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"Street, Washington, D.C., 1925." Who'll be the first to identify this wannabe skyscraper? [Answer: The Vermont Building, on Vermont Avenue at L Street.] National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
Below is the same view from May of 2016.
That appears to be a sliver of Portland Flats on the far left. Designed by Adolph Cluss, it was constructed in 1880 and was once a fashionable D.C. address, but it is only a couple years from the wrecking ball in the first view circa 1960. A bit of the Vermont Building is visible on the far right. The second view circa 1975 is of its unfortunate replacement, with the Vermont Building still in good standing at the time.
The Vermont Building, put up by Isadore Freund and designed by B. Stanley Simmonds.
Vermont Avenue NW, looking south toward L Street with McPherson Square in the distance. The building under construction is gone, but its taller neighbor across L Street still stands.
the name of the building, but it still stands at the intersection of Connecticut Avenue and N Street N.W.
Buick, Chevy with a Pines Winterfront installed on the radiator, Model T, unknown touring car and three more Ford Ts. The one behind the pile of rubble looks like a 1926 "Improved Ford" with the new nickel plated radiator shell, which would date this photo late 1925.
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