Georgetown House Tour on April 25 Will Feature Quality Hill Mansion on Prospect Street and 7 Other Homes
• April 9, 2015

The Georgetown House Tour, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., on Saturday, April 25, will open the doors to eight houses in town. One of the highlights of the 84-year-old tour is the 1797 mansion built by John Thomson Mason, nephew of George Mason, and called Quality Hill. Reportedly, Thomas Jefferson stopped there for lunch. It sits at the corner of 35th and Prospect Streets. One of its recent owners was Sen. Clairborne Pell (D-R.I.).

Other houses on the tour include one of on N Street: the oldest portions of this residence were originally built in the 1890s. The property was subsequently acquired by Stanley Woodward, a friend of FDR, and was expanded to include a new three-story structure at the front of the property. The current living room was designed as a recreation of the music room of Number 20, St. James Square in London, a room designed by Robert Adam in 1772 and its plaster ceiling took 18 months to complete by hand.
Another house — on 31st Street — was termed “the only remaining example of a late Victorian cottage” by the National Building Survey. It was built between 1878 and 1880 by Albert B. Jackson. According to tour officials, it is a “fine example of a cottage-style detached residence with elaborate wood decoration. The current owner undertook an extensive restoration to restore more of the original Victorian character and charm.”

Also on the tour is a 34th Street house that sits with its historic Italianate/Victorian façade intact: “This home was completely renovated in 2014 by its current owners, partners in a Georgetown architecture firm, to include a a skylit contemporary stairway with glass railings, modern kitchen and a 45-foot-long living and dining space,” according to tour guides.

Tickets for the tour are $50 (advance) and $55 on the day of the tour. The tour’s Patrons’ Party will be held April 22 at the home of Deborah Winsor on Dumbarton Street NW. Visit www.georgetownhousetour.com for more information.

Thos. Moser Co. Fetes Return to Washington and Founder’s 80th Birthday
• April 4, 2015

The new showroom for Thos. Moser Handmade American Furniture was celebrated March 19, as guests and clients got to meet company founder Thomas Moser. The happy crowd, which included Maine’s congressional delegation, sang “Happy Birthday” to Moser, who just turned 80. Next to the C&O Canal, the store is only doors away from its earlier showroom at 33rd & M Streets. [gallery ids="118134,118127,118123" nav="thumbs"]

EastBanc Buys Gas Station Property for $4 Million
• March 27, 2015

EastBanc, Inc., completed its purchase of the Valero gas station at 2715 Pennsylvania Ave. NW for $4 million.

The site – at the eastern entrance to Georgetown – is a triangle of land between Rock Creek Park, M Street and Pennsylvania Avenue and sits across from the Four Seasons Hotel. The developer bought it from ABC Automotive LLC, the Washington Business Journal first reported.

Anthony Lanier, president of EastBanc, told the Journal: “This site needed to be done. It’s the entrance of Georgetown. I think it’s one of the most important sites in the city, and it shouldn’t be a gas station.”

EastBanc also is developing the Key Bridge Exxon property at 3607 M St. NW on the west side of town and has completed many additions and renovations to the Georgetown scene, including the Georgetown Post Office, Cady’s Alley, Ritz-Carlton, Nike and 1055 High condos. It is building the new West End Public Library and re-doing the West End firehouse.

At a community meeting in November, Lanier talked about the new project, which will include ground-floor retail with apartments or a hotel on the upper floors. He hired Portuguese architect Eduardo Souto de Moura and told the group to “keep an open mind.”

At the Georgetown Valero, Eddie the mechanic said the station was getting new pumps and would be cleaned up.

Onward Reserve
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Preppy and dressy casual men’s clothing store Onward Reserve plans to pop up soon at 1063 Wisconsin Ave. NW, the former address of the Pleasure Place, a enduring sex toy boutique (35 years). Founded by T.J. Callaway and Will Watts in 2012, the apparel and home-goods retailer operates with an extensive online selection. Onward Reserve’s list of brands includes Barbour, Peter Millar, Dubarry and Vilebrequin, as well as up-and-comers like Smathers & Branson, Martin Dingman and Tokens & Icons. Headquartered in Atlanta, Onward Reserve has locations in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee.

Watergate Hotel Marks Topping Off, Set for Summer Opening
• March 26, 2015

The once legendary Watergate Hotel – part of the equally legendary Watergate complex on the Potomac River, next to Georgetown – marked a ceremonial topping off of the hotel’s grand ballroom during its $125-million renovation March 19.

“Once it was the grandest luxury hotel,” said Jacques Cohen, principal of Euro Capital Properties, which is developing and owns the Watergate Hotel. The group intends to bring back the hotel’s mystique — with luxe appointments as well as a 12th floor rooftop.

The grand ballroom, the “hotel’s crown jewel,” said Rakel Cohen, the director of design and development of Euro Capital Properties,” will be called the Moretti Ballroom after the hotel’s designer Luigi Moretti, the Italian architect who created the complex’s contemporary and ground-breaking style in 1961. The hotel opened in 1965.

The Watergate complex on 2600 Virginia Ave. NW gained worldwide fame because of a burglary there of the offices of the Democratic National Committee and the ensuing investigation that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in 1974.

The Cohens were joined by Mayor Muriel Bowser, Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans and Foggy Bottom advisory neighborhood commissioner William Kennedy Smith, M.D., costume designer Janie Bryant and hotel managing director Johnny So. Then, the headliners planted small Saliva seedlings in a potting table to indicate the rebirth of the hotel, which has been closed for seven years.

The Watergate Hotel will re-open summer 2015 with retro styling and luxuries that will include 340 guest rooms, whisky bar, fine dining and casual restaurants, grand ballroom, rooftop lounge, fitness center and spa.

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London’s West End Men’s Fashion Comes to Georgetown
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On March 20 and 21, Sterling & Burke, the stylish, upscale leather goods and specialty-gifts store on Pennsylvania Avenue, hosted “Bespoke: Jermyn Street Comes to Washington, D.C.” The trunk show featured London’s West End tailors Benson & Clegg, shirtmakers Budd and shoemakers Foster & Son.

Pennsylvania Ave. Bridge Falling Apart
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Falling debris from the Pennsylvania Avenue Bridge closed the southbound lane of the Rock Creek Parkway and brought engineers to the scene to assess the damage on Tuesday, March 24. U.S. Park Police said that a parkway driver reported debris on the road below the bridge around 1 a.m. Tuesday.

When structural engineers arrived on the scene for repairs, they were greeted with a flurry of falling debris with pieces as large as golf balls fallinh on them from underneath the bridge.

The bridge underwent repairs early this year and is slated by the D.C. Department of Transportation for substantial improvements starting this summer. No word yet on whether the March 24 incident and its aftermath will force DDOT to act on the bridge sooner than planned.

ANC Airs Fillmore School Plans and Concerns
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At the March 2 Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E meeting, neighbors who live near the Fillmore School property at 1801 35th St. NW expressed concern about development plans for the 1.2-acre site. The owner, George Washington University, will review purchase bids next month.
The Fillmore School building and land served as the Georgetown campus of the Corcoran College of Art and Design. After GW took over the Corcoran school last year, it put the Georgetown property up for sale for $14 million.
Proposed concepts envision 12 to 14 residential units in the old school building on 35th Street and six to nine three-story townhouses on the 34th Street side, currently a parking lot. The plans follow the examples of the rehabilitated Phillips School, developed in the late 1990s on the east side of Georgetown, and the Wormley School, developed in the 2010s on the west side.
ANC chair Ron Lewis said at the March 2 meeting: “Bidders should be well aware of what is likely to be welcomed by the community and what is likely to infringe on the community’s view of what should be there – and the consequences that could flow from that.”
Lewis and the commission outlined “community expectations” that include not more than 10 units in the old building and no major change to it, new townhouses on 34th Street that match the height and massing of existing adjacent homes, access to the north side of the property from a 34th Street driveway and retention of the playground on 35th Street.

2nd District Cmdr. Michael Reese Retires
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Michael Reese, commander of the Metropolitan Police Department’s 2nd District, headquartered at Idaho Avenue NW, has retired. After 30 years as an MPD officer, Reese has moved on to become the deputy chief of police for the D.C. Housing Authority. His cell phone remains the same; his new email is mreese@dchousing.org.

Four Seasons GM Departs
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General manager Dirk Burghartz has departed the Four Seasons Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue to run a Four Seasons resort in Dallas. His successor will be David Bernand, who worked at the Four Seasons in Georgetown previously. Bernand will be returning from the Four Seasons Resort in Jackson Hole, Wyoming