Month: February 2009

I don’t believe all pop-ups are ugly. Unfortunately there are tons of bad pop-ups that we can point to so one can get the impression that there is no such thing as a good pop-up. There is one example I like to point to of a good rooftop addition.
Over on the 1600 block of 5th Street, NW between R and Warner there is a house with a cute rustic addition. I’ve been inside once and the owners did a wonderful job with creating a new space in their home. Maybe the key in this is that it was designed and done by the people who were intending to live in the home and not a know-nothing small time developer/contractor trying to stuff a few more square feet on to a small lot.
A few things makes this addition work. One is that it is on the end of a row of houses. You can get away with more on the end than you can in the middle. If the style changes up on the end of a bunch of uniform houses, it doesn’t break the pattern. Second, the addition, including the railing is set back from the street. Third, there isn’t a big empty space on the addition between the top of the roof and the top of the door/window. There is another pop-up on S Street, that’s lovely from the back but on the front there is this empty space that makes the front of the addition, ‘blah’.
I think the most important factor was that the addition was put on for the people who live in the house, and not some unknown buyer to be gouged of money.

I showed this picture to a co-worker who also lives in the District. He said if someone painted their house that color in his part of town the neighbors would throw a huge hissy fit. They live in the Chevy Chase area.
Colorful townhomes are some of the things I like about Shaw and neighborhoods like it. There is a bit of funk, and individuality and variety in our style.

I believe in the Invisible Hand. And I believe the Invisible Hand, in it’s own time, will smite those sellers who have no respect for buyers.
26 P Street, NE, that butt ugly pop up across the street from DDOT’s parking lot, is on the market, for $1,500,000.00, down from the earlier 1.7 mil price tag.
There are several pieces of crap that have languished on the market, mucked up by small time ‘developers’ who have been b*tch slapped by the Invisible Hand (see weird condo on Q & Marion ). This is another that I bet will sit, unsold and vacant for years.
The seller’s must be on crack or something, as per the script for the property listing:

Must Sell NOW. This property will Double in price in two years please check the area by visiting www.nomabid.org. this building is a New Construction. four units configured as residential but has c-3-c zoning – many business applications. four stories, nine bedrooms/nine bath. Great view of US Capital and Monument. Fantastic future and location. very close to new york ave metro/red line. harris teeters market, Dept of Justise, major hotels, returants, retail openning soon.

Location Description:
Few block to US Capital/union station.

One- run spell check. For anything over $200K run spell check.

Will double in 2 years? Only if the additional two floors are torn down, the burnt shells next door are bought and the group of lots are razed and a good architect designs a building. Not your blind kid brother who took some design classes online and thinks he can draw a pretty building.

‘New construction.’ New and fugly. However I’d question the quality of the construction considering that the top floors is evidence of bad decision making.

‘four units configured as residential but has c-3-c zoning – many business applications. four stories, nine bedrooms/nine bath.’ The zoning I think is a clue into the height. But the whole business/residential thing is a clue the the builders had no clue.

‘Few block to US Capital/union station’. Liar, liar, pants on fire.

Now there are the folks who say, well, if you had historic district, this would never happen. Well, to quote another neighbor, I chose not to live in an historic district, and I take the risks that come with that decision. And if someone throws up one of those ugly additions, that’s the chance I take. For myself, I believe that builders who vomit up these additions are rewarded with a building that doesn’t sell. And I hope that the more I point out that ugly DC pop ups (as opposed to the few popups and additions that aren’t crap) don’t sell, builders won’t put them up.