June 20, 2012

Can you identify LeDroit Park’s 12 distinct architectural styles?

The Washingtoniana Division of the M.L.K. Library contains a great collection of books on the history of Washington. Since all the material in the section is reference material, none of it can be checked out.

The kind librarians, however, permitted me to scan the entire book LeDroit Park Conserved, produced in 1979 for the DC government.

The book covers the historical development of the neighborhood, documents the different architectural styles, and offers suggestions to residents who wish to restore their properties with greatest historical accuracy.

Most surprising to me was the number of architectural styles represented in LeDroit Park.  Let’s review:

Chateauesque

Georgian revival

Italian villa

Italianate

Queen Anne (brick row house)

Queen Anne (frame row house)

Queen Anne (free-standing)

Renaissance revival

Second empire

Spanish revival

Victorian gothic

Washington row house

View the entire book for all the details, photos, diagrams, and maps.

Categories: Historic Preservation, History
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5 Replies

  1. Thanks for taking the time to scan this – it’s awesome and so informative!

    Makes me really wonder what the heck these folks were thinking: http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/333-U-St-NW-Washington-DC-20001/479420_zpid/

    Shipsa01 - June 20, 2012 @ 1:16 pm
  2. what a fantastic post – thank you!

    Maya - June 21, 2012 @ 6:16 am
  3. What about those of us who live in those little two-up, two-down row houses (with a front porch) on Oakdale Place? What architectural style are we? Georgian? Federal? Thanks!

    Dena - June 21, 2012 @ 9:16 am
  4. This is awesome. I’d been calling the Washington Row Houses “federal style” and the Queen Annes “victorian.” Now I can point out things to folks with more precision. Thanks!

    Dan - June 21, 2012 @ 12:49 pm
  5. …Also I’d been calling the Wardman homes “wardman-style” – and now here I see that the more precise term is “Georgian revival” per this book. Fascinating!

    Dan - June 21, 2012 @ 12:52 pm

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