Fort Stevens Ridge

Fort Stevens Ridge is a neighborhood in Northwest Washington, D.C. built during the 1920s. The area is very roughly bounded by Peabody Street, Fifth Street, Underwood Street, and Ninth Street. It is named for nearby Fort Stevens, a Civil War-era fort used to defend the nation's capital from invasion by Confederate soldiers.

History

In 1920, real estate developer Harry Wardman and his business partner Thomas P. Bones bought the forested plot of land with the intention of building moderately priced housing, which was scarce in Washington following World War I. Wardman had already successfully built houses in other Washington neighborhoods such as Bloomingdale, Columbia Heights, and Mount Pleasant.

The area was favorable for several reasons. It was within walking distance to schools, shopping, churches, and parks. It was also convenient to public transportation, namely the Brightwood trolley, which traveled downtown along Georgia Avenue.

The land was originally zoned for single-family and semi-detached housing. Wardman initially sought to rezone the land for what he called community houses, which were rows of three to five attached houses. Residents of the nearby Manor Park neighborhood objected to Wardman's plans to increase the density of the area, and Wardman was forced to build semi-detached houses after all.

Because Rittenhouse Street was a major thoroughfare running through the middle of the land, Wardman built the first houses in the area bounded by Rittenhouse Street, Fifth, Sheridan, and Eighth Streets. Each semi-detached house was two stories high, had a covered porch, and a small yard in the front, side, and back.

As Wardman developed more of the land, American culture changed. Increasingly, families were buying cars and desired garages. Wardman built street-level garages under the side porches of some of last houses built, in the 600 block of Somerset Street.

Wardman placed advertisements for the housing in local newspapers such as the Washington Post and Evening Star. The advertisements centered on the houses' modern amenities as well as their low prices, which were possible due to their mass production. In 1927, a local newspaper advertisement quoted the price of $55 per house. Other advertisements defined potential buyers as "refined people of average means." Model houses were located at 611 and 715 Rittenhouse Street.

References

* "Celebrating a Century of Wardman Row House Neighborhoods." Exhibition by the Historical Society of Washington, D.C. Carnegie Library Building, Washington, D.C., February 2007. waybackdate|site=http://www.citymuseumdc.org/location/exhibits.asp|date=20070203

* Fleishman, Sandra. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/14/AR2005101400789_pf.html "Wardman's World: Developer's Rowhouses Defined the District in the Early 20th Century and Are Still Prized Today"] , "The Washington Post", 2005-10-15. Retrieved on 2007-11-29.

See also

* Brightwood