Georgetown’s Vigilant Firehouse
10 06 2009Only a few steps off the main thoroughfare of M Street in Georgetown sits the Vigilant Firehouse. The National Register Historic Building is now a pretty decent Italian restaurant but back in the 1800’s it was a firehouse (and you know we have a thing for firehouses).
The current building, which is the oldest stranding firehouse in the District of Columbia, was erected in 1844 and was actually the second firehouse on its site. The building is architecturally significant because it is now a rare example of a typical mid-19th century firehouse and we love the “V” that is still visible at the top of the facade. Sometimes in Georgetown it is difficult to tell what is historic and what’s just trying to fit in, but this building clearly has the character of a structure that has stood the test of time… even if it’s now serving garlic knots!
I think the idea that it should be easy to distinguish old buildings from ones that are trying to fit in is a relatively modern one. In the past I think when they build a neo-federal rowhouse in the 1910’s, they would have taken it as a compliment if it blended in seamlessly with an 1810’s federal rowhouse. This sophistry of buildings needing to be “of their time” is a relic of Modernism that should be done away with in architectural schools. After all we teach our kids to conform to rules and manners handed down from generation to generation.
[…] at DC Metrocentric they explore the historical firehouse on Wisconsin just south of M that how houses the Italian […]