Aug 30, 2020 | Not on Home, Uncategorized
Home Owners: Cathi & Phil Smith
Tour Highlights:
102 13th Street, NE
★ Phil built all of the upper glass-front kitchen cabinets and the butler pantry.
★ The speaking tube, a Victorian communication device still in use today (on the wall near the refrigerator) connects to the second-floor hall.
★ Phil’s grandfather collected clocks, including the 1905 Norwich Linen model manufactured by the New Haven Clock Company in the guestroom.
★ Phil and Cathi were married in Florence, Italy in 1989. Bright red banners advertising a charity dinner hung from light poles all around the city. After the event, a worker cutting them down happily gave one to them. The plate and glass under the banner were used at the charity dinner served on the streets of Florence.
Fun to Find:
★ A 1926 photo of Cathi’s father and his twin brother on a toy cow (first shelf of book case). A later photo shows the boys riding a pony.
★ The 80-plus-year-old Teddy Bear belonged to Phil’s older brother, who died of pneumonia while still an infant. The bear became Phil’s when he was born.
★ The roosters and Russian dolls on the kitchen shelves and an apology from Frankie on the fridge.
★ The reflection of the camera that records the tour
★ Find the speaking tubes, upstairs and in the kitchen! Helllloooo?
House Description:
The Franke Family on June 27, 1896
These walls did talk. Fifteen years ago, the owners of this corner house overlooking Lincoln Park noticed three people looking intently at the outside of their residence. One of the visitors, Jean Colison, explained that her mother was the granddaughter of the original owner. She had come to see the house, along with her mother Lois Colison and her brother Warren.
“You must be the Frankes,” Phil exclaimed. “I have your mail!” Mrs. Colison was indeed the granddaughter of Friedrick Maximillian Franke (1844-1900) and his wife Lisette Maria Kandler (1852-1925), who had purchased the house in 1892. Her mother, Hilda, was one of the Franke’s five children.
Treasures Found In the Walls
While renovating the house, the Smiths discovered mail addressed to all seven members of the Franke family in the door and window casings, where it apparently had been placed to stop drafts. Also found were documents such as the paid receipt for “Water Rent” of $3.75 for the year 1903 and Albert Franke’s library card. A few examples are framed in the powder room.
Frank Wickline built the Queen Anne-style row house in 1892. The Permit to Build from the District of Columbia Inspector of Buildings and the Special Application for Projections beyond the Building Line by the Department of War were approved on December 1, 1891. The house and the adjoining residence on North Carolina Avenue were constructed together and were valued at $4000.
The Franke Family in an earlier photo
The Frankes financed the house with a loan from the German-American Building Association, the name of which is still engraved on the building at the northeast corner of 3rd Street and Independence Avenue.
The Colisons provided documents and photos including a June 27, 1896 family portrait in front of the house that now hangs in the vestibule along with an earlier, undated photo showing only four houses on the street. There is also a 1904 photo of Mrs. Franke (a milliner) and a friend in their elegant hats taken from the corner.
Max Franke, an engraver born in Germany, was the first owner. He migrated to Michigan at the age of 25 and moved to Washington, DC in the early 1880s. Two of his engravings of The Capitol at Washington are in the Library of Congress. A downloaded copy of one is framed in the vestibule.
L.S. Fluckey Hand-Painted Fine China
In 1909, the house was sold to Lulu Fluckey (1872-1934), an artist whose beautiful hand-painted fine china is still collected today. Known professionally as L.S. Fluckey, she was an artist for Limoges and other premier porcelain makers of the day. Her son, Rear Admiral Eugene B. (Lucky) Fluckey, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his valor in WW II. The house was then owned by her daughter Frances Lucille Fluckey Clarke, who sold it in 1938. Afterwards, there was a series of owners ending with Philip and Catherine Smith, who purchased 102 13th Street (once 2 13th Street), NE, in 1990. The house originally had four bedrooms and one and one-half baths. It was remodeled and updated in the early 1990s. The basic floor plan was retained except for the bathrooms. One bedroom was converted into two bathrooms. The half-bath, which was in the kitchen, was removed to enlarge the kitchen. The back hall to the kitchen was closed and part of the hall became a powder room.
To the left of the center hall is the living room with an octagonal bay, curved corners, and a view of Lincoln Park. To the right is the dining room. The china cabinet in the recess had to be completely rebuilt.
The pocket doors to both rooms were found in the basement. One door of each set had approximately one-third of the top panel cut out, where a window had been inserted. Why? No one knows. The two solid doors were reinstalled to the living room and the two others, with replacement glass, in the dining room.
The swinging door to the kitchen was also found in the basement. It was not the original door so the Smiths enlarged it with molding to fit. They also built the glass-fronted kitchen cabinets. A door opens off the kitchen to the patio.
102 13th Side Patio
On the second floor, the room above the living room is a bedroom/den. The room above the dining room serves as the master bedroom. Phil’s mother nursed her children in the rocking chair.
Above the kitchen is the third bedroom with a curved wall and odd angles. The room is filled with light from its three windows and skylight. The oak dresser was inherited from Phil’s grandparents. The steamer trunk belonged to Cathi’s grandfather who lived with her family. He always filled it with Fifth Avenue and Mounds candy bars. The children could have as many as they wished when their parents weren’t looking. The right wall of the second floor hall has the end of a “Speaking Tube,” a Victorian means of communicating between floors, still used by the Smiths today.
The Smiths have now lived on Capitol Hill for over 30 years. They love living in our beautiful neighborhood and plan to age in place here.
Jul 15, 2020 | Not on Home, Uncategorized
Home Owner: Patrick Crowley
630 E St NE Front
Tour Highlights:
★ Faux finishes on living room, dining room and master bath walls, powder room ceiling, and on doors throughout the house
★ Kitchen light fixture constructed of water pipes and custom bulbs
★ Drawings made by home-owner in second floor hall
★ Skylight in master bath
Fun to Find:
★ Panama Hat
★ Globe Collection
★ Stained-Glass Kite
House Description:
630 E St NE Naval Bench
630 E Street, NE, celebrates the out-of-the-ordinary. The fun begins in the front yard with a bright red, double-faced bench. Found in a Denver antique store, the bench’s naval-themed bas-relief motif was rediscovered after many layers of lead paint were striped away. An easily overlooked sailing ship hides on the side of the red legs. The bench isn’t in its final resting place, however. Patrick Crowley, the home owner, has decided this bench will be installed above his gravesite, “so others might rest in peace.”
Don’t let this 1881 structure fool you; the only old thing left inside is the molding around the front door and windows. Everything else dates from the 1999 renovation. This home and the adjoining house to the east had been gutted and joined to form a Pentecostal church that served the neighborhood for 32 years. Patrick designed the floor plan and oversaw much of the renovation, including the removal of a ten-foot 1960s addition tacked onto the back of the house.
Keep your eyes peeled for the whimsical odds and ends throughout the house. For example, the Brooklyn Bridge painting in the foyer, by Houston (via Alvear Studio, formerly on 8th St. SE) is painted on the back of the glass – in reverse order: foreground first, background last. The map of Capitol Hill is by Eastern Market artist Mary Belcher.
Color is a hallmark feature of Patrick’s home. The yellow vertically striped faux-finish paintwork in the living room is the work of Michael Norris (a local artist who currently resides in Palm Springs). Norris’s perfect touch is also seen in the backgammon-themed diamonds below the chair rail in the dining room and in the faux-grained wood doors throughout the house. Be sure to look up in the powder room at the checkered ceiling – Norris swore he would never do it again!
Despite its youthful interior, the home has an old-soul feel created by the pilaster columns that separate rooms and the oversized antique pieces that dominate the12-foot-tall living room. The massive 20th-century armoire just inside the front door was originally a foot shorter. An extra foot was added to make the mirror work for six-foot Patrick. Note the bas-relief artwork on the armoire is repeated in the tromp l`oeil paint work at the top of the front windows by artist Bryan King of Artiface Inc. of Arlington, VA.
The almost-twin, 19th-century American Renaissance glass-door bookshelves flanking the gas-fed fireplace were almost lost to powder post beetles. Patrick sent them off to a three-month fumigation spa to save them. The tiny pock holes are the signs of beetle infestation. The oak drop-leaf gate-legged dining table (another Eastern Market find) in the front bay now serves as Patrick’s Covid-19 home office. The merlot-color leather living room furniture came from Crate & Barrel while the oriental carpets were purchased at the old Tracadero’s off Dupont Circle.
On the living room mantle are two tall vases purchased at the Baltimore Craft Fair. The skeleton keys collection dates to Patrick’s days at Congressional Cemetery. The bust, inherited from Patrick’s mother, was brought back from Italy by Patrick’s father after serving in WWII. Across the room at the bottom of the stairs is a striking self-portrait by artist Terri Maxfield Lipp. Lipp also painted Patrick’s mother, Catherine Crowley, in the center room and Patrick as a 19th-century gentleman above the drop-leaf secretary near the bookcase.
In 2014 a long-awaited project was begun: opening interior walls put in by the developer in both the upstairs and downstairs front window bays. What was revealed are the beautiful, original, historic moldings you see today. Patrick installed the historically accurate arched windows. The windows across the back of the house were installed this year. The pilaster columns framing the bay window sitting area were built under the direction of Merlino Construction, transitioning from the sheet rock walls of 1999 to the original plaster walls.
The center room holds numerous other prized possessions of the owner (a Taurus you may have guessed). The tall “Reading Dog” is the work of local artist Bobby West. “Leap of Faith” was purchased in Santa Fe. The fine china in the three-door cabinet was inherited from his parents. The books on the left are all signed first editions, mostly by local authors, purchased at the annual Eastern Market Book Fair. The new gray tweed furniture came from Mitchell Gold on 14th Street, NW.
As you pass through a short hallway toward the kitchen, note the community achievement awards presented to Patrick by Congressional Cemetery and the Capitol Hill Community Foundation. Also in the passage is Patrick’s collection of world globes run the gamut from 1970s-era children’s saving banks to Rube Goldberg spinning contraptions to serious collector pieces. Three stand out as prize pieces: the 1881 Merzbach & Falk which displays Africa before its colonization demarcations (third from right on top shelf); the 1851 E. Andriveau-Goujon which shows Algeria as the first French African colony (right hand, first shelf set in brass stand); 1920s-era Hungarian “A Fold” that focuses on Asian political boundaries.
The kitchen provides drama with a backsplash, wall, and ceiling of gold-painted embossed anaglypta wallpaper. The pottery in the oak cabinet is mostly from Eastern Market potters Barbara Chowney and Susan Jacobs. The new lighting mixes water pipes with faux antique lightbulbs by Simply Lofty Creations.
630 E St NE Patio
The kitchen leads to the much-used patio with a newly rebuilt stone garden wall (Ginkgo Gardens) and decorative steel railing built by Craftsman Ironworks. The garden was designed by Geoff Lindstrom.
The upstairs hallway also shows the owner’s love of art. His own drawings are on display on the wall. (Patrick serves on the board of the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop.) The oversized detail of Gustave Callebotte’s “Paris Street; Rainy Day” was once hanging along Michigan Avenue outside the Art Institute of Chicago.
Down the hall, the master bedroom faux parchment paper wall treatment was done by Brian King, and the master bathroom skylight flaunts a “high flying” stained-glass kite, along with an extra-long claw-footed tub and wall spout. In the master bedroom, you see the beautiful sitting area that was opened up in 2014 to allow the historically accurate arched windows to be installed and the home brought back to original authenticity and beauty.
Feb 19, 2020 | Not on Home, Uncategorized
Celebrate 63 Years of Touring! Saturday, May 9, 4 – 7 p.m. – Sunday, May 10, 1 – 5 p.m.
The Capitol Hill Restoration Society’s annual House & Garden Tour is one of the highlights of the Capitol Hill calendar. Every year for 63 years our friends have opened the best homes and gardens of Capitol Hill to tour-goers. Don’t miss this special Mother’s Day weekend treat. The $40 tickets are just $35 if bought prior to the tour weekend. Tour proceeds fund CHRS’s award-winning activities in preservation, planning and education.
Confirmed houses and other tour stops:
- 722 9th St. SE
- 545 7th St. SE – Capitol Hill Art League at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (Saturday only)
- 620 G St. SE – Christ Church
- 647 Archibald Walk SE
- 504 6th St. SE
- 526 6th St. SE
- 528 6th St. SE
- 529 6th St. SE
- 725 5th St. SE #21 (Lenox Condos)
- 514 4th St. SE #201 (Churchill Condos)
- 323 4th St. SE
- 305 C St. SE
- Refreshments, rest facilities, and TICKET SALES (cash/check/charge) at the Hill Center, 921 Pennsylvania Ave. SE (any time during tour hours)
- Tickets may also be purchased at any house on the tour, during tour hours – cash or check only
Feb 7, 2020 | Historic Preservation Committee, Misc Issues (inc. Environment), Not on Home, Uncategorized
Response to “When Historic Preservation Hurts Cities”, Binyamin Appelbaum, New York Times, January 26, 2020, by Beth Purcell, President, Capitol Hill Restoration Society followed by a response from Nicholas A. Redding, Executive Director, Preservation Maryland: (more…)
