabinet is at 3822 Albemarle

Most of the 1920-1923 cottages have this type of newel posts and stair railings.

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The bathroom at 3815 Alton Place has its original sink, tub, and floor tile. In the 1940s, a previous homeowner extended and enclosed the back porch to create a library, pantry, and another full bath. A shower was installed in the upstairs bathroom and the tub was moved downstairs

. Original cast-iron ceiling light fixtures were found at 3815 Alton and 3806 Albemarle, and a fixture with glass crystals is from 3800 Windom.

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Some houses, such as the large foursquare at 3808 and the saltbox cottage 3815 Alton Place, retain their original glass-paned doors.

An original garage door at 3813 Alton Place.

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DEATH OF HARRY KITE

Harry Kite had finished his work in Armesleigh Park by the end of 1925, but he went on to develop other neighborhoods in the District of Columbia. The Evening Star announced on February 3, 1931, that he was stricken with a heart attack on the job and died a few days later. He was only forty-nine years old.18

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NOTES FOR SECTION 2

1 Information on Harry Kite from “DC Builders and Developers Directory,” https://planning.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/op/publication/attachments/Builder%20and %20Developer%20Biographies%20%20K%20through%20M.pdf. This publication characterizes Santymers as Harry Kite’s “chief architect” from 1915 through 1920, and cites their collaboration on the Armesleigh Park project.

2 Matthew Gilmore, “Washington’s Lost Month: the 1918-19 Spanish Influenza Epidemic in the District of Columbia,” https://networks.h-net.org/node/28441/discussions/6015977/epidemic- 100-years-ago-washington%E2%80%99s-lost-month-1918-19-spanish. Elliot Williams, “The Forgotten Epidemic: A Century Ago, DC Lost Nearly 3,000 Residents to Influenza, https://www.washingtonian.com/2018/10/31/the-forgotten-epidemic-a-century-ago-dc-lost- nearly-3000-residents-to-influenza/.

3 A notice in the Evening Star, Feb 14, 1920, p. 15, stated that H.A. Kite had “obtained permits to build five frame dwellings at 3901-3809 Alton Place, estimated cost $35,000.”

4 Fred Perna interview by Carolyn Long early 2000s. Information on the Perna family of stonemasons from landmark nomination for Perna Brothers duplexes at 4112-4118 Chesapeake Street NW prepared by Peter Sefton for Tenleytown Historical Society https://planning.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/op/publication/attachments/Perna%20Brothe rs%20Chesapeake%20Houses%20Nomination.pdf.

5 Paul K. Williams, Kelsey & Associates, “Tenleytown Historic Resources Survey” prepared for the Tenleytown Historical Society, 2003.

6 Lee Butera, “Sears Catalog House Enters Market,” Northwest Current/Northwest Real Estate, October 16, 1996, p. 27 and 30. The Northwest Current is now out of business and Lee Butera could not be located for an interview.

7 Gordon-Van Tine Company, 117 House Designs of the Twenties, 1992. Sears, Roeback and Company, Small Houses of the Twenties: The Sears, Roeback 1926 House Catalog, 1991.

8 Information on Santmyers from Capitol Hill Restoration Society, “Legacy Architects and Builders,” https://chrs.org/history-and-preservation/legacy-architects-and-builders/.

9 “Selected Architects in Greater Tenleytown,” from “Tenleytown Development, Northwest Washington DC,” District of Columbia Office of Planning, https://planning.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/op/publication/attachments/Tenleytown_His tory%20in%20Maps%20opt.pdf; PropertyQuest https://propertyquest.dc.gov/#; HistoryQuest https://dcgis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=4892107c0c5d44789e6fb96908f 88f60.

10 Email, William Branch, DC Archivist, January 29. 2020. Liber 4435, folio 29, DC Archives. Harry Kite also obtained loans from B.F. Saul. For more on the B F. Saul Company, see http://bfsaul.com/about-us/history.html.

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11 “Big Home Building Project,” Evening Star, August 23, 1919, p. 14. “For Immediate Occupancy,” Evening Star, December 20, 1919, p. 14.

12 “150 Homes Project to Be Begun Soon,” Evening Star, March 6, 1920, p. 15; “150 Modern Homes Will be Erected, Post, March 14, 1920.

13 Liber 4658, folio 155, DC Archives. Sale by Hamilton to Herbert J. Watt, April 10, 1923, accessed online at Recorder of Deeds website.

14 Information on Sonnemann from Capitol Hill Restoration Society, “Legacy Architects and Builders,” https://chrs.org/history-and-preservation/legacy-architects-and-builders/.

15 “Sale of 12 Residences,” Post, February 16, 1922, p. 46 ; “Reports 12 Residences are Near Completion, Post, March 5, 1922, p.46 .

16 Subdivisions Book, 98, page 26, accessed through SurDocs.

17 Thanks to Ken Faulstich, owner of 3818 Yuma since 1979, for providing the building permit and an article, “Building Permits,” Washington Post, August 7, 1932, p. R1.

18 Harry A. Kite Dies,” Evening Star, February 3, 1931, p. 3.

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SECTION 3 1920-1930

THE FIRST DECADE OF LIFE IN ARMESLEIGH PARK A SOCIAL HISTORY

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ARMESLEIGH PARK IN THE 1920s

For the first six years of its existence Armesleigh Park was a construction site. The earliest 1919- 1920 houses on Alton Place, 39th Street, and Yuma Street were barely finished and sold when Harry Kite began to expand northward to the other side of Alton and on to Albemarle in 1921. He built more houses on 38th Street and Windom Place in 1922-1923. When these houses were finished and residents were settling in, he began the final building phase, expanding southward to Windom and Warren in 1924-1925. There would have been a lot of noise and mess as workmen dug basements out of the red clay, trucked in lumber and other supplies, laid the stone or brick foundations, built fireplaces and chimneys, and busily hammered on walls and roofs. The neighborhood probably looked pretty raw at first—the earliest advertisements show photographs of recently built houses and few trees—although a 1922 Washington Post article described a recently sold Dutch colonial house at 3806 Yuma Street as occupying a “spacious lot abounding in fruit and shade trees and shrubbery.”1

Where did these new families send their children to school? Where did they attend religious services? Where did they shop? At first the only public elementary school for white pupils was the Tenley School on Wisconsin Avenue, located between St. Ann’s Catholic Church and the present-day Tenley- Friendship Library. In 1925 Bernard T. Janney Elementary School (also for whites only) opened around the corner on Albemarle Street and the Tenley School was taken over by St. Ann’s as a parochial school.2 Alice Deal Junior High and Woodrow Wilson High School were not opened until the 1930s; before that students had to travel into the city of Washington to complete their education. The Jesse Reno School, built in 1903, served the African American children of the Reno community. This school closed after the systematic eradication of Reno during the 1930s and ‘40s.3 Christians had several choices of churches. Most of the major denominations were already serving white worshipers in Tenleytown before the building of Armesleigh Park. St. Ann’s Catholic Church, located on Tenley Circle, had been there since 1869. St. Columba’s Episcopal Church at Albemarle and 42nd began in 1875 as a mission of St. Alban’s Church and built its present-day stone church in 1926. A Methodist church called Mount Zion had existed at the junction of River Road and Wisconsin Avenue since 1840; this later became Eldbrooke United Methodist Church and its frame building was replaced by a Spanish Revival-style building in 1926; the building, now named the Citizens Heights Church, still stands at the same location. Mount Tabor Baptist Church was founded in 1880 at 4620 Wisconsin Avenue. When the avenue was widened in 1924 it moved to the corner of Fessenden and 42nd Street. The church, now called Wisconsin Avenue Baptist, relocated to Tenley Circle in 1954.4 There were certainly Jewish residents of Tenleytown, but it is not known if any Jewish families moved into Armesleigh Park. Unlike the nearby suburbs of Spring Valley and Wesley Heights, developed by the W.C. and A.N. Miller Company5, Armesleigh Park never excluded Jews. (Harry Kite’s sales agreements did prohibit persons of color until 1922.) According to Wendy Turman of the Capital Jewish Museum, “Any Jewish residents of the northwestern suburbs 47

[including Tenleytown] would have traveled downtown to Washington Hebrew at 8th and I, Adas Israel at 6th and I, or Ohev Sholom at 5th and I, or to Georgetown for Kesher Israel on M Street.6

Where did the new residents of Armesleigh Park buy groceries and other necessities?

This illustration from Judith Helm’s Tenleytown DC shows the 4400 block of Wisconsin Avenue between Grant Road and Albemarle Street in the 1920s. Scholl’s Pharmacy at the corner of Grant Road is still standing (now Han Cleaners), as is the building next door (now the Mayflower Chinese Restaurant).

In Tenleytown there were also other drugstores, a general store, several grocery stores, a butcher shop, a bakery, and a drygoods store.7

The Tievsky family’s Wisconsin Market was built in 1923 at 4909 Wisconsin at the corner of Emery Place (now Café of India).8 Marvin Tievsky was a beloved local citizen known as the “Mayor of Tenleytown” until his death in 2011.

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CLOTHING, HOME FURNISHINGS, AND AUTOMOBILES OF THE 1920S

How did people dress in the 1920s? How did they furnish their homes? What were the kitchens and bathrooms like? What kind of cars did they drive? Some of these illustrations are copied from the Washington Evening Star and the Herald of the 1920s and some are from online sources.

Boys wore knickers, as seen in this advertisement for Hart Schaffner & Marx. Girls wore short dresses in this illustration from a women’s magazine, The Delineator, of October 1922.

In the 1920s businessmen wore narrow trousers and fitted jackets. The fedora hat was ubiquitous, but men also wore various kinds of caps.

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Women started wearing clothing that, while fashionable, offered more freedom of movement than those of earlier decades. Dresses were loose-fitting, skirts were shorter, corsets and other restrictive underclothing had been abandoned. This might have been influenced by fact that after years of protests and persuasion women won the right to vote on August 20, 1920. These advertisements are both from the Washington Evening Star of March 20, 1920.

Many Washington furniture and department stores—National Furniture Company, the Hub, the Hecht Company, Woodward and Lathrop, and Julius Lansburgh--advertised dining room, library, living room, and bedroom suites in the local newspapers. Some offered inducements like a free set of dishes, a “room-sized” rug, or a free mattress and pillows.

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1920s kitchens would seem inconvenient to today’s homeowners, lacking the “granite countertops, 48-inch refrigerator and freezer; dual commercial-quality ovens, six-burner stovetop, industrial strength ventilation system; and gourmet kitchen island with prep sink” found in advertisements for modern homes. The original Armesleigh Park kitchens were small, but they had the necessary components for meal preparation—a porcelain sink with a drain board, a gas stove, an ice box, cabinets and drawers, and a work surface.

What were referred to in advertisements as “refrigerators” were really wooden iceboxes. Tenleytown had an icehouse that delivered a big chunk of ice every day.

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Since the residents of Armesleigh Park were mostly middle class, some families might have sent their washing out to a laundry or a “washwoman.” But at least some housewives did the family laundry with a scrub board in a double laundry sink in the basement. Electric washers were an innovation introduced in the 1920s, but these machines still required a lot of work on the part of the homemaker.

As originally built, most Armesleigh Park houses had only one bathroom, usually upstairs. Some families enlarged their homes in various ways in order to create a second bathroom. Bathrooms of the 1920s were usually partially or fully tiled with an emphasis on sanitation.

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How did Armesleigh Park residents get from place to place? Certainly proximity to the streetcar lines was one of the incentives for buying a home in Armesleigh Park, and people probably walked or rode bicycles at least some of the time. But car ownership was becoming increasingly common in the 1920s, and automobile dealerships and service stations were proliferating in downtown Washington. The most popular vehicle was the cheap and reliable Ford Model T, but advertisements from the Evening Star show that many kinds of cars were being offered for sale.

THE 1930 CENSUS FOR ARMESLEIGH PARK

We would like to believe that Armesleigh Park’s first owners settled into their newly built houses, changed the bare and muddy lots to lawns and gardens, created a community, and went about the everyday business of making a living and raising a family. Actually, few of the first Armesleigh Park homeowners were still there by 1930, and some houses had already changed hands several times. Only in square 1833 (Windom Place, 39th Street, and Warren), where the houses were built and sold in 1924-1925, were most of the original owners enumerated in the 1930 census. The reason for the rapid turnover of homes in the 1920s is unclear. Did some of the original buyers flee from the continuing chaos of construction? Were they speculators intending to make a profit by reselling or renting their properties? Were they affected by the stock market crash of 1929 and the subsequent Depression? The additional research required to answer these questions is beyond the scope of this report. Because Armesleigh Park was built between 1919 and 1925, few, if any, of the residents would have been enumerated in the 1920 census. 1930 is the first census in which the entire neighborhood was represented. During April of 1930, the census worker for Enumeration District 389 visited each house and asked the family a required series of questions. She recorded the name, gender, age, race, marital status, place of birth, and occupation of each resident, how the various 54

household members were related to each other, whether they were owners or renters, the value of the home or amount of rent paid, where their parents were born, whether they owned a radio, and whether the man of the house was a veteran of World War I. 9 Washington was a segregated city at the time. Like many neighborhoods in upper Northwest, deeds of sale for Armesleigh Park contained restrictive covenants. These sales documents were originally filed at the Office of the Recorder of Deeds but have been transferred to the DC Archives. A typical Armesleigh Park covenant contains stipulations about alterations to the house and states that it is “strictly for dwelling purposes” and that “no buildings erected on the lot shall be used for manufacturing, mechanical, or business purposes.” Most chilling is the agreement that the sale is “subject to the covenant that said lot shall never be rented, leased, sold, transferred, or conveyed unto any negro [sic] or colored person or any person of negro extraction.” (Harry Kite did advertise houses “for colored” in other neighborhoods.) After 1922 the racial restrictions no longer appeared in Armesleigh Park deeds of sale, but it is no surprise that in 1930 every resident of Armesleigh Park was white with the exception of one African American live-in servant. Such covenants were finally declared unlawful by the Supreme Court in 1948, when the NAACP brought suit in the case of Hurd v. Hodge.10 Armesleigh Park has nevertheless remained mostly white even though the present-day residents would welcome African American neighbors. In 1930 there were ninety-three houses in Armesleigh Park. Some addresses were vacant or were not enumerated in the census, but with the addition of more addresses from the city directory we have data for eighty-nine households. The city directory does not provide the information on marital status, number of children, or status as owners or renters found in the census, so the numbers cited below will not add up to ninety-three. Seventy-seven households were headed by men, and only six were headed by women. Seventy-five families owned their homes. Most were valued between $10,000 and $12,500, the prices at which they were originally advertised when built in the 1920s. Twelve families were renting for $50.00 to $75.00 per month. The 1930 census shows that most of the houses in Armesleigh Park were occupied by married couples. Their ages are split almost evenly between those under forty and middle- aged/elderly people over forty. Sixteen households had no children. Forty-three had between one and three children, and only six had more than three. The Beanes, who lived in a large foursquare house at 3808 Alton Place, had the biggest family, with two boys and six girls. The Walshes, living in a smaller foursquare at 3902 Windom Place, also had a large family—an adult daughter, her husband, and their little girl, plus four more young adult or teenaged children of Mr. and Mrs. Walsh. Joseph Sinuro, a chauffeur for Duncan Phillips of the Phillips Collection, lived at 3841 Warren Street with his wife and four children.11 The Schneiders lived with their four children in one of the small bungalows at 3809 Yuma. Ten households consisted of an older couple living with their adult unmarried children. In eight of the households an elderly parent was living with the family, and seven were sharing their home with a sister or brother. Nobody lived alone. One sometimes hears that Tenleytown had the reputation as a rough, almost dangerous, working-class area. This might have been true at some other time or for some other neighborhood 55

within Tenleytown, but in 1930 Armesleigh Park was solidly middle class. Almost all of the men had white-collar jobs. Nineteen were government employees, holding high level positions such as chief of a credit union, lawyer, scientist, physicist, forrester, engineer, translator, customs officer, and printer; a few of the younger men had lower-level clerical jobs with the government. Six Armesleigh Park women were also government clerks. Five men were employees of the Navy Department, holding such positions as architect, civil engineer, marine engineer, warrant officer, and physician. Two worked for the Army, one was an accountant and the other was an enlisted officer. Four were employed at the Bureau of Standards, at that time located nearby on Reno Road, one as a mechanical engineer, one as a mechanic’s helper, and two as scientists. English-born Robert Wilson of 3803 Yuma Street was the Clerk of the Works at the National Cathedral, meaning that he supervised the entire building project. There was one dentist and one doctor in private practice. Twenty-two of the men had managerial or executive positions in non-governmental fields such as real estate, insurance, retail sales, the building trades, express deliveries, fuel and coal, the telephone company, the electric company, and the railroads. John Matthews of 3813 Windom Place was general foreman of the B & O Railroad. William Talley of 3807 Yuma was the executive director of the Boy Scouts. Richard L. Strout, living at 3815 Alton Place, was a correspondent for the Washington Bureau of the Christian Science Monitor and also wrote the “TRB” political column for the New Republic. Four of the men were in automobile or retail sales. A married couple, Carolyn and Samuel Bell at 3803 Alton Place, were both journalists. John Patterson, native of Scotland living at 3808 Albemarle, was a blacksmith. There were also a plumber, a mechanic, a painter, a repair man, a poultry dealer, and a lineman for the electric company. Twenty-two of the men were veterans of World War I. The single, divorced, and widowed female household heads worked as teachers or secretaries; one was a bank teller. These women had made a variety of living arrangements. Edna Aitchison, secretary for a milk products company, lived at 3806 Albemarle with her son, employed as a “horseman” (possibly with Robert Curran of the Chevy Chase Hunt Club), her teenaged daughter Caroline, and her unmarried sister, Mary Reed, secretary to the advertising manager of a newspaper. Grace Reed lived at 3814 Alton Place with her teenaged adopted daughter Margaret and her elderly sister, Helen Ayer. No members of this household were employed. Doris Hoover, a desk clerk at a department store, lived at 3907Alton Place with her adult unmarried son, a “fur finisher,” and her mother, Minna Davis. The Burgdoff sisters, Lena and Ada, lived at 3812 Yuma. Lena was the bookkeeper for an automobile company and Ada was a public school teacher. Mary DePaschalis at 3811 Yuma was not employed; she rented part of her home to a young couple and their daughter. Sophie Berger lived at 4301 38th Street with her adult unmarried daughter. Another female head of household, Ida Polley at 3820 Albemarle, was listed in the city directory but not enumerated in the census. Only twelve of the married women were employed outside the home, and, like the single women, most worked as secretaries, teachers, or clerks, some for the government and some for private business. Only three of the employed married women had young children living at home. Carolyn and Samuel Bell’s two daughters, ages ten and thirteen, were probably cared for by Mrs. Bell’s mother, who lived in the household. Kinsey Carpenter, an attorney, and his wife Tina, a 56

teacher, resided at 3810 Yuma Street; their ten-year-old son was cared for by a live-in servant. At 3816 Windom Place, John Tucker was a government translator and his wife Adelaide was a clerk at the Census Bureau; they had two teenaged children. Dennis McQuary, a government lawyer, and his wife Lucia, a teacher, lived at 3842 Windom; they had a young adult daughter who may have cared for their six-year-old son. Only twenty-seven of the adults living in Armesleigh Park were natives of the District of Columbia. Most of them came from other east coast states, with a few from the deep south or the west. Twelve people were born in countries other than the United States; they came from England, Scotland, Irish Free State, Norway, and Italy. Twenty-seven had one or both parents born in a foreign country; the parents came from England, Scotland, Irish Free State, French and English Canada, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Italy, and Cuba. By the 1980s most of these people had died or moved away. My husband and I moved to Armesleigh Park in 1987, along with a new wave of homeowners who arrived at around the same time. We were privileged to meet some of the original residents who still lived in the houses where they had grown up. Caroline Aitcheson, a sixteen-year-old living in a saltbox cottage at 3806 Albemarle with her mother, aunt, and a brother in 1930, was a spry, suntanned old lady still out working in her back garden. In 1930 Harriet Beane was eight years old and living with her parents and many siblings in a large foursquare at 3808 Alton Place. She grew up in the house, married a postal worker named Matthew Kerins, and they stayed on to raise a family there. Harriet became a valued neighbor. Tim Daley’s parents lived at 3806 Alton. He was too young to have been enumerated in the 1930 census, but at our invitation he came back for a neighborhood block party to see his old home. Carolyn Bell was thirteen in 1930, living with her parents, both journalists, in a saltbox cottage at 3803 Alton Place. As Carolyn Bell Hughes, she became a writer for the Washington Times-Herald and the Post. She was in the neighborhood to visit her old friend Caroline Aitcheson, saw me in the front garden, and stopped to introduce herself.

The name Armesleigh Park fell out of use after 1930, and eventually even the name Tenleytown had mostly been replaced by “Friendship” or “North Cleveland Park.” This began to change in the late 1970s when old-time citizens campaigned to name Metro’s new Red Line station “Tenleytown- American University” instead of “Tenley Circle.”12 There was no such resurgence of the name Armesleigh Park. Only through reading our deed of sale did I learn that we had bought “lot 30 in Harry A. Kite’s subdivision in…Armsleigh Park…square 1836, as per plat recorded in the Office of the Surveyor for the District of Columbia in liber 64, folio 132.” Many residents are still unaware that they live in Armesleigh Park and that it constitutes a distinct enclave within Tenleytown. Since the 1990s Armesleigh Park has been a very cohesive community. Most neighbors know each other. As the original homeowners grew old and moved out or passed away, we were the next generation to inhabit these houses. Now we’re the old people. We’ve seen children born, watched them attend Janney, Deal, and Wilson or one of the private schools, and seen them grow up, go to college, and start their adult lives. We know each other’s dogs and cats. We watch out for each other. Since 1993 we’ve had a winter holiday potluck dinner, progressing to three different houses for appetizers, entrée, and dessert. Since 1994 we’ve had a summer block party with food, 57

games, a moon bounce, a ping-pong tournament, and a visit from Tenleytown’s Engine 20 fire truck. A lot of the women are gardeners, and we visit and trade plants. The men go to Nats games and play ping-pong together. We can walk to almost everything we need on Wisconsin Avenue, and we can walk to the Metro and the bus. It’s like a small town in the big city.

Winter holiday progressive dinner and late summer block party. 58

Tea party--women of the Albemarle-Alton Place alley. In memory of Margaret Siebel.

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NOTES FOR SECTION 3

1 “Home Bought by Major,” Post, October 19, 1922, p. 50.

2 Information on Tenleytown schools from Jeanne Beck Hanrahan and Ginny Callanen, Janney Days 1925-2000: A Brief History of Bernard T. Janney Elementary School (Janney Parent-Teacher Association 2001), 10-16.

3 Landmark nomination for the Jesse Reno School, prepared by Carolyn Long for the Tenleytown Historical Society, 2009.

4 Information on Tenleytown churches from Helm, Tenleytown DC, 178-179; “Top of the Town,” Tenleytown Heritage Trail brochure, p. 9, 10, 14, online at https://www.culturaltourismdc.org/portal/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=385f1f40-069b- 4b5c-8e7a-05eac0a7c9bb&groupId=701982; landmark nomination for Eldbrooke United Methodist Church prepared by Carolyn Long for Tenleytown Historical Society, 2008.

5 In Tenleytown DC, p. 190-91, Judith Helm mentions the leading Jewish merchants of Tenleytown, but none of them lived in Armesleigh Park. The Miller Company’s restrictive covenants prohibited home sales to African Americans and those of “the Semitic race.” In 1929, they promoted the neighborhood as “safe from the invasion of the changing character of [Washington DC] neighborhoods.” https://dcist.com/story/19/01/11/10-facts-you-may-not-know-about-spring- valley/

6 Wendy Turman, email December 4, 2019. Ms. Turman added that “A few smaller synagogues were located in the SW neighborhood and H Street NE, and a couple of synagogues were organized along 14th Street in the 1920s (B’nai Israel at 14th and Emerson, Tifereth Israel at 14th and Euclid).”

7 Information on Tenleytown stores from Helm, Tenleytown DC, 114-119, 186-193.

8 Photograph of the Tievsky’s Wisconsin Market, Helm, Tenleytown DC, 187. The Tievskys were part of the community of Jewish merchants in Tenleytown; for more information see Helm, 190.

9 1930 census and city directories for the District of Columbia accessed through Ancestry.com.

10 For more on this and other such cases, see https://www.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=061d0da22587475fb9694836531790 91.

11 John Sinuro was listed in the census as a “chauffeur for a private family.” The fact that he worked for Duncan Phillips was supplied by the present owner of 3833 Warren Street.

12 Helm, Tenleytown DC, 242-248.

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APPENDIX

This appendix to the text gives the address, style, permit date, first sale and buyer, name, occupation, and family of the head of household in 1930, and sales before 1930. Original owners are highlighted in yellow.

If you want to do more research on your house or the entire neighborhood, here are the resources:

BUILDING PERMITS The most detailed information on building permits comes from Brian Kraft’s 2009 “Building Permits Database,” but it is not available online and is somewhat difficult to use. An easier method is HistoryQuest DC, an interactive map created by the Historic Preservation Office at https://dcgis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=2ab24bc3b6da4314b9f2c74b69 190333. Type in your address in the upper right corner. The map will zoom to the neighborhood with a dot on your house. Click on the house and a text will come down telling the year built (not the exact date), original property owner (Harry Kite), architect, and the construction materials. Most interestingly, it tells the number of houses built under that permit and the cost for that group, so you can do the math learn how much your individual house cost to build

PROPERTY TRANSFERS

If you’re looking for land records earlier than 1921, you will have to visit the DC Archives at 1300 Naylor Court, NW, which is a real challenge. Naylor Court is a U-shaped alley in the block bounded by 9th, 10th, N and O Streets, NW, just two blocks north of the Convention Center. There is a paid parking lot across from the Archives. Or take the Green Line to Convention Center and walk about four blocks. The research hours are limited to Tuesday and Thursday, 9 am - 12 pm. For nineteenth- century records you need to search for the names of the parties you want in the big Index Books and write down the citation for liber (volume) and page (folio). For early twentieth-century records you can use the index cards in the card drawers, again, write down the citation. You can give your list to Danny Brown, the assistant there, or you can send to him at [email protected].

For land records after 1921 you can do everything online through the Office of Tax and Revenue/Recorder of Deeds website, https://countyfusion4.kofiletech.us/countyweb/login.do?countyname=WashingtonDC. Even if you’re researching a house built in 1919-1920, you can find later property transfers and learn the names of all the owners of your house except the very first. Create an account with a user name and password. When you log in again it will automatically come up. Click accept service disclaimer Select search public records Select search by lot and square, type in information Type in dates to search—must be mm/dd/yyyy. Nothing earlier than 1921 will come up but you can still get later information on your house.

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If you only want the deed, unclick “all document types” and select deed. If you want the mortgage, click that. “All document types” will give you every transaction made by owners of your house. Click search in upper right. Click on document number; it will come up. You can read it on the screen, but if you want to print it you will be charged $4.50 on your credit card. Or you can click “save” to download as a PDF. Click “back to results” to get back to the chain of ownership, or “back to criteria” to do another search.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT A PROPERTY

Go to PropertyQuest https://propertyquest.dc.gov/# . Type in the address on the left. A map will come up with a dot on the house. On the left will be a window giving the names of the present owners, the current assessed value of the land and improvements, the most recent sale date and price, and a 2004 photograph of the house.

1930 and 1940 CENSUS These are available by subscription on Ancestry.com. Go to https://www.ancestry.com/search/categories/35/ . Click on US Federal Census Collection. A list of all censuses will come up. Choose 1930 or 1940. 1940 is marked “free” so maybe you can access it without a subscription. You can search by a name or an address. Enter “Washington, District of Columbia” in the “lived in” box. If you’re searching for a name, enter as much information as possible. If searching for an address, type it in the “keyword” box—this doesn’t always work. Once you’ve found an Armesleigh Park address, you will also see other addresses in that area. You can also view the census on microfilm at the National Archives. 1940 is the latest census available to the public.

CITY DIRECTORIES City directories have an “Alphabetical List of Names,” listing street address and occupation for individual residents. There is also the “Street and Avenue Guide,” popularly called the “criss-cross” pages, which gives street and avenue names arranged in alphabetical order; residences and businesses (with names) are arranged numerically under each street or avenue. When you locate the Armesleigh Park streets, you will be able to see who lived at each address for a given year. You can then search for that name to learn the person’s occupation. City directories are available on Ancestry.com. I have only been able to search by name; I have not been able to access the criss-cross pages. Go to https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2469/ . Choose District of Columbia and Washington from the dropdown menu, type in the “lived in” box and mark it “exact.” Choose years from the dropdown menu. If you get “zero good matches” try a different year.

The “Criss-Cross Directory” is easier to access on microfilm at one of the libraries. DC published directories for 1920-1941. After 1941, DC only published directories for 1948, 1956, 1960, and 1973. The DC Public Library Washingtoniana Division has directories on microfilm. https://www.dclibrary.org/washingtoniana#directories . While the main Martin Luther King Library is closed for renovation, you can use the convenient Interim Library at 4340 Connecticut Avenue, Van Ness Metro station. 62

DC city directories are also at the Library of Congress, Jefferson Building, Microform Reading Room, https://matthewbgilmore.wordpress.com/2017/05/18/public-washington-dc- history-resources-library-of-congress-dc-city-directories-microfilm/.

NEWSPAPERS There are two very valuable online sites by which one can search newspapers, GenealogyBank https://www.genealogybank.com/explore/newspapers/all, and Newspapers.com https://www.newspapers.com/. Both require a subscription, but you can access Newspapers.com if you have an Ancestry.com subscription. You can search by a name, an address, or other keyword. GenealogyBank has the Washington Evening Star, but it does not have the Post. You can access the Post through ProQuest using your DC Public Library ID. It is not as easy to use and search as GenealogyBank and Newspapers.com. Go to https://www.dclibrary.org/wapo, click visit. Log in with your DCPL card number. Highlight Historical Newspapers and type in your search term—turn off auto complete. Click modify search and choose oldest first. Choose custom date range. You can save or print the article. Click back arrow to return to list.

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Phase One, built 1919-1920, attributed to George Santmyers

SQUARE 1835 ALTON PLACE AND YUMA STREET (1919-1920) 1 original owner

ADDRESS LOT PERMIT FIRST SALE AND BUYER 1930 CENSUS FAMILY 1930 SALES BEFORE 1930 3800 Alton 42 February 9, July 13, 1921 John B. Severn wife, 1 child Moxley to Swen 1925, Swen to colonial 1920 Era A. Moxley Secretary- treasurer renters Morrison 1946 hotel office 3802 Alton 41 February 9, October 7, 1921 Bowden Schribner wife, 3 children Howland to Schribner 1923 Dutch colonial 1920 Harold Howland scientist, Bureau of Standards 3804 Alton 40 February 9, June 16, 1921 vacant large foursquare 1920 Carl Wedmayer 3806 Alton 39 February 9, May 11, 1921 Timothy Daley wife, 3 children Winkler to McKay 1928 large bungalow 1920 Clara R. Winkler lawyer McKay to Daley 1928 US government

3808 Alton 38 November April 7, 1921 Dorsey R. Beane wife, 8 children large foursquare 11, 1919 Dorsey Beane manager oil and coal company

3810 Alton 37 November November 10, 1920 Lawrence Voorhus wife, 1 child Harreman to Voorhus 1924 Dutch colonial 11, 1919 Harry Harreman electrical engineer, phone company

3812 Alton 36 November June 10, 1921 Thomas C. MacKay city directory Vinci to MacKay 1923 large foursquare 11, 1919 Adolfo Vinci 3814 Alton 35 November February 17, 1921 Grace M. Reed sister, daughter no documents before 1948 small bungalow 11, 1919 Eliz. V. Berens no occupation renters

4411 39th 32 May 26, December 29, 1919 Nelson Keeler city directory no documents before 1942 large foursquare 1919 Muriel Flemming Merritt

4409 39th 31 May 26, March 4, 1920 John Judge wife, 2 children, Gore to Judge 1921 Dutch colonial 1919 Fred H. Gore warrant officer sister-in-law

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US Navy 3801 Yuma 23 July 15, December 17, 1920 Martin Uelsmann wife, 2 children, Branhan to Maher 1925 Razed for Metro 1919 Joseph S. Branhan credit bank 2 brothers-in- Maher to Burns 1927 US government law Burns to Reich 1930 renters 3803 Yuma 24 July 15, September 23, 1920 Robert Wilson wife, 1 child Michelson to Wilson 1924 colonial 1919 Truman Michelson clerk of the works, National Cathedral

3805 Yuma 25 July 15, May 28, 1920 Thomas Barth wife, 2 children no documents before 1938 large bungalow 1919 Arthur T. Derry Student renters

3807 Yuma 26 July 15, May 7, 1920 Wallace Talley wife, 2 children, Johnson to Talley 1922 large bungalow 1919 Charles Z.Y. Johnson Executive husband’s Boy Scouts parents

3809 Yuma 27 June 18, May 19, 1920 Percy Schneider wife, 4 children Brooks to Mullins 1930 small bungalow 1919 Sumner Brooks sales renters electrical appliances 3811 Yuma 28 June 18, December 30, 1919 Mary DePaschalis Carlton Philips DePaschalis to Bishop 1924 large foursquare 1919 William L. Tydings wife, 1 child renters 3813 Yuma June 18, May 29, 1920 Benjamin Austin wife, 2 children Birkett to Austin 1925 small bungalow 1919 Donald S. Birkett mechanic’s helper, Bureau of Standards

3815 Yuma 30 June 18, June 3, 1920 vacant large bungalow 1919 Virginia C. McCarthy

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SQUARE 1834 YUMA STREET (1919-1920) 1 original owner

ADDRESS LOT PERMIT FIRST SALE AND BUYER 1930 CENSUS FAMILY SALES BEFORE 1930 3800 Yuma 16 August 25, August 27, 1920 William Johnson wife, 2 children Moore to Wright 1926 Dutch colonial 1919 Thomas Moore Physician Wright to Johnson 1928

3802 Yuma 15 August 25, May 19, 1920 Edmund Burrows wife, 2 children Platt to Dettweiler 1925 large foursquare 1919 Florence H. Platt Printer Dettweiler to Burrows 1926 US government

3804 Yuma 14 August 25, December 21, 1920 Robert Laughlin wife, 1 child Dettweiler to Laughlin 1925 small bungalow 1919 Robert B. Patterson Officer US Army

3806 Yuma 13 August 25, May 28, 1920 John Harper wife, 3 children, Patterson to Danielson 1922 Dutch colonial 1919 Daniel C. Wilkerson Physician mother-in-law, Danielson to Giddings 1924 US Navy servant Giddings to Harper 1925

3808 Yuma 12 August 25, June 22, 1920 Raymond Zimmerman wife, 5 children no documents before 1968 small bungalow 1919 Frederick W. Swanton Repairman

3810 Yuma 11 August 25, April 29, 1920 Kinsey Carpenter wife, 1 child, Tobey to Carpenter 1923 large foursquare 1919 Ezra L. Morgan Lawyer servant

3812 Yuma 10 August 25, September 13, 1920 Lena Burgdoff no documents before 1978 large bungalow 1919 Lena L. Burgdorf secretary Ada Burgdoff teacher

3816 Yuma 31 October 27, no results not yet moved from saltbox cottage 1920 Alton

3818 Yuma 30 October 27, no results not yet moved from saltbox cottage 1920 Alton

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Phase Two, houses built 1920-1923, Alexander Sonnemann

SQUARE 1778 ALTON PLACE (1920) 1 original owner

ADDRESS LOT PERMIT FIRST SALE AND BUYER 1930 CENSUS FAMILY DATE OF SALES 3901 Alton 1 October 27, July 30, 1921 vacant Mina Denis to small foursquare 1920 Mary Yoos to George Southern 1930 Richard O’Neill 3903 Alton 2 October 27, April 15, 1921 Roscoe Cattell wife, 1 child Doris Hoover to saltbox cottage 1920 Berthold S. Winkler Engineer, renters Isabel Berkley 1928 Commerce Department 3905 Alton 3 October 27, no result Robert A. Halstead wife, 1 child Allan to Halstead 1929 vertical cottage 1920 floor manager, department store 3907 Alton 4 October 27, July 1, 1922 Doris Hoover 1 child, mother Hoover to Berkley 1928 saltbox cottage 1920 Doris Hoover clerk, department store renters 3909 Alton 5 October 27, no result Herbert Lawson wife, 2 children Mina Denis to saltbox cottage 1920 furniture repair, renters George Southern 1930 department store

SQUARE 1836 ALTON PLACE, 39TH STREET, ALBEMARLE STREET (1921-1922) 9 original owners

ADDRESS LOT PERMIT FIRST SALE AND BUYER 1930 CENSUS FAMILY 1930 SALES BEFORE 1930 3801 Alton 23 June 23, October 28, 1921 Joseph Baldwin wife, 2 children Hacker to Baldwin 1924 small foursquare (810) 1921 Theodore B. Hacker life insurance agent 3803 Alton 24 June 23, January 5, 1922 Samuel Bell wife, 2 children, saltbox cottage 1921 Samuel and Carolyn journalist mother-in-law Bell 3805 Alton 25 June 23, January 5, 1922 Bernhard Behrend wife, no Bunch to Fay 1923 vertical cottage 1921 Beulah Bunch shipping manager children Fay to Behrend 1925 pie company 3807 Alton 26 June 23, March 27, 1922 William R. Burgess Wescott to Burgess 1929 saltbox cottage 1921 Cora Mae Wescott from city directory

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3809 Alton 27 April 25, January 5, 1922 William Denton wife, 2 children Masterson to Denton 1924 small foursquare 1921 Mahlon Masterson manager building supply

3811 Alton 28 April 25, September 23, 1921 Robert McCally wife, 2 children, saltbox cottage 1921 Robert E. MCally engineer mother US government

3813 Alton 29 April 25, October 22, 1921 William Donald wife, no vertical cottage 1921 William J. Donald office manager children Republican National Committee

3815 Alton 30 April 25, October 20, 1921 Richard L. Strout wife, 2 children Smith to McAtee 1924 saltbox cottage 1921 Vernon D. Smith journalist McAtee to Strout 1926

3817 Alton 31 April 25, January 5, 1922 Charles Maloney wife, 5 children small foursquare 1921 Charles P. Maloney paving contractor

4419 39th 10 April 13, November 23, 1885 Joseph M. Curran 3 adult children Victorian 1891 sale by Arianna Lyles to Joseph M. Curran

4423 39th 32 no result December 16, 1959 house not yet built brick two-story sale by Margaret and Adele Curran to George J. Ellis

3800 Albemarle 44 December May 29, 1923 John E. Black wife, 2 children Kite to Black 1924 small foursquare 17, 1921 Anne Todd Kite dentist

3808 Albemarle 40 December September 12, 1922 John H. Paterson wife no children Aitcheson/Reed to Kite 1924 horizontal cottage 17, 1921 Edna Aitcheson and Blacksmith traction Kite to Paterson 1926 (demolished and Mary Reed company replaced)

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3810 Albemarle 39 December August 29, 1922 George E. Ferris wife, 3 children Rogers to Ferris 1925 small foursquare 17, 1921 Kingston G. Rogers building contractor

3812 Albemarle 38 October 10, August 3, 1922 Mahlon Masterson wife, 1 child McMurrain to Chapin 1925 horizontal cottage 1921 Samuel E. McMurrain lawyer, U.S. Chapin to Moyer 1925 (demolished and government Moyer to Walter Case Inc. 1926 replaced) Case to Barron 1926 Cannon to Masterson 1926 3814 Albemarle 37 October 10, July 14, 1922 John Poloni wife, no Schock to Poloni 1925 vertical cottage 1921 John Schock sales, men’s clothing children

3816 Albemarle 36 October 10, September 11, 1922 Thomas Henry wife, 1 child, horizontal cottage 1921 Thomas R. Henry newspaper reporter mother (demolished and replaced) 3818 Albemarle 35 October 10, May 13, 1922 John Whitcomb wife, no saltbox cottage 1921 Jack Whitcomb and mechanic children wife Dorothy (grandmother of Jon Whitcomb at 3811 Alton) 3820 Albemarle 34 October 10, September 26, 1922 Ida A. Polley Foster to Kite 1923 horizontal cottage 1921 Robert R. Foster city directory Kite to Holmes 1923 Holmes to Polley 1924 3822 Albemarle 33 October 10, June 26, 1922 vacant No documents until 1940 saltbox cottage 1921 George W. Fuller

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SQUARE 1889 38TH STREET BETWEEN ALBEMARLE AND ALTON (1922) 1 original owner

ADDRESS LOT PERMIT FIRST SALE AND BUYER 1930 CENSUS FAMILY 1930 SALES BEFORE 1930 4411 38th 9 August 14, August 2, 1923 Frederick Kayhoe wife, 3 children saltbox cottage 1922 Frederick G. Kayhoe Realtor

4409 38th 8 August 14, August 21, 1923 Harold Adams wife Windes to Adams 1927 v cottage 1922 Eustace R. Windes marine engineer Navy Department

SQUARE 1890 38TH STREET BETWEEN ALTON AND YUMA (1922)

ADDRESS LOT PERMIT FIRST SALE AND BUYER 1930 CENSUS FAMILY 1930 SALES BEFORE 1930 4401 38th 13 August 13, March 8, 1923 Fred Waight wife Lester to Hamilton 1923 small foursquare 1922 Lillian P. Lester assistant chief, Hamilton to Smith 1924 US government Smith to Waight 1926

4403 38th 14 August 13, January 30, 1924 Michael Downey wife, 2 children Bell to Slater 1925 vertical cottage 1922 Alexander D. Bell lawyer Slater to Downey 1927 US government

4405 38th 15 August 13, April 25, 1923 Charles Staples wife, 2 children Deshay to Staples 1928 saltbox cottage 1922 John Deshay mechanical engineer Bureau of Standards

4407 38th 16 August 13, April 10, 1923 Carey Buchanon wife DeButts to Buchanon 1924 small foursquare 1922 Dean J. DeButts Lawyer

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SQUARE 1891 38TH STREET BETWEEN YUMA AND WINDOM (1922) 2 original owners

ADDRESS LOT PERMIT FIRST SALE AND BUYER 1930 CENSUS FAMILY 1930 SALES BEFORE 1930 4301 38th 12 September 1, September 27, 1923 Sophie J. Bergner adult daughter small foursquare 1922 Sophie J. Bergner senior comm. [?] US government

4303 38th 13 September 1, September 7, 1923 Arthur M. Chreitzberg wife, 1 child saltbox cottage 1922 Arthur M. Chreitzberg Clerk US government

4305 38th 14 September 1, August 10, 1923 Lawrence Staples wife Bender to Staples 1928 vertical cottage 1922 Robert B. Bender secretary, church

4307 38th 15 September 1, May 21, 1923 Charles Brown wife Lewis to Brown 1928 small foursquare 1922 Walter S. Lewis secretary, real estate agency

SQUARE 1834 WINDOM PLACE (1923) 5 original owners

ADDRESS LOT PERMIT FIRST SALE AND BUYER 1930 CENSUS FAMILY 1930 SALES BEFORE 1930 3801 Windom 24 January 15, November 28, 1923 Robert Jones wife, 2 children saltbox cottage 1923 Robert Jones architect

3805 Windom 25 January 15, January 9, 1924 Edward Marshall wife, 1 child Greenlaw to Robert 1926 large bungalow 1923 Allen R. Greenlaw civil engineer renters U.S. Navy

3809 Windom 26 January 15, March 26, 1924 David M. Fisher wife, sister-in- vertical cottage 1923 David M. Fisher railroad agent law

3813 Windom 27 January 15, December 19, 1923 John F. Matthews wife, no Howard to Matthews 1928 small foursquare 1923 Ralph W. Howard teacher, public school children

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3817 Windom 28 January 15, March 28, 1924 Guy M. Alexander wife, no vertical cottage 1923 Guy M. Alexander accountant children express company

3825 Windom 22 January 15, no buyer Ralph Wilson wife, 3 children Kite to B.F. Saul and others saltbox cottage 1923 accountant U.S. Navy trust 1923 Saul to Kite release 1926 Wash. Loan & Trust to Wilson 1932 3829 Windom 23 January 15, November 2, 1923 Josephus E. Sands wife, no small foursquare 1923 Josephus E. Sands superintendant children telephone co.

SQUARE 1780 YUMA STREET (1923) 1 original owner

ADDRESS LOT PERMIT FIRST SALE AND BUYER 1930 CENSUS FAMILY 1930 SALES BEFORE 1930 3904 Yuma 810 January 23, March 7, 1929 Randolph Poore wife, 5 children large foursquare 1923 Randolph Poore manager real estate company 3902 Yuma 809 January 28, John H. Stadtler William J. Harper wife, 5 children no records before 1949 large foursquare 1923 October 6, 1921 Retired renters

SQUARE 1784 WINDOM PLACE (1923) 1 original owner

ADDRESS LOT PERMIT FIRST SALE AND OWNER 1930 CENSUS FAMILY 1930 SALES BEFORE 1930 3900 Windom 9 September July 23, 1924 Samuel R. Burrows wife, adult son small foursquare 21, 1923 Samuel R. Burrows retail merchant poultry market 3902 Windom 13 September Peter H. Walsh wife, 3 children, 1 adult no records small foursquare 21, 1923 lineman electric company daughter, son-in-law, before 1930 renters grandchild

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Phase 3, houses built 1824-1825, Sonnemann

SQUARE 1833 WINDOM PLACE, 39TH STREET, WARREN STREET (1924-1925)

ADDRESS LOT PERMIT FIRST SALE AND OWNER 1930 CENSUS FAMILY 1930 SALES BEFORE 1930 3800 Windom 20 March 8, 1925 no results Frank Girardi wife, sister-in- no documents until 1934 cottage (803) lawyer law 3804 Windom 38 March 8, 1925 October 1, 1925 Eugene H. Dunnigan wife, no cottage Eugene H. Dunnigan conciliator children US government

3808 Windom 37 March 8, 1925 September 29, 1925 Edward Cunningham wife, 2 children cottage Edward Cunningham executive US government

3812 Windom 36 March 8, 1925 October 5, 1925 Samuel E. Cheaney wife, 2 children, cottage Samuel E. Cheaney investment broker grandchild

3816 Windom 35 March 8, 1925 November 10, 1925 John S. Tucker wife, 2 children cottage John S. Tucker translator US government

3820 Windom 34 March 8, 1925 December 1, 1925 Charles B. Lister wife, 1 child, cottage Charles B. Lister secretary-treasurer sister and National Rifle brother-in-law Association

3826 Windom 33 November 4, July 1, 1925 Francis W. McNeil 3 children, son- cottage 1924 Francis W. McNeil clerk in-law US government

3830 Windom 32 November 4, April 6, 1925 Fred J. Dier wife, no cottage 1924 Fred J. Dier grocery broker children

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3838 Windom 27 March 31, September 24, 1924 Joseph K. Maxwell wife, daughter, cottage 1924 Joseph K. Maxwell customs clerk son-in-law Treasury Department

3842 Windom 26 March 31, September 15, 1924 Dennis E. McQueary wife, children cottage 1924 Dennis E. McQueary lawyer U.S. government

4301 39th 24 April 4, 1924 February 21, 1925 George Bateman 1 daughter Lancaster to Bateman colonial Robert F. Lancaster salesman 1926 clothing store

4315 39th 25 April 4, 1924 April 13, 1925 Stephen A. Gorman wife, 3 children, colonial Stephen A. Gorman Manager Pepco mother and father-in-law 3841 Warren 23 March 31, October 13, 1924 John F. Sinuro wife, 4 children cottage 1924 John F. Sinuro chauffeur private family

3837 Warren 22 March 31, July 8, 1925 Charles H. Rogers wife, children cottage 1924 Charles H. Rogers accountant Federal Trade Commission 3833 Warren 30 Nov. 4, 1924 April 21, 1925 Reuben S. Miller wife, niece cottage Reuben S. Miller manager fuel company 3829 Warren 29 Nov. 4, 1924 April 28, 1925 Carl S. Cragoe wife, 2 children cottage Carl S. Cragoe physicist government laboratory 3825 Warren 28 Nov. 4, 1924 September 2, 1925 not in census Kite to Casto 1927 cottage Lily H. Ridgeway Casto to Smoot 1930