Housing – Page 3 – Truxton Is In Shaw

Thoughts on small houses and their design

I’ve been clearing out the draft folder. This one is from April 4, 2009. I’ll add my thoughts at the end.

I spent months giving thought to how I wanted to redesign my roughly 1000sq ft (not counting cellar) house. I radically changed the second floor layout, moving the bathroom and making one bedroom a really big closet… with a bed. So when I see other small houses and it appears that was designed poorly, I wonder if they took into consideration the small space or just thought they could just reduce the measurements, squeeze stuff in and it would be alright.

Here are a few thoughts-
Can it get through the door/up the stairs. This was a very important question in the early years of my house. Because of some stupid pipe near the front door, it didn’t open all the way. I nearly had to throw out the comfy chair because said chair barely made it though the door and took some wall with it. The fridge required taking the door off the hinges and lifting it through a couple of passageways. It would have been easier if they took it through the back door on the alley side but the delivery guys weren’t going to even entertain that thought. Then there is the issue of never being able to have a double bed box spring, unless I was planning on sleeping in the living room. There are corners to turn and tight spots and if what you’re hauling to the 2nd or 3rd floor is big there is a chance it’s staying in the living room too. I considered space and movement issues. The doorway is still small but there are no stairs to hit nor a wall to gouge if bringing in a couch. The ceiling heights and lack of obstructions on the 2nd floor now allow for a large mattress or other furniture, as long as it can get up the stairs.

A size 12 in size 8 clothing. There are things that just overpower a space. Like a huge sink in a 1/2 bath, that takes up half of the bathroom. And that just draws attention to the fact that it is a small space. There is the mid-sized bathroom with a big jacuzzi tub shoehorned in.

[July 2023 thoughts]

I oversaw 4 rehab projects on my old DC home before selling it in 2020. The first was in 2003/2004 to update the kitchen where I had 1 foot of counter space. The second was the big project where the 1st and 2nd floors were gutted. The third was finishing the basement. The last one was in 2015 when we added an addition above the kitchen. All this changed my dumpy 1000 sq ft home to a nice little 1700 sq. ft home. All the renovations and work put into it was about $300K.

There are drawbacks to open floor plans. Sound and smell. But you don’t have to worry about getting large things from one room to another. The stairs were still tight, but not as tight as before. We had a huge dresser at the top of the stairs which required large men with upper body strength to move over the banister, but there was more room.

Comparative White DC Home Owner- Georgetown- James D. McKenna- 1513 33rd Street NW

Although the African American home owners of Truxton Circle are my focus, I am looking at a few other blocks in Washington, DC to compare them to. So I looked at the census for blocks in the city that were in the F1 or red-lined category, but happened to be 90%-100% white. I included Georgetown, and this is the story of one household. photo of property

I stumbled on this one because James D. McKenna was the son of Thomas McKenna. I’m guessing at the address because in the Recorder of Deeds online system they owned a property on Square 1255 lot 163. I cannot locate lot 163 on the 1919 map.

I was looking for McKennas on square 1255 and found James around the same time period as his father.

James a single man at the time bought lot 163 from Henry W. Offutt a widower from Montgomery County on July 3, 1943. He borrowed $5,300 from trustees Hubert R. Bauckman and Wendel C. Shoemaker. March 27, 1946 James and his wife Eve Ruth McKenna sold the property to Fanny Fiske Eaton. James D. McKenna was released from his 1943 mortgage in November 1946. So, he owned it just 3 years.

I could not locate any useful information about James and Eva McKenna after this sale. James Doyle McKenna died in Florida on July 19, 1980 and is buried in Montgomery County, MD.

Comparative White DC Home Owner- Georgetown- Thomas McKenna- 3233 P Street NW

There honestly isn’t a lot in the Recorder of Deeds online records. The Recorder of Deeds trove of records start around 1921 and the records for square 1255 lot 187 or 3233 P Street NW in Washington, DC starts in October 1947 when three of the 5 McKenna adult children sold the property to Loulie M. Wilson. Thomas McKenna died December 16, 1940, at home.

Thomas Patrick (?)McKenna was born August 15, 1866 in Ireland. I arrived in America in 1879/1881. He married Irish-American Angela Doyle in 1901. In the 1910 census Thomas and Angela were living at 3233 P St NW with their four children, 7 year old James Doyle, 5 year old Theresa M., three year old Thomas Pierce, and infant John J. McKenna. Patriarch Thomas worked as a grocer with his own shop.

In the 1920 census there was a change. The family was still at 3233 P St NW. Thomas was 54 years old, working as a watchman for the government supporting a wife and five children. M. Delores was the fifth child and eight years old. In the 1930 census he was still a guard working for the US government. His wife Angela had died in 1923. Daughters Theresa and Maria Delores lived with him and sons Thomas and John were in the plumbing trades. The 1940 census was Thomas the elder’s last at the age of 72. He lived with James, Thomas Pierce, Theresa and Delores. Sons James and Thomas worked as cab drivers.

After the death of their father, as mentioned above, Theresa, Thomas and Marie Delores sold the family home in 1947. In the 1950 census Theresa, an insurance clerk for the VA, married Joseph E. Crowley and had adult siblings, Thomas and M. Delores living with them at 2417 39th Street NW. The siblings were not employed.

2417 39th Street NW, Washington, DC — 2417 39th Street NW

I will have another post about eldest son, James D. McKenna who owned another property on the block.

John Joseph McKenna married Mary Dorothy Poore in 1938. In the 1940s they lived at 648 1/2 Morton Street NE and he worked as a plumber. By the 1950 census they lived at 3614 T St NW, had three kids under the age of 6.

Comparative White DC Home Owner- Capitol Hill- Herman Hoffman- 505 3rd St SE

So just to get an idea to see if what I am seeing with the Black Homeowners of Truxton Circle is normal, or not, I am comparing them with white home owners. I am looking at blocks that were over 90% white in 1950 but also in the same “red lined” zone, which was F1.

photo of property

Well, looking at the DC Recorder of Deeds site there really isn’t much going on with 505 E St SE. The first document is from 1933 where owner Herman R. Hoffman and wife Rose E. Hoffman transferred their property to Norman E. Daly, who immediately (w/ wife Nelly Daly) transferred it back to Herman, Rose and daughter Ione/Irene Hoffman. Aaaaaaaand nothing else happens until 1980 when the conservator of Rose Eva Hoffman’s estate, William L. Fallon, sells the property to George L. and Goldie L. Mamakos.

There are no mortgages, but there is a racial covenant in the two 1933 documents. It reads as:

“Subject to the covenants that hereafter no building or structure other than bay windows or porches shall be erected or constructed within a line drawn 12.85 feet from and parallel with the front or street line of said lot and that said property shall never be rented, leased, sold, transferred or conveyed unto any negro or colored person under a penalty of $2000.00 which shall be a lien against said property.”

It’s unclear to me who the $2,000 ($46,671.23 in 2023’s money) would be paid to if the property was rented or sold to an African American. If there was a mortgage I’d assume it would have been the lender, but there is no lender here. The Hoffmans own it free and clear.You can wander over to Mapping Segregation DC’s site to learn more about DC racial covenants.

So who were the Hoffmans?

So let’s start with the 1920 census where then 37 year old, California born musician Herman Roy Hoffman lived with his wife Rose E. B. Herrler Hoffman, their 6 year old daughter Ione, and German mother-in-law Wilhemina Herrler at 505 3rd St SE. He appeared again in the 1920 Census stationed at the Marine Barracks as a 1st Class Musician. So he was counted twice. He appears on several Marine Corp muster rolls as a 1st Class musician. He enlisted in 1907, starting off as a Private. Sometime around 1910 he became Musician Second Class and then 1st Class around 1915.

He married Rose Herrler May 1910 in Washington, DC. They had one daughter Ione, named after Herman’s sister, Ione R. Hoffman Symmes.

Music was a part of the family’s life. Herman taught and played the violin for children at the Friendship House and the YMCA. Ione was a mezzo soprano, contralto, and piano teacher. The pair appeared often in the local papers for performances around town.

Herman Hoffman died February 13, 1949 after a short illness at the Bethesda Naval Hospital. He is buried at Arlington Cemetery.

Sometimes smaller is better

I’m going through my old drafts. Some I rewrite, such as this one. Some I delete. And some I rewrite, still think they’re crap and delete them. This was written October 8, 2008.

Sometimes.
I’ve just finished reading an article regarding the upsides of raising a family in a 1,200 sf house over that of a McMansion. The author writes:

Looking back on 18 years of living small, I see that our snug house has prevented us from easily avoiding one another by retreating into our own spaces. We’ve been able to eavesdrop on our kids as they played with friends and look over their shoulders as they did homework on the dining room table. It’s been good for our health too, forcing all of us, especially our sons, to spend more time out-of-doors. There simply isn’t room to get too rowdy inside, so often they have headed outside to a neighborhood park that’s conveniently located just across the street.I hope we’ve given our sons the message that wealth doesn’t come from our material possessions, but instead from the diversity of experiences we have and the richness of our community.

The author also mentions that with a smaller house she could pay off the mortgage quicker, heat it for less and have a better commute. I already have the great commute. It is my great luck to work for an agency whose DC metro branches are all along the Green Line. My current commute is a 30-45 minute walk, or 20 minutes by metro, and that is priceless. The house is small and there isn’t much to heat or cool, and I tend to be happy lounging in 1/6th of the space. And there is the possibility of actually paying off the mortgages in the next 15 years, but I owe that more to when I bought the house as opposed to the size of the house.

The article was in the conservative online magazine Culture 11 “Living Small”

Memory Lane: From Richardson Pl, circa 2005

Comparative White DC Home Owner- Capitol Hill- John Fitzpatrick- 501 3rd St SE

I haven’t done this in a while.

photo of property

The story starts in 1924 when John and his wife Mae Fitzpatrick purchased 501 3rd St SE from John J. and May Shaughnessy. As part of the purchased the Fitzpatricks borrowed the equivalent of $5000 from the American Building Association. They also borrowed $2,000 from trustees Charles H. Kindle and Guy M. Neely at 6% interest. The $2,000 loan was paid off in 1927. In 1931 the Fitzpatricks borrowed a small amount of money ($184.00) and paid it off in 1933. The Fitzpatricks were free and clear of their 1924 American Building Assoc. loan in 1946. They sold their home in 1952.

So who was John Fitzpatrick? He was at the same address for the 1930-1950 censuses, so I can find the right John Fitzpatrick out of all the other John Fitzpatricks. Let’s start in 1922 when John Fitzpatrick married Irish born Mae/May Quade/Quaid at St. Peter’s Church. Two years later the newlyweds purchased 501 3rd St SE.

On the 1930 census New York born Irish-American John was a 48 year old US government auditor. He lived with his wife Mae, and their children John, Helen and William. The next census, 1940, John (58 y.o) was a government “general clerk” and Mae was Mary. The last census, 1950, two of the, then adult, children lived with John and Mary, John D. and William L. John Daniel Fitzpatrick married a Ms. Evelyn Elaine White in April of 1951. They moved out and went to live at 2115 Suitland Terrace SE.

Because John Fitzpatrick is such a common name, my research ends here.

Comparing the white Fitzpatricks with the Black Truxton Circle home owners, only one TC person also had an American Building loan. William Bowman of 20A N St NW refinanced with the American Building Association.

WSIC-1950s sell off- 45 Bates Street NW

From my last post, I mentioned I would look at a property that was transfer from the Washington Sanitary Improvement Company (WSIC) to three men, who then sold it to a person marking the exit of WSIC from Truxton Circle in the 1950s.

45 Bates St NW is on square 615 in Truxton Circle. During the time of WSIC’s ownership it sat on lot 134. Currently it is now lot 292.

I don’t have the exact date when WSIC came to posses 45 Bates and other homes on the block. In 1903 parties (George Sternberg and George Kober) involved with the Washington Sanitary Improvement Company (WSIC) owned many lots on Sq. 615. So fast forward to June 1950 and the property is transferred from WSIC to the Washington Loan & Trust Company, then from the Washington Loan and Trust Co. to business partners Nathaniel J. Taube, Nathan Levin and James B. Evans. The business partners borrowed $3 million dollars for Investors Diversified Services Inc. of Minnesota.

photo of property

First Taube, Levin and Evans sell 45 Bates St NW to William W. Johnson and his wife Kathleen S. Johnson on January 26, 1951. But then there is a deed of the Taube, Evans and Levin selling lot 292 to George M. and Olivia V. Davis February 5, 1951. Later documents don’t seem to clear up the ownership. In 2001 DC Water and Sewer sent a water sewer lien to a Johnson and Davis. Loan documents appear to say the Davis and Johnsons both had a 1/2 interest in the property. Oh brother.

Since Johnson is a common name I was able to find some information about the Davis’. In the 1940 census there was a George M. Davis married to an Olivia V. (nee Birdsong) Davis living on the 2000 block of Flagler NW. They were listed as white. He was a painter, she was a maid in 1940. They lived with their 4 year old daughter his 87 year old widowed mother-in-law.

Funny thing. Looking at their marriage record from 1924, the couple was ‘colored’, not-white. In the 1930 census, the couple living in Stonewall, VA with George McKinley Davis’ father, is listed as being Black. Then in the 1950 census an Olivia V. Davis is the head of the household, living with her husband George Davis, the painter, at 2261 12th St NW. In 1950, they are Black. I would say the 1940 census was a fluke if it weren’t for other documents stating that George was white.

Who knows? Race could be considered a social construct, based on real phenotypes.Maybe they could pass. Or maybe there are a couple of George M.s married to Olivia V.s out there to confuse the matter.

WSIC-1950s sell off

I’m not sure where I’m going with this but I am looking at the end of the Washington Sanitary Improvement Company (WSIC). The end meaning when the company, or what the company turned into, exited from the history of Truxton Circle and sold off it’s properties.

I became aware of the sell off in a 1952 article in the February 13th Evening Star and a bunch of newspaper searches where their Truxton Circle properties were auctioned off in the early to mid-1950s. I shared one document in my post WSIC-1950 Big Old Property Transfer, where WSIC transferred their property to the Washington Loan and Trust Company. What I didn’t do is look at the next document (#1950024327) from the same day on June 16, 1950 transferred it from the Washington Loan and Trust Company to three fellows, Nathan Levin, James B. Evans, and Nathaniel J. Taube.

That same February 13, 1952 article mentions Levin, Evans and Taube (Tauber) buying some 850 properties from WSIC. In my next post I’ll look at one TC property sold to a regular person.

Comparative White DC Home Owner- Capitol Hill- Levi & Francis Wellons- 517 3rd St SE

Normally this blog looks at African American home owners in the Black Homeowners of Truxton Circle series. But for comparisons’ sake we’ll look at white home owners during the same period, in the same mortgage “redlined” zone F1.

Earlier we looked at Bessie and Matthew Woods who owned 517 Third St SE up until 1943. Then followed the Garbers, and after them, now the Wellons.

photo of property

In may 1949 Levi and Francis Wellons bought 517 3rd St SE. They used a loan from the Metropolis Building Association for about $7,000 and a $5000 loan from trustees William H. Boaze and Bernard Kretsinger. And then they sold it in 1956 to Charles Walker and Walker’s wife and mother. No excitement here, they bought a house, got 2 loans and seven years later, sold it. The end.

Levi Thomas Wellons Jr, was born May 20, 1915 in Southampton, VA to Levi Wellons Sr and Sallie Mary Rose. In 1936 he married Frances Winter and they had several children. In 1940 Levi, Frances, their children Rose and Levi III, lived around the corner at 214 South Carolina Ave SE with his in-laws. In the 1950 census, it appears the house is in 3 units and the Leeds family is in Apt 1. The Wellons were still on S. Carolina Ave SE with a new son, William.

Hum, it appears I’ve made an assumption. I’ve assumed that the Wellons were resident owners. They were, sort of, and I don’t feel like hunting down proof that they lived in the house. They lived on the block. Close enough.

The Wellons had ownership, part or full, of the following lots on Sq. 0765: 21, 22, 75, 77, 801 and 802. A quick look at the land records and it appears they unloaded most of their property on this block in 1959.

They eventually moved to Maryland. I don’t know what happened to Mrs. Wellons but Levi remarried. He died in 2007 in Deale, MD.