Harry Wardman (April 11, 1872 – March 18, 1938) was a

real estate developer Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to other ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

during the early 20th century whose developments included landmark

hotels A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a refr ...

, luxury apartment buildings, and many

rowhouse A terrace, terraced house ( UK), or townhouse ( US) is a type of medium-density housing which first started in 16th century Europe with a row of joined houses sharing side walls. In the United States and Canada these are sometimes known as row ...

s. When he died in 1938, one-tenth of the residents of Washington were said to live in a Wardman-built home.

Personal life

Born in

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 1872 (the 1900 federal census - Washington, D.C. - says he was born April 1869), Wardman was the son of English

textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...

workers. In 1889, at age 17, he arrived in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, where he worked in a department store. He later moved to

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, where he worked at the

Wanamaker's Wanamaker's was an American department store chain founded in 1861 by John Wanamaker. It was one of the first department stores in the United States, and peaked at 16 locations along the Delaware Valley in the 20th century. Wanamaker's was pur ...

department store and met his wife, Mary Hudson. They had one daughter, Alice. In 1898, he apprenticed himself to a local carpenter to learn construction. By 1900, Wardman was widowed. In 1902, Wardman moved to

, where he worked as a

carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenter ...

, learned to build

staircase A stairwell or stair room is a room in a building where a stair is located, and is used to connect walkways between floors so that one can move in height. Collectively, a set of stairs and a stairwell is referred to as a staircase or stairway ...

s, and soon got into building homes and apartments. In 1908, he married Lillian Glascox. Harry and Lillian had one daughter, Helen.

Building career

Rowhouses

The first independent project Wardman embarked upon was a six-house ensemble in

Sixteenth Street Heights Sixteenth Street Heights is a large neighborhood of terraced house, rowhouses, duplex (building), duplexes, and American Craftsman and American Foursquare detached houses in Washington, D.C. (northwest), Northwest Washington, D.C. Geography Def ...

, on Longfellow Street, in 1898; while the term did not exist yet, these were what would later be termed "rowhouses". The success of the Longfellow Street project pushed Wardman to scale this model up in Columbia Heights, in 1907, wherein he built blocks of rowhouses branching east and west off of Fourteenth Street, between Monroe Street and Spring Street. These 750 rowhouses included new design elements, most notably the front

porch A porch (; , ) is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance to a building. A porch is placed in front of the façade of a building it commands, and forms a low front. Alternatively, it may be a vestibule (architecture), vestibule (a s ...

. Wardman built many of the city's

s, especially in the neighborhoods of Columbia Heights, Bloomingdale, Eckington and Fort Stevens Ridge. To this day, his homes are renowned for their high-quality construction and materials. Some of his design ideas were copied by the dozens of other developers — Lewis Brueninger, Harry Kite, Francis Blundon, David Dunigan, and others — who built massive rows of townhouses in the District.

Apartments

Wardman's success at rowhouses allowed him to move up to building luxury

apartment building An apartment (American English, Canadian English), flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), tenement ( Scots English), or unit (Australian English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) ...

s, mostly designed by architect Albert H. Beers and

Frank Russell White Frank Russell White (May 2, 1889 – October 24, 1961) was an American architect who designed hotels, apartment buildings, commercial properties, and thousands of homes in Washington, D.C. A native of Brooklyn, White's family moved to the na ...

, and located along 16th Street, NW,

Connecticut Avenue Connecticut Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C., and suburban Montgomery County, Maryland. It is one of the diagonal avenues radiating from the White House, and the segment south of Florida Avenue wa ...

, Columbia Heights, and elsewhere. They include:

Hotels

In 1918, he opened the 1,200-room

Wardman Park Hotel The Washington Marriott Wardman Park was a hotel on Connecticut Avenue next to the Woodley Park station of the Washington Metro in the Woodley Park neighborhood of Washington, D.C., United States. The hotel had 1,152 rooms, of event space, an ...

along Connecticut Avenue in

Woodley Park Woodley Park is a neighborhood in Washington, D.C., located in Northwest D.C. Primarily residential, Woodley Park hosts a commercial corridor of restaurants and shops located along Connecticut Avenue. The neighborhood is noted as the home of the ...

. The hotel was successful, meeting the strong demand of an influx of government workers after

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. It was expanded in 1928 with the Wardman Tower, an adjoining apartment building. The hotel was sold to

Sheraton Hotels Sheraton Hotels and Resorts is an American international hotel chain owned by Marriott International. As of June 30, 2020, Sheraton operates 446 hotels with 155,617 rooms globally, including locations in North America, Africa, Asia-Pacific, Centr ...

in 1953, becoming the Sheraton-Park Hotel. The main building was demolished in 1977 and replaced with a modern hotel, the Sheraton Washington Hotel. The Wardman Tower was saved and was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1984.Description of listing of Wardman Park Annex and Arcade (Wardman Tower and Arcade) on National Register of Historic Places
''in'
website of National Register of Historic Places.com
Accessed September 9, 2009. The 1977 Sheraton Washington Hotel has since been renamed the

Marriott Wardman Park The Washington Marriott Wardman Park was a hotel on Connecticut Avenue next to the Woodley Park station of the Washington Metro in the Woodley Park neighborhood of Washington, D.C., United States. The hotel had 1,152 rooms, of event space, an ...

, in honor of Wardman's original building. In 1926 he built The Carlton Hotel, designed by Armenian-American architect

Mihran Mesrobian Mihran Mesrobian (; 10 May 1889 – 21 September 1975) was an Armenian-American architect whose career spanned over fifty years and in several countries. Having received an education in the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Academy of Fine Arts i ...

and today known as The St. Regis Washington, D.C. In 1928, Wardman built the Hay-Adams Hotel, also designed by Mesrobian and located across from Lafayette Park. Other landmarks built by Wardman include the

British Embassy This is a list of diplomatic missions of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, excluding honorary consulates. The UK has one of the largest global networks of diplomatic missions. UK diplomatic missions to capitals of other Co ...

. Wardman's efforts made him wealthy, and for a time he lived extravagantly in Washington and abroad. But most of his $30 million fortune vanished in the 1929 stock market crash. He continued to build middle-class homes. Wardman died in 1938 from cancer and is buried in

Rock Creek Cemetery Rock Creek Cemetery is an cemetery with a natural and rolling landscape located at Rock Creek Church Road, NW, and Webster Street, NW, off Hawaii Avenue, NE, in the Petworth (Washington, D.C.), Petworth neighborhood of Washington, D.C., across ...

Suburban developments

In 1927, he assumed the presidency of Washington Suburban Realty Company, developer of

Cheverly, Maryland Cheverly is a town in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, located very close to Washington, D.C., though not bordering it directly. The town was founded in 1918 and incorporated in 1931. Per the 2020 census, the population was 6, ...

. He held that position until the stock market crash of 1929.

Projects

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wardman, Harry American businesspeople in real estate Businesspeople from Washington, D.C. 1872 births 1938 deaths English emigrants to the United States Burials at Rock Creek Cemetery Real estate and property developers from Washington, D.C.