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Washington, D.C., 1925. "Stoneleigh Court apartments, L Street and Connecticut Avenue N.W." Close inspection will be rewarded with a wealth of detail afforded by this 8x10 glass negative, the highlights including disembodied pedestrian parts captured in mid-stride, and perhaps the earliest appearance on these pages of a ONE WAY traffic sign. National Photo Company Collection. View full size.
The current office building, known as the Blake Building and designed by Washington architect Chloethiel Woodard Smith, replaced the Stoneleigh Court in 1966. More about the history of the building can be found here.
Nice new 1925 Buick Master Six coach straight across the intersection. Shiny and pricy - $2,225 in 1925.
To the right on the curb the first and third cars are Model Ts - not enough of an expert to name the years as differences are subtle. The tudor sedan at the front looks new and a '25 T tudor cost $595. Two cars back is a T touring, those were $298 in '25 - only cheaper T was the Roadster at $269.
Love these pics of old cars in natural settings!
like the ones above the one way sign were still common in Georgetown at least into the late 1950's. The lettering was on etched glass, and the street light back-illuminated them.
That's such a soulless part of town now. I'll bet the building presently on this site replaced the one that replaced this one. L Street is still one way, though.
The car on the right, from Ohio, almost looks like an early stretch limousine judging from the roof line from this angle. Check out the chauffeurs among the sycamores!
BornTooLate: maybe that's the reason for the beefy bumpers on these early flivvers. Just shove the cars surrounding you out of the way and be on your merry way!
[Those are two cars; note there are four fenders of two different designs, also the differing heights of the window frames and door handles. - tterrace]
It often surprises me to see how close together cars are parked in many Shorpy pics of the 1920s. There appears to be barely a few inches between most of them, which would have made pulling out of a space a real challenge. Not to mention parallel parking in an open spot.
I drive a '28 Ford and it's no picnic going back and forth and turning that distinctly non-power steering in a tight spot.
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