Your weekly chance to take a stab at real estate appraisal.
Well done with the guesses…
All the results are in and counted, and the listed price for this nice Kalorama Mansion originally built in 1912 comes in at a hefty $5,995,000. You may have time to contemplate your purchase though… it has been on the market for over 3 months.
We are sorry to report that the crazy animal rug is not included.
We think this is the Science Foundation Building Downtown. On it, we spotted this very interesting Gyroscope type sculpture feature on the building. As far as we could tell it does not move. Anyone know anything more? Hate to be the guy who has the office window right behind it!
The Washington Business Journal is reporting this morning that housing prices in the area are up for October over last year, but that outlying suburban areas further outside the beltway continued to fall.
The Average home in the area is now selling for close to $500,000 which is up 6% from last year. The real question though is if this is a year over year blip or if it can be sustained. Many areas outside the beltway showed steeper declines due to the concentration of the majority of new housing developments.
Have we reached the bottom?
[Flickr Photo: jgcf]
Located on 5th Street NW right on the edge of the Penn Quarter is Avlon Gallery Place. An unassuming building, with a website right out of 1995, its got the attitude of a hot women… It doesn’t try to hard because it knows it’s got the one thing that matters… Location, Location, Location.
It looks ok too, but there are some drawback. The commenters on ApartmentRatings.com all praise the location but bemoan the weak central air and heating. The main issue though seems to be that the Burger King on the corner tends to attract the less desirables from the surrounding community. Guess not everyone can eat at Clyde’s!
Section 8 Housing on 15th [FrozenTropics]
Graham’s Ideas for Curbing Ward 1 Violence [MyAdamsMorgan]
Is the Waffle Shop Coming Back? [PennQuarterLiving]
Chinatowns Lighting Issues [PrinceofPetworth]
[Photo: madethelflintz0r]
As you can see, the US Institute of Peace has finally broken ground at Constitution and 23rd St NW. The funding for the Moshe Safdie designed building is a mixture of public and private funds, but it took an actual act of Congress to secure the site where the new Headquarters is being built on the National Mall.
While we were standing there to take the photo, not one but two groups of tourists made snarky comments about how ironic the name of the building is… and we were only there for like5 minutes. Usually the snarky comments are left up to us, but we guess this one speaks for itself!
We’ve noticed over the past few weeks some major progress made at the Parc Rosslyn apartments located on the site of the former Rosslyn Ridge. They are now completing about one story a day. The final structure will be 15 stories and will have several environmentally friendly aspects including energy conservation and sustainable design materials.
The surprising thing behind this large scale project in such a prime location is that the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing is behind this 238 apartments project. The APAH is a private non-profit organization founded in 1989 whose goal is to provide safe and affordable housing opportunities to low and moderate income families and individuals in Arlington. For more information click below…
The new Akridge commercial office building going up right next to the Verizon Center now has its crane and we were at the site to watch the whole assembly process. Most urban construction projects rely on building an axis crane at the center of the site, and then assembling the building around it. The funny thing is that it took a crane to put the main crane together, and we documented the whole process, which involved 5 workers 25 stories in the air.
The full play by play after the jump…
Your weekly chance to take a stab at real estate appraisal. Submit your guesses in the comments and closest guess gets the PriceCheck crown for the week.
On Wyoming Ave in NW DC sits this lovely 8 bedroom beauty ready for the taking. But be warned, those 8 bedrooms only come with 5 and two half bathrooms, so you may have to be ok with your little rich offspring sharing bathrooms. It’s got a huge wine cellar and a rooftop patio ready for entertaining.
For the Realtor speak and another photo (with the scariest rug you have ever seen)…
The National Building Museum located right by the Judiciary Square Metro Station was originally built in 1887 to house the Pension Bureau. There were over 1.5 million red bricks used for the distinctive exterior, but it is the interior that is really special. The interior has huge Corinthian Columns (some of the largest in the world) which provide a stunning setting for some of the largest and most lavish galas in the area.
This past weekend while we were there, the Building Museum was playing host to the yearly Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Gala. The very important cause used the venue to hold an evening of awareness, speeches, and a silent auction. There was a giant dance floor set up with industrial lighting and huge drapes were hung across the ceiling. Though the imposing space doesn’t really need much in the way of decorations, these were nice touches that made the space feel more like a party was going on. There are a wide variety of exibits also in the building but we will have to go back to check them out. You can check out the National Building Museum yourself at 401 F Street NW. Call 202.272.2448 for more information.
More interior shots of the Gala after the jump…
The American Pharmacists Association headquarters, located on Constitution Ave near the State Department, is getting a long overdue makeover. The Original building, built in 1934 to imitate the Roman Temple Architecture popular in the 30’s, was designed by renown architect John Russell Pope, who also designed the Lincoln Memorial and the National Gallery of Art. The plans call for maintaining the distinctive historic architecture facing Constitution, while adding significant modern space on the back of the building.
One more picture from our crack team of photographers showing the architectural rendering and contractors involved…
The Rhodes Hill Square development has finally broken ground in Arlington. The planned full block development in the area between Rosslyn and Courthouse has got a great location and will feature a mix of condos and town homes with views of downtown DC, private courtyards, roof terraces, and covered parking. However right now, the site is just a big pile of dirt and debris, as captured by our on the scene photographer.
You can see the Odyssey condos in the background (the all glass wall), which is still having trouble selling out. We wonder if any of the lower units in that building will have their view blocked. The Rhodes Square development will be just about directly in the Odyssey’s line of sight to down town DC.
The GAO headquarters building was dedicated on September 11, 1951. by President Harry S. Truman. In his speech at the dedication, the President talked about the perception by government officials that GAO was “a bugaboo that keeps them from doing what they want to do”. Dispite what people still think of what goes on inside the building, it is the exterior that really grabbed our attention.
The entrance on G Street looks like a semi-modern Egyptian motif. The style is actually called Art Moderne or Late Depression Modern. It is similar to the stylized Art Deco design popularized in the 1920s, but is somewhat more austere and streamlined. The lst floor elevator lobbies in GAO’s building reflect Art Moderne style in the use of stylized lotus motifs and the repetitive groupings of horizontal lines and geometric shapes.
Architecture is always a mater of personal taste, but we love this building, compared to a lot of the other plain concrete government buildings this one has real character!
Egyptian looking bas-reliefs after the jump…
This weekend the bright lights of Hollywood graced the streets of Georgetown. We happened to stumble upon a full block of O street being shut down Saturday night for filming some outdoor scenes for the TV show “24″. Kiefer Sutherland and crew made an appearance, but were quickly whisked inside for interior shots.
The house they were filming in front of exemplified typical architecture for the area, but nothing special. We figured they must have been filming other shots in the area, because there was nothing special about the house that couldn’t have been created on a back-lot in Hollywood. Sorry for the quality of the shot, blame it on the industrial lighting.
Photo of Kiefer from earlier in the day after the jump…
