Misplaced Pages

#906093

80-838: The Georgetown Car Barn , historically known as the Capital Traction Company Union Station , is a building in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. , in the United States. Designed by the architect Waddy Butler Wood , it was built between 1895 and 1897 by the Capital Traction Company as a union terminal for several Washington and Virginia streetcar lines. The adjacent Exorcist steps , later named after their appearance in William Friedkin 's 1973 horror film The Exorcist , were built during

160-501: A Presbyterian church in 1784. A Catholic Church , Trinity Catholic Church, was built in 1795, along with a parish school-house. Construction of St. John's Episcopal Church began in 1797 but paused for financial reasons until 1803, and the church was finally consecrated in 1809. Banks in Georgetown included the Farmers and Mechanics Bank , which was established in 1814. Other banks included

240-440: A Georgetown resident who later was a plaintiff in the landmark case Marbury v. Madison . Stoddert ultimately purchased Halcyon House at the corner of 34th and Prospect Streets. The Forrest-Marbury House on M Street is currently the embassy of Ukraine. In 1800, the federal capital was moved from the revolutionary capital of Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., and Georgetown became an independent municipal government within

320-461: A cemetery, large clusters of flowers, groves of trees, and open quadrangles. The main campus has traditionally centered on Dahlgren Quadrangle, although Red Square has replaced it as the focus of student life. Healy Hall , built in Flemish Romanesque style from 1877 to 1879, is the architectural gem of Georgetown's campus, and is a National Historic Landmark . The 1973 film The Exorcist

400-429: A charter and incorporated the town in 1789. Although Georgetown was never officially made a city, it was later referred to as the "City of Georgetown" in several 19th-century Acts of Congress . ) Robert Peter , an early area merchant in the tobacco trade, became the town's first mayor in 1790. John Beatty established the first church in Georgetown, a Lutheran church on High Street. Stephen Bloomer Balch established

480-559: A large retaining wall, which were built at the time the Car Barn was constructed, to connect M and Prospect Streets. The steps are so named as they provided the location for the scene in the 1973 horror film The Exorcist where the priest is thrown down the stairs to his death. The next-door resident of the Prospect House , who furnished affidavits by prominent architects, opposed the building's construction by stating that blasting from

560-545: A large-scale re-design of the Barn, which began in 1910. The entrances to the building were extended to accommodate the larger cars, and a new elevator was installed to lift streetcars to the roof. This transition required a near-complete reconstruction of the building. The steel support beams were replaced, and the hipped roofs were replaced so the entire façade could be extended toward M Street and heightened to allow more office space. The central tower, which once rose prominently above

640-672: A power generating plant for the old Capital Traction streetcar system, located at the foot of Wisconsin Avenue, which closed in 1935, and was demolished in October 1968. In 1949, the city constructed the Whitehurst Freeway , an elevated highway above K Street, to allow motorists entering the District over the Key Bridge to bypass Georgetown entirely on their way downtown. In 1950, Public Law 808

720-576: A renovation of the building's first floor to provide space for the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the Georgetown University Press . A new lounge located in the southwest corner of the building featured floor-to-ceiling glass windows that increased window space by partly or completely replacing garage doors. The project also renovated the floor's more easterly M Street windows and entry doors. In 2022, Georgetown University purchased

800-470: A tobacco inspection house along the Potomac River on a site that was already a tobacco trading post when the inspection house was built. Warehouses, wharves, and other buildings were then constructed around the inspection house, and it quickly became a small community. Georgetown grew as thriving port, facilitating trade and shipments of goods to and from the colonial-era Province of Maryland . In 1751,

880-557: Is on the alignment of the tobacco hogshead rolling road from rural Maryland , and the Federal Customs House was located on 31st Street (now utilized as the post office). The city's oldest bridge, the sandstone bridge which carries Wisconsin Avenue over the C&;O Canal, and which dates to 1831, was reopened to traffic on May 16, 2007, after a $ 3.5 million restoration. It is the only remaining bridge of five constructed in Georgetown by

SECTION 10

#1732858801907

960-463: The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad completed an 11-mile branch line from Silver Spring, Maryland , to Water Street in Georgetown in an abortive attempt to construct a southern connection to Alexandria, Virginia . The line served as an industrial line, shipping coal to a General Services Administration power plant on K Street (now razed) until 1985. The abandoned right-of-way has since been converted into

1040-610: The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad , formally ceased operations in March 1924. After severe flooding in 1936, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad sold the canal to the National Park Service in October 1938. The waterfront area retained its industrial character in the first half of the 20th century. Georgetown was home to a lumber yard, a cement works, the Washington Flour mill, and a meat rendering plant, with incinerator smokestacks and

1120-583: The Buffalo Bridge on present-day Q Street opened and connected this part of Georgetown with the rest of the city east of Rock Creek Park . New construction of large apartment buildings began on the edge of Georgetown. In the early 1920s, John Ihlder led efforts to take advantage of new zoning laws to get restrictions enacted on construction in Georgetown. In 1933, a study by Horace Peaslee and Allied Architects laid out ideas for how Georgetown could be preserved. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal , then owned by

1200-548: The Capital Crescent Trail , a rails-to-trails route, and the power plant replaced by a condo. There is no Metro station in Georgetown. Some residents opposed building one but no serious plans for a station existed in the first place, primarily due to the engineering issues presented by the extremely steep grade from the Potomac River (under which the subway tunnel would run) to the center of Georgetown, very close to

1280-422: The Capital Traction Company , D.S. Carll, was in charge of the construction. Before the Car Barn's construction began, a steep hillside that 36th Street climbed stood between M and Prospect Streets. Large amounts of earth were excavated—80,000 cubic yards (61,000 m) in total—resulting in the sharp cliff that exists today. Adjacent to the Car Barn are a set of stairs commonly known as the " Exorcist steps " and

1360-646: The Central Intelligence Agency (though officially part of the Agency for International Development ) that trained Latin American police forces. Members of these forces met at the Car Barn until the program was shut down in 1975. In 1986, the building underwent renovations, overseen by Arthur Cotton Moore /Associates. In 1992, the owner of the DC Transit System, O. Roy Chalk , was subject to foreclosure, and

1440-610: The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal began in July 1828, to link Georgetown to Harper's Ferry , Virginia in present-day West Virginia . But the canal was soon in a race with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and got to Cumberland eight years after the railroad, a faster mode of transport, and at the cost of $ 77,041,586. It was never profitable. From its beginning to December 1876, the canal earned $ 35,659,055 in revenue, while expending $ 35,746,301. The canal provided an economic boost for Georgetown. In

1520-539: The City of Alexandria . Other trolleys were later expected to enter the building after traveling along the projected route of the Great Falls and Old Dominion Railroad . The station operated as Washington's only cable car trolley terminal for less than a year. Almost immediately after the building opened, Capital Traction converted it to enable the company to operate the new electric streetcars. The Virginia lines never made use of

1600-507: The Civil War and World War I . As a result, many older homes were preserved relatively unchanged. In the late 18th century and 19th century, African Americans comprised a substantial portion of Georgetown's population, with a large number centered around Herring Hill in the far eastern section near Rock Creek Park . The 1800 census reported the population in Georgetown at 5,120, which included 1,449 slaves and 227 free blacks. A testament to

1680-767: The Francis Scott Key Bridge ) connected Georgetown with Virginia . Before the Aqueduct Bridge was built, a ferry service owned by John Mason connected Georgetown to Virginia. In 1788, a bridge was constructed over Rock Creek to connect Bridge Street ( M Street ) with the Federal City. Georgetown was located at the juncture of the Alexandria Canal and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal . The C&O Canal, begun in Georgetown in 1829, reached Cumberland, Maryland in 1851, and operated until 1924. Wisconsin Avenue

SECTION 20

#1732858801907

1760-643: The Georgetown Courier and the Federal Republican . William B. Magruder, the first postmaster, was appointed on February 16, 1790, and in 1795, a custom house was established on Water Street. General James M. Lingan served as the first collector of the port. In the 1790s, City Tavern, the Union Tavern, and the Columbian Inn opened and were popular throughout the 19th century. Among these taverns, only

1840-479: The Georgetown Historic District . It received this designation in 1967 for its large concentration of well-preserved colonial and Federal period architecture. Georgetown is also home to several other historic landmarks, including: Famous former residents include: Current residents include: Several movies have been filmed in Georgetown, including: Citations Panelling Panelling

1920-521: The Key Bridge in Arlington ), Foggy Bottom-GWU , and Dupont Circle . Georgetown is served by the 30-series, D-Series, and G2 Metrobuses , as well as the DC Circulator . Another potential option for transportation in Georgetown is scootering, with scooters provided by companies like Bird and Lime. The entire Georgetown neighborhood is a designated National Historic Landmark District , known as

2000-625: The Washington and Georgetown Railroad Company began a horsecar line running along M Street in Georgetown and Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, easing travel between the two cities. The municipal governments of Georgetown and the City and County of Washington were formally revoked by Congress effective June 1, 1871, at which point its governmental powers were vested within the District of Columbia. The streets in Georgetown were renamed in 1895 to conform to

2080-695: The street names in use in Washington. In the 1850s, Georgetown had a large African American population, including both slaves and free blacks. Slave labor was widely used in construction of new buildings in Washington, in addition, to provide labor on tobacco plantations in Maryland and Virginia. Slave trading in Georgetown began in 1760 when John Beattie established his business on O Street and conducted business at other locations around Wisconsin Avenue. Other slave markets ("pens") were located in Georgetown, including one at McCandless' Tavern near M Street and Wisconsin Avenue. Slave trading continued until 1850, when it

2160-490: The 1820s and 1830s, Georgetown was an sizable shipping center. Tobacco and other goods were transferred between the canal and shipping on the Potomac River; salt was imported from Europe, and sugar and molasses were imported from the West Indies . These shipping industries were later superseded by coal and flour industries, which flourished with the C & O Canal providing cheap power for mills and other industry. In 1862,

2240-603: The African-American history that remains today is the Mount Zion United Methodist Church , which is the oldest African-American congregation in Washington. Prior to establishing the church, free blacks and slaves went to the Dumbarton Methodist Church where they were restricted to a hot, overcrowded balcony. The church was originally located in a small brick meetinghouse on 27th Street, but it

2320-702: The Bank of Washington, Patriotic Bank, Bank of the Metropolis, and the Union and Central Banks of Georgetown. Newspapers in Georgetown included the Republican Weekly Ledger , which was the first paper, started in 1790. The Sentinel was first published in 1796 by Green, English & Co. Charles C. Fulton began publishing the Potomac Advocate , which was started by Thomas Turner. Other newspapers in Georgetown included

2400-560: The Board of War under the Articles of Confederation . Stoddert partnered with General Uriah Forrest to become an original proprietor of the Potomac Company . Stoddert and other Potomac landowners agreed to a land transfer deal to the federal government at a dinner at Forrest's home in Georgetown on March 28, 1791. Stoddert bought land within the boundaries of the federal district, some of it at

2480-511: The Car Barn for $ 70 million. The building today has four floors and has a floor area of 81,765 square feet (7,596 m). Remnants of streetcar tracks and their central electrical conduit remain visible outside of the garage's east door on M Street. The Car Barn is considered a contributing property of the Georgetown Historic District , which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 28, 1967. On January 24, 2019,

Georgetown Car Barn - Misplaced Pages Continue

2560-479: The Car Barn was listed on the District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites . In recommending that the District of Columbia Historic Preservation Review Board designate a historic landmark on the Car Barn as a D.C. Inventory of Historic Sites, the D.C. Historic Preservation Office described the Car Barn as "the most significant extant example of a terminal or depot" in Washington, D.C. The National Park Service added

2640-608: The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Company. Several streetcar lines and interurban railways interchanged passengers in Georgetown at and near the Georgetown Car Barn , which the Capital Traction Company operated near the end of the Aqueduct Bridge and later, the Key Bridge (see Streetcars in Washington, D.C. ). A station serving the Great Falls and Old Dominion Railroad and its successor, the Washington and Old Dominion Railway ,

2720-570: The City Tavern remains today, serving as a private social club and known as City Tavern Club , located near the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and M Street . George Washington frequented Georgetown, including Suter's Tavern , where he negotiated many deals to acquire land for the new national capital. A key figure in the land deals was a local merchant named Benjamin Stoddert , who arrived in Georgetown in 1783. He had previously served as Secretary to

2800-428: The District of Columbia, of which there were three: Alexandria, D.C., Georgetown, D.C., and Washington, D.C. Georgetown, D.C., was in the new Washington County, D.C. ; the District's other county was Alexandria County, D.C. , now Arlington County, Virginia , and the independent city of Alexandria, Virginia . By the 1820s, the Potomac River had become silted up and was not navigable up to Georgetown. Construction of

2880-485: The building came under the ownership of the Lutheran Brotherhood . The Car Barn was purchased in 1997 by Douglas Development Corporation and it was renovated the following year. RTKL Associates oversaw additional renovations in 1999. Georgetown University began leasing space in the Car Barn in the 1950s. The university initially used the building's first floor as garage space. In 2017, the university completed

2960-562: The building to the National Register of Historic Places as part of a multiple property submission named "Streetcar and Bus Resources of Washington, DC" on August 9, 2019. Georgetown (Washington, D.C.) Georgetown is a historic neighborhood and commercial district in Northwest Washington, D.C. , situated along the Potomac River . Founded in 1751 as part of the colonial-era Province of Maryland , Georgetown predated

3040-425: The building's decorations reflect its original function, including the pediment that faces M Street. The pediment, which contains the words "Capital Traction Company", displays three decorative flywheels of the type that pull cables. The M Street-facing first floor served the Washington and Georgetown Railroad . The Metropolitan Railroad used the roof, which had a covered walkway for passengers to travel between

3120-587: The building's lower roofline on M street, became less prominent. These modifications were complete in 1911. Further conversions of track space to office space occurred between 1921 and 1922. Extensive remodeling occurred again in 1933 with the designation of the Car Barn as the headquarters of the new Capital Transit Company, as a result of the merger between the Capital Traction Company and the Washington Railway and Electric Company , which increased

3200-443: The construction was damaging her house. This led to court-ordered supervision of the blasting in 1894. After the Car Barn's construction, the large edifice obstructed the view of the Potomac River and Virginia from homes on Prospect Street, including the well-known cottage of E. D. E. N. Southworth . For this reason, some considered it a "desecration" of the local scenery. The three-story, 180-by-242-foot (55 by 74 m) building

3280-597: The end of 1952, the first floor was converted into office space. When the Capital Transit Company merged with its competitors, the building came under the ownership of its new corporate successor, the DC Transit System, in 1956. By then, the building had fallen into such a state of disrepair that the company deliberated over whether to demolish it entirely. Seeking to preserve the historic structure, it elected to redevelop it. The building underwent considerable interior renovations between 1957 and 1960, intended to turn

Georgetown Car Barn - Misplaced Pages Continue

3360-492: The establishment of Washington, D.C. by 40 years. Georgetown was an independent municipality until 1871 when the United States Congress created a new consolidated government for the entire District of Columbia. A separate act, passed in 1895, repealed Georgetown's remaining local ordinances and renamed Georgetown's streets to conform with those in Washington, D.C. The primary commercial corridors of Georgetown are

3440-546: The fact that the canals and other waterways continually silted up. Nathaniel Michler and S.T. Abert led efforts to dredge the channels and remove rocks around the Georgetown harbor, though these were temporary solutions and Congress showed little interest in the issue. An 1890 flood and expansion of the railroads brought destitution to the C&O Canal, and Georgetown's waterfront became more industrialized, with narrow alleys, warehouses, and apartment dwellings which lacked plumbing or electricity. Shipping trade vanished between

3520-631: The headmaster. Private schools currently located in Georgetown include Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School , while nearby is the eponymous Georgetown Day School . Georgetown Preparatory School , while founded in Georgetown, moved in 1915 to its present location several miles north of Georgetown in Montgomery County . District of Columbia Public Schools operates area public schools, including Hyde-Addison Elementary School on O Street. Hyde-Addison formed from merging two adjacent schools - Hyde Elementary and Addison Elementary. The Addison section

3600-464: The hilly terrain of the neighborhood. The primary commercial corridors of Georgetown are M Street and Wisconsin Avenue , whose high fashion stores draw large numbers of tourists as well as local shoppers year-round. There is also the Washington Harbour complex on K Street , on the waterfront, featuring outdoor bars and restaurants popular for viewing boat races. Between M and K Streets runs

3680-504: The historic Chesapeake and Ohio Canal , today plied only by tour boats; adjacent trails are popular with joggers or strollers. Throughout the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, the concentration of wealth in Georgetown sparked the growth of many university-preparatory schools in and around the neighborhood. One of the first schools was the Columbian Academy on N Street, which was established in 1781 with Reverend Stephen Balch serving as

3760-524: The initial construction to connect M Street with Prospect Street. The Car Barn, built for use as a passenger station and to store streetcars, was also the terminal for Washington's only cable car system. Almost immediately after the building opened, Capital Traction converted its streetcar lines to electrical power and modified the Car Barn to suit. Still, the building was never used to the extent anticipated by its builders. The building has undergone several renovations. The most extensive, in 1911, modified

3840-468: The intersection of Wisconsin Avenue and M Street , which contain high-end shops, bars, restaurants, and Georgetown Park , an enclosed shopping mall. Washington Harbour , which includes waterfront restaurants, is located to the south on K Street between 30th and 31st Streets. Georgetown is home to the main campus of Georgetown University and other landmarks, including the Old Stone House (1765),

3920-551: The legislature of the Province of Maryland authorized the purchase of 60 acres (240,000 m ) of land from Gordon and George Beall for £280. A survey of the town was completed in February 1752. Georgetown was founded during the reign of King George II , and some speculate that the town was named after him. A second theory is that the town was named after its founders, George Gordon and George Beall. The Maryland Legislature issued

4000-414: The main reception rooms. The Palace of Versailles contains many fine examples of white painted boiseries with gilded mouldings installed in the reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI . The panels were not confined to just the walls of a room but were used to decorate doors, frames, cupboards, and shelves also. It was standard for mirrors to be installed and framed by the carved boiseries , especially above

4080-455: The mantelpiece of a fireplace. Paintings were also installed within boiseries , above doorways or set into central panels. Wood wall panelling has seen a resurgence in popularity in recent years due to its aesthetic appeal, versatility, and sustainability. Traditionally used to insulate and decorate interiors, modern wood panelling includes wainscoting, beadboard, shiplap, board and batten, and both raised and flat panels. This renewed interest

SECTION 50

#1732858801907

4160-525: The north end of the Aqueduct Bridge . The legislation required that the railroad erect at the site a union passenger station in order to accommodate the street railway traffic expected to converge at or near the bridge. The legislation limited the station's use to street railways only. Construction on the building then known as Union Station began in early 1895 under the architectural direction of Waddy Butler Wood . The superintendent and chief engineer of

4240-505: The number of office workers at the building. These changes involved removing the roof in the center of the building, creating a lightwell on the third floor, converting the third floor into office space, and removing the covered passageway on the roof. The last streetcar operations at the Car Barn ended with the closure of the Rosslyn– Benning Line on April 30, 1949. The building continued to store streetcars until May 1950. Toward

4320-603: The oldest still standing building structure in Washington, D.C., the Volta Bureau for deaf education, the Dumbarton Oaks estate, and a historically significant stretch of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal . The embassies of Cameroon , France , Iceland , Liechtenstein , Mongolia , Sweden , Thailand , Ukraine , and Venezuela are located in Georgetown. Located on the Atlantic Seaboard Fall Line , Georgetown

4400-538: The original Romanesque Revival façade and almost completely gutted the interior. Changing ownership over time, it maintained its original function of housing streetcars until 1950, when it was redeveloped as office space. Among its occupants was the International Police Academy , an arm of the Central Intelligence Agency , which operated out of the Car Barn in the 1960s and 1970s. Today, it is an academic building owned by Georgetown University . In 2019, it

4480-514: The plural boiseries ) is the French term used to define ornate and intricately carved wood panelling. Boiseries became popular in the latter part of the 17th century in French interior design , becoming a de rigueur feature of fashionable French interiors throughout the 18th century. Such panels were most often painted in two shades of a chosen color or in contrasting colors, with gilding reserved for

4560-473: The request of Washington for the government, and some on speculation. He also purchased stock in the federal government under Hamilton's assumption-of-debt plan. The speculative purchases were not, however, profitable and caused Stoddert much difficulty before his appointment as Secretary of the Navy by John Adams , the nation's second president . Stoddert was rescued from his debts with the help of William Marbury ,

4640-518: The river. The planners expected the Metro to serve rush-hour commuters, and the neighborhood has few apartments, office buildings, or automobile parking areas. Since the Metro's opening, there have been occasional discussions about adding another subway line and tunnel under the Potomac to service the area. Three stations are located roughly one mile (1.6 km) from the center of Georgetown: Rosslyn (across

4720-408: The same name, used for that purpose; and although that has long been superseded by the introduction of fir timber, the term has been continued notwithstanding the change of material. Today the term wainscot refers commonly to the different treatment of the lower part of the wall (roughly a meter, 3–4 feet); see also dado . Boiserie ( French pronunciation: [bwazʁi] ; often used in

4800-496: The street and the elevator. Because of the lay of the land in the building's vicinity, other streetcars, including those serving the city's suburbs, would reach the building's second and third floors from steel trestles . Capital Traction expected trolleys to cross the Potomac River from Rosslyn on the nearby Aqueduct Bridge. At the time, those trolleys were traveling or would soon travel between downtown Washington, Arlington County (then named Alexandria County), Falls Church and

4880-486: The structure entirely into an office building. Sometime before 1966, a clock was added to the exterior of the tower. This involved lowering the ceilings, which were previously designed to accommodate the height of the streetcars. The building was included in the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1967. Beginning in late 1963, the Car Barn was home to the International Police Academy , operated by

SECTION 60

#1732858801907

4960-488: The terminal. The Metropolitan Railroad originally intended to place storage tracks on the roof of the building, but never did. Although regarded as well-designed before 1900, the Car Barn began a period of deterioration and neglect lasting for 50 years. The first stage of the transition from a trolley station to an office building was carried out between 1906 and 1908 when portions of the second floor were converted into office space. The electrification of streetcars necessitated

5040-445: The university has 6,853 undergraduate students and 4,490 graduate students on the main campus. The main campus is just over 102 acres (41 ha) in area and includes 58 buildings, student residences capable of accommodating 80 percent of undergraduates, various athletic facilities, and the medical school. Most buildings employ collegiate Gothic architecture and Georgian brick architecture . Campus green areas include fountains,

5120-465: The walls with boards A 'wainscot' was therefore a board of riven (and later quarter-sawn ) oak, and wainscoting was the panelling made from it. During the 18th century, oak wainscot was almost entirely superseded for panelling in Europe by softwoods (mainly Scots pine and Norway spruce ), but the name stuck: The term wainscoting, as applied to the lining of walls, originated in a species of foreign oak of

5200-563: The west. Much of Georgetown is surrounded by parkland and green space that serve as buffers from development in adjacent neighborhoods, and provide recreation. Rock Creek Park , Oak Hill Cemetery , Montrose Park, and Dumbarton Oaks are located along the north and east edge of Georgetown, east of Wisconsin Avenue. The neighborhood is situated on bluffs overlooking the Potomac River. As a result, there are some rather steep grades on streets running north–south. The famous " Exorcist steps " connecting M Street to Prospect Street were necessitated by

5280-471: The western edge of the Georgetown neighborhood. Father John Carroll founded Georgetown University as a Jesuit private university in 1789, though its roots extend back to 1634. Although the school struggled financially in its early years, Georgetown expanded into a branched university after the American Civil War under the leadership of university president Patrick Francis Healy . As of 2007 ,

5360-622: Was at the head of navigation on the Potomac River , the farthest point upstream that boats coming from the Atlantic Ocean could navigate. In 1632, English fur trader Henry Fleet documented an American Indian village of the Nacotchtank people called Tohoga on the site of present-day Georgetown and established trade there. The area was then part of the Province of Maryland , an English colony . In approximately 1745, George Gordon constructed

5440-419: Was banned in the District as one element of the Compromise of 1850 . Congress abolished ownership of slaves in the entire District on April 16, 1862, annually observed today as Emancipation Day . Many African Americans moved to Georgetown following the Civil War , establishing a thriving community. By the late 19th century, flour milling and other industries in Georgetown were declining, in part due to

5520-541: Was destroyed by fire in the 1880s. The church was rebuilt on the present site. Mount Zion Cemetery offered free burials for Washington's earlier African-American population. "From a pre- Civil War population of 6,798 whites, 1,358 free Negroes, and 577 slaves, Georgetown's population had grown to 17,300 but half these residents were poverty-stricken Negroes." Other black churches in Georgetown included Alexander Memorial Baptist Church , First Baptist Church, Jerusalem Baptist Church, and Epiphany Catholic Church. In 1915,

5600-908: Was developed in antiquity to make rooms in stone buildings more comfortable both by insulating the room from the stone and reflecting radiant heat from wood fires, making heat more evenly distributed in the room. In more modern buildings , such panelling is often installed for decorative purposes . Panelling, such as wainscoting and boiserie in particular, may be extremely ornate and is particularly associated with 17th and 18th century interior design , Victorian architecture in Britain , and its international contemporaries. The term wainscot ( UK : / ˈ w eɪ n s k ə t / WAYN -skət or US : / ˈ w eɪ n s k ɒ t / WAYN -skot ) originally applied to high quality riven oak boards. Wainscot oak came from large, slow-grown forest trees, and produced boards that were knot-free, low in tannin , light in weight, and easy to work with. It

5680-402: Was endowed by financier George Peabody in 1867 and opened in a room of the Curtis School on O Street opposite St. John's Church in 1875. In the early 1930s, a library committee was formed to encourage the establishment of a new public library branch in Georgetown. The building was severely damaged by a fire on April 30, 2007, and underwent a $ 17.9 million renovation and expansion. The building

5760-402: Was further revitalized in 2003, and includes a Ritz-Carlton , Four Seasons , and other hotels. Georgetown's highly traveled commercial district is home to a variety of specialty retailers and fashionable boutiques. Georgetown is bounded by the Potomac River to the south, Rock Creek to the east, Burleith , Glover Park , and Observatory Circle to the north, and Georgetown University to

5840-448: Was listed on the National Register of Historic Places . In 1761, a tobacco warehouse was constructed at the Car Barn's site. During the Civil War , the site became home to some of the city's horse-drawn streetcars . On August 23, 1894, after the city's streetcars had begun to switch to electric power , Congress authorized an extension of the Washington and Georgetown Railroad to the intersection of 36th and M Streets, directly north of

5920-656: Was located in front of a stone wall on Canal Road adjacent to the Exorcist steps, immediately west of the Car Barn, from 1912 to 1923. Five suburban Virginia lines, connecting in Rosslyn , provided links from the Washington, D.C. streetcar network to Arlington National Cemetery , Fort Myer , Nauck , Alexandria , Mount Vernon , Clarendon , Ballston , Falls Church , Vienna , Fairfax , Leesburg , Bluemont , and Great Falls (see Northern Virginia trolleys ). Streetcar operations in Washington, D.C. ended on January 28, 1962. In 1910,

6000-478: Was opened on May 27, 1897, containing offices for the several tenant trolley companies and waiting rooms that were decorated with red oak wainscot panelling , ornate iron stair railings, and stuccoed ceilings. The exterior was designed in the Romanesque Revival style . The building's tower reached a height of 140 feet (43 m) and contained an elevator that shuttled passengers between the terminals. Many of

6080-525: Was partly filmed at Georgetown University and the surrounding area. The Exorcist steps , the stairway that the character Father Damien fell down, connects Prospect Street, on the edge of the campus, and M Street. The District of Columbia Public Library operates the Georgetown Neighborhood Library , which originally opened at 3260 R St. NW in October 1935 on the site of the former Georgetown Reservoir. An earlier public library in Georgetown

6160-511: Was passed, establishing the historic district of "Old Georgetown". The law required that the United States Commission of Fine Arts be consulted on any alteration, demolition, or building construction within the historic district. In 1967, the Georgetown Historic District was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places . Georgetown is home to many politicians and lobbyists . Georgetown's landmark waterfront district

6240-561: Was preferred to home-grown oak, especially in the Netherlands and British Isles, because it was a far superior product and dimensionally stable. The Oxford English Dictionary states that it derives from the Middle Low German wagenschot as well as wageschot or 'wall-board'. Johnson's Dictionary defined it thus: Wainscot [ wageschot , Dutch], the inner wooden covering of a wall. To wainscot [ waegenschotten , Dutch], to line

6320-547: Was renovated in 2008 and the Hyde section was renovated in Summer 2014. An addition connecting the two buildings is scheduled for completion in Summer 2019. Hardy Middle School and Jackson-Reed High School both serve Georgetown as zoned secondary schools. Duke Ellington School of the Arts , a public magnet school, is in the community. The main campus of Georgetown University is located on

6400-432: Was then re-opened on October 18, 2010, with a LEED -Silver Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. A newly constructed, climate-controlled third floor now houses the collections of the original Peabody Library and is a center for research on Georgetown history. Georgetown's transportation importance was defined by its location just below the fall line of the Potomac River . The Aqueduct Bridge (and later,

#906093