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"Stinemetz Building, 12th and F streets N.W." A rainy day in Washington, D.C., in 1921. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
My office is where this building is located. From the picture, it looks like I sit in what once was Dr. J.L. Wilson's dental office.
Yes, I think it is. Looks like the Reeves' logo script on the van. Loved Reeves -- went many, many times when shopping at Woodward & Lothrop with my mother. Mmmm . . . Strawberry pie.
If you get the wheel of the street sweeper's cart in the exact center of your 15" monitor, you've got a photo that could be -- heck, should be -- in a museum.
by the deep sidewalks and wide avenues in so many of the DC streetscapes featured on Shorpy; the Stinemetz building has deep projecting display windows that have been added to the building (see the original window tops above), yet the walk is still spacious. Wonderful city planning that has stood the city well for more than a century.
[That Pierre l'Enfant knew what he was doing. - Dave]
That rooftop fencing is weird; definitely a rarity. My guess is that the rooftop was used as break or lunch space. There's the profile for a rooftop stairway, so there's your access. Summer is DC was stifling, so any breeze was a blessing. And if the "Manufacturing Jewelers" sign is to be believed the building had hot, sweaty drones who were only given 10 minutes for lunch.
Great shot, one of those "classic Shorpy" types that make the site a daily "must." I can feel the water under my shoes.
The fenced-in area on top of the building could be a rooftop tennis court. Perhaps a training facility for juggling students and circus performers? Maybe a kindergarten playground. Possibly a breeding pen for minks, beavers, ocelots, and ostriches - for the furrier and hatter.
Happy New Year,
Goober Pea
had been around for nearly 20 years at the time this photo was taken: note the metal insignia displayed on the radiator of the car on the right. That is one logo that has stood the test of time with little or no variation.
What is with the fancy fence on top of this building??
B.H. Stinemetz started business in Washington as a hatter and furrier prior to 1878. After decades of success, the store began to run into financial difficulties around the time of this photo and closed a few years later.
Woolworth Leases Site
At 12th and F; Will BuildF.W. Woolworth Company, of New York city, owner of a chain of 5- and 10-cent stores, has leased for 30 years the properties on the northwest corner of 12th and F streets northwest, now occupied by B.H. Stinemetz & Son Co., and the Regal Shoe Company, and will, May 1, begin razing the present structures preparatory to erecting a building of its own.
Washington Post, Feb 29, 1924
Would that delivery van on the left be from Reeves Bakery on G Street?
[1209 F Street. - Dave]
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