Photo by Kyra DeBlaker-Gebhard
It wasn’t long ago that I embarked on a journey that would open the door to my home’s history. I had a lot of questions about my house on G Street, but I decided to start with the basics: What year was the house built? Who was the original owner and how long did he live in the house? Who designed and built the house we call home? I answered these questions and more during my first few visits to the Washingtoniana Division located in the District’s Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library. I also learned that I have a long way to go in researching the history of my home and its inhabitants.
It had been some time since I had done considerable research in a library, so I asked the librarian if he could help me get started. He looked up my lot and square number, walked me to the cabinet that held the microfilm I needed, pulled out a reel and sent me on my way. I feed the microfilm into the machine and, using my home’s square number, street and lot number, found the very first building permit for my home.
In 1901, Ada CM Sturges of 103 11th Street NE, with her agent, submitted an application to build a home on G Street NE, for which she would pay $2,800.
Hmm. A woman was having a home built? Was it unusual for a single woman to have a home built in 1901? I was surprised to see a woman’s name listed as the owner, but it was not as shocking as the home’s appreciation in over 100 years’ time!
There was no architect of record on the Application for Permission to Build, but the permit listed the builders as J.O. Miller and R.E. Murray. They would begin building the single family residence in the summer of 1901 and would complete the project in the winter of 1902. But wait! Among the applications and approvals there was the 1901 equivalent of a stop work order!
In the fall of 1901, Ms. Sturgess wrote a letter to the building inspector of the District of Columbia apologizing for the error when constructing the home’s steps, which were built a full foot closer to the sidewalk than planned.
“I submit in explanation of this mistake, the facts of the case. Mr. Moxley, who drew the plane and secured the permit, was not permitted to execute his plane, and when the walls were constructed it was found necessary to raise the first floor beyond the height specified in the plane, thus necessitating another change… which lead to an eight foot projection instead of seven.”
The Commissioners of the District of Columbia ultimately approved the project with the changes and, as far as I can tell, did not charge a fee for building outside of the original permit.
I then set out to determine when Ms. Sturgess moved in to the house and how long she lived there, but I quickly learned, after the fourth reel of city directory microfilm, that Ms. Sturgess never lived in the her house on G Street.
Could it be that Ada was a real estate mogul, building homes around the city and renting them out?
Stay tuned for the next installment, when you will learn more about Ada Sturgess and the residents of the house on G Street.
i’m heading down to the washingtoniana division for the training on how to research your home and neighborhood’s history in 2 weeks. can’t wait to be able to do the same thing as you have!
Interesting read…looking forward to the next installment.
I have done this/am doing this from my house.
It has been quite fun. I found an old picture done by John C. Wymer. He took photos of the intersections in D.C. in the late 1940’s. It allowed me to see the face of a boy who lived in the house and confirmed my suspicions about trim and other details.
The Library of Congress has old business directories (it does have residences) in the Microform reading room that will allow you to find out who lived in the house (i.e. renters) you will have to look up the address and then look up the name, but often it lists what they did or where they worked. For instance I knew that my house was rented for most of it’s history and using those directories, I found that one renter was in the Army and several worked at St. E’s.
I also discovered that a big time horse race trainer was responsible for the development of my house and it’s neighbors.
very cool… i had similar questions about my house when I saw the list of prior owners during the sale.
Women managing the building process was actually fairly common at that time. All permits for my Hill house are also in a woman’s name, the wife of a musician in the Marine Band, the latest permit obtained in 1890. Many other houses I have researched, and others I know who have done it, have found that women dealt with construction a great deal before women could vote or do almost anything else contractually.
Very cool.
When I did a similar project, I went to the Natl Archives’ branch in College Park [they have a lot of Capitol Hill records stored there] and got the original plans for my house.