Woodland Normanstone

Last updated
Woodland-Normanstone
Map woodland-normanstone terrace park.jpg
Map of Washington, D.C., with Woodland-Normanstone highlighted in red
Coordinates: 38°55′15″N77°03′39″W / 38.9207°N 77.0608°W / 38.9207; -77.0608
Country United States
District Washington, D.C.
WardWard 3
Government
  Councilmember Matthew Frumin
Area
  Land0.331 sq mi (0.86 km2)

Woodland Normanstone is a small, residential neighborhood in Northwest Washington, D.C., adjoining the larger neighborhoods of Woodley Park, Massachusetts Avenue Heights, and Observatory Circle.

The Woodland Normanstone neighborhood is bounded on by Garfield Street to the north, Cleveland Avenue and Calvert Street to the northeast, 28th Street to the east, Rock Creek Park to the southeast, Massachusetts Avenue to the southwest, and 34th Street to the west. [1] It is served by the Woodley Park Metro station on the Washington Metro Red Line.

Woodland Normanstone Neighborhood Association, established in 1989, represents the neighborhood. [2] [3] There are no commercial businesses; it is a neighborhood of detached single-family homes.

Of the 160 houses in the neighborhood, 24 are residences for embassies. [1]

The neighborhood is not well known elsewhere in the city. [4] It is reportedly home to a number of government officials. [4]

History

Woodland Normanstone - 34th St NW and Fullton St NW (September 2020) Woodland Normanstone - 34th St NW and Fullton St NW (September 2020).jpg
Woodland Normanstone - 34th St NW and Fullton St NW (September 2020)

In the late 19th century, the land was the home of two farms and some woods and trees. [1]

Following approval by the District Commissioners, [5] Massachusetts Avenue was extended by way of a bridge over Rock Creek in 1904. [6]

In 1910, the 61st Congress allowed an exception to the typical street layout to a little bit of wilderness right in the middle of Washington. By curving around the hills, and by preserving the trees rather than cutting them, the developers created a neighborhood unlike most others in D.C.

A group of real estate investors, called the Massachusetts Heights Company, purchased the 212-acre (0.86 km2) area for over $2,000,000 in 1911. [7] At the time of the sale, the new owners said they wanted to convert the wooded area into a "magical city". [7] The land was developed by Amos H. Plumb and American Security and Trust Company. [8] The developers built wide streets that conformed to the natural hilly topography. [8]

In 1917, the land was sold for several million dollars, which was the largest individual sale of real estate in the District of Columbia at the time. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodley Park station</span> Washington Metro station

Woodley Park station is an underground station on the Red Line of the Washington Metro. Located at 24th Street and Connecticut Avenue Northwest, it serves the neighborhoods of Woodley Park and Adams Morgan in Northwest Washington.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adams Morgan</span> Neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

Adams Morgan, commonly abbreviated as AdMo, is a neighborhood in Washington, D.C., located in Northwest D.C. Adams Morgan is noted as a historic hub for counterculture and as an arts district. It is also known for its popular entertainment district and culinary scene, centered on both 18th Street and Columbia Road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Pleasant (Washington, D.C.)</span> Neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

Mount Pleasant is a neighborhood in Washington, D.C., located in Northwest D.C. The neighborhood is primarily residential, with restaurants and stores centered along a commercial corridor on Mt. Pleasant Street. Mount Pleasant is known for its unique identity and multicultural landscape, home to diverse groups such as the punk rock, the Peace Corps and Hispanic Washingtonian communities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northwest (Washington, D.C.)</span> Quadrant in the United States

Northwest is the northwestern quadrant of Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, and is located north of the National Mall and west of North Capitol Street. It is the largest of the four quadrants of the city, and it includes the central business district, the Federal Triangle, and the museums along the northern side of the National Mall, as well as many of the District's historic neighborhoods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Columbia Heights (Washington, D.C.)</span> Neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

Columbia Heights is a neighborhood in Washington, D.C., located in Northwest D.C. The neighborhood is an important retail hub for the area, as home to DC USA mall and to numerous other restaurants and stores, primarily along the highly commercialized 14th Street. Columbia Heights is home to numerous historical landmarks, including Meridian Hill Park, National Baptist Memorial Church, All Souls Church, along with a number of embassy buildings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shepherd Park</span>

Shepherd Park is a neighborhood in the northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. In the years following World War II, restrictive covenants which had prevented Jews and African Americans from purchasing homes in the neighborhood were no longer enforced, and the neighborhood became largely Jewish and African American. Over the past 40 years, the Jewish population of the neighborhood has declined but the neighborhood has continued to support a thriving upper and middle class African American community. The Shepherd Park Citizens Association and Neighbors Inc. led efforts to stem white flight from the neighborhood in the 1960s and 1970s, and it has remained a continuously integrated neighborhood, with very active and inclusive civic groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Connecticut Avenue</span> Thoroughfare in Washington, D.C., and Maryland

Connecticut Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C., and suburban Montgomery County, Maryland. It is one of the diagonal avenues radiating from the White House, and the segment south of Florida Avenue was one of the original streets in Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant's plan for Washington. A five-mile segment north of Rock Creek was built in the 1890s by a real-estate developer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petworth (Washington, D.C.)</span> Place

Petworth is a neighborhood of Washington, D.C., located in Northwest D.C. While largely residential, Petworth is home to a notable commercial corridor of shops and restaurants, primarily along Georgia Avenue and Upshur Street, as well as a portion of 14th Street. The neighborhood is accessible via the Georgia Ave–Petworth station on the Green Line of the Washington Metro.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Wardman</span>

Harry Wardman was a real estate developer in Washington, D.C. during the early 20th century whose developments included landmark hotels, luxury apartment buildings, and many rowhouses. When he died in 1938, one-tenth of the residents of Washington were said to live in a Wardman-built home.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pleasant Plains (Washington, D.C.)</span> Neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

Pleasant Plains is a neighborhood in central Washington, D.C. largely occupied by Howard University. For this reason it is also sometimes referred to as Howard Town or, less frequently, Howard Village.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Hampshire Avenue</span> Diagonal street in Washington, D.C.

New Hampshire Avenue is a diagonal street in Washington, D.C., beginning at the Kennedy Center and extending northeast for about 5 miles (8 km) and then continuing into Maryland where it is designated Maryland Route 650. New Hampshire Avenue, however, is not contiguous. It stops at 15th and W Streets NW and resumes again on the other side of Columbia Heights at Park Road NW, a few blocks from Georgia Avenue. New Hampshire Avenue passes through several Washington neighborhoods including Foggy Bottom, Dupont Circle, Petworth and Lamond-Riggs.

Sherman Circle is an urban park and traffic circle in the Northwest Washington, D.C. neighborhood of Petworth at the intersection of Illinois Avenue, Kansas Avenue, 7th Street, and Crittenden Street NW. The circle is named in honor of Civil War general William Tecumseh Sherman. Administered by the National Park Service's Rock Creek Park unit, Sherman Circle together with four surrounding triangular parks covers 3.44 acres (1.39 ha) and is considered by the National Park Service a "cultural landscape."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodley Park (Washington, D.C.)</span> Place in the United States

Woodley Park is a neighborhood in Washington, D.C., located in Northwest D.C. Primarily residential, Woodley Park hosts a commercial corridor of restaurants and shops located along Connecticut Avenue. The neighborhood is noted as the home of the National Zoological Park, part of the Smithsonian Institution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">555 Edgecombe Avenue</span> Historic building in Manhattan, New York

555 Edgecombe Avenue is an apartment building at the southwest corner of Edgecombe Avenue and 160th Street in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was originally known as the Roger Morris Apartments when it was built in 1914–16 – after the retired British Army officer who built the nearby Morris–Jumel Mansion – and was designed by Schwartz & Gross, who specialized in apartment buildings. The building was declared a National Historic Landmark under the name Paul Robeson Residence in 1976, and it became a New York City designated landmark in 1993.

Fort Stevens Ridge is a neighborhood in Northwest Washington, D.C. built during the 1920s. The neighborhood comprises about 50 acres (0.20 km2) and is very roughly bounded by Peabody Street, Fifth Street, Underwood Street, and Ninth Street. As of the 2010 census, the neighborhood had 2,597 residents. It was named for nearby Fort Stevens, a Civil War-era fort used to defend the nation's capital from invasion by Confederate soldiers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mazza Gallerie</span> Shopping mall in D.C., United States

Mazza Gallerie was an upscale shopping mall in the Friendship Heights neighborhood of northwest Washington, D.C. Opened in 1977, it had 300,000 square feet (28,000 m2) of retail space on three levels, a parking garage, and a direct connection to the Friendship Heights station of the Washington Metro. The last retail business closed in December 2022. The building is to be converted to residential apartments with retail on the ground floor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Embassy of Australia, Washington, D.C.</span>

The Embassy of Australia in Washington, D.C. is the diplomatic mission of the Commonwealth of Australia to the United States. The chancery is located at 1601 Massachusetts Avenue NW on Scott Circle, at the beginning of Embassy Row. The current ambassador is former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and the Deputy Head of Mission is Paul Myler. The embassy employs more than 250 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kalorama Triangle Historic District</span> Historic district in Washington, D.C., United States

The Kalorama Triangle Historic District is a mostly residential neighborhood and a historic district in the northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. The entire Kalorama Triangle neighborhood was listed on the District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites (DCIHS) and National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1987. In addition to individually listed landmarks in the neighborhood, the district is home to roughly 350 contributing properties. The neighborhood is roughly bounded by Connecticut Avenue to the west, Columbia Road to the east, and Calvert Street on the north.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Avenue (Washington, D.C.)</span>

Western Avenue is one of three boundary streets between Washington, D.C., and the state of Maryland. It follows a southwest-to-northeast line, beginning at Westmoreland Circle in the south and ending at Oregon Avenue NW in the north. It is roughly 3.5 miles (5.6 km) in length. First proposed in 1893, it was constructed somewhat fitfully from about 1900 to 1931.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oak Lawn (Washington, D.C.)</span> Former large estate replaced by modern buildings

Oak Lawn was a large house and wooded estate that once stood on the edge of today's Dupont Circle and Adams Morgan neighborhoods in Washington, D.C. The estate was bounded by 19th Street, Columbia Road, Connecticut Avenue, and Florida Avenue. Previously called Widow's Mite, the estate was originally several hundred acres, but by the 19th century, had been reduced to around 10 acres. The house was built around 1820 and was greatly expanded in 1873 by Thomas P. Morgan, one half of the eponym of the Adams Morgan neighborhood. A large oak tree, nicknamed the Treaty Oak, was reportedly hundreds of years old and stood just a few yards from the house.

References

  1. 1 2 3 MacGraw, Eliza (June 28, 2013). "Where We Live: Woodland Normanstone in Northwest Washington". The Washington Post.
  2. Twomey, Steve (September 30, 1989). "Massachusetts Ave. Heights: Paradise Found". The Washington Post. p. F13. ProQuest   307171884.
  3. Records related to neighborhood overlay and development from the Woodland Normanstone Neighborhood Association, Special Collections Research Center, Estelle and Melvin Gelman Library, The George Washington University.
  4. 1 2 Sadon, Rachel (February 5, 2019). "Trump Officials Have Reportedly Retreated To Woodland Normanstone. Uuumm … Where Is That?". DCist. Archived from the original on February 9, 2019. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
  5. "Real Estate Market: Importance of the Extension of Massachusetts Avenue". The Washington Post. October 25, 1903. p. D3. ProQuest   144376895.
  6. "Real Estate Market: Important Developments Planned for Rock Creek". The Washington Post. January 10, 1904. p. A3. ProQuest   144466506.
  7. 1 2 "Millions in Realty: Involved in Deal Made Yesterday by Syndicate". The Washington Post. February 4, 1911. p. 1. ProQuest   145083885.
  8. 1 2 3 "Record Property Sale: Massachusetts Avenue Heights Bring Millions of Dollars". The Washington Post. April 29, 1917. p. 12. ProQuest   145560584.