Sedgwick Gardens, located at 3726

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 ...

, NW,

Washington, DC 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, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

, is an apartment building on the southwest corner of Connecticut Avenue and Sedgwick Street in Northwest Washington D.C. It is located two blocks from the Cleveland Park Metro. It is listed in 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 ...

, and represents a significant example of an

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

porte-cochere architecture in Washington.

Overview

Sedgwick Gardens was designed by prominent Washington architect Mihran Mesrobian for local developer Max Gorin of the Southern Construction Company in 1931 for $500,000, and in 1932 opened as a rental apartments building. It is currently distinguished as one of the

Cleveland Park Cleveland Park is a residential neighborhood in the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. It is located at and bounded approximately by Rock Creek Park to the east, Wisconsin and Idaho Avenues to the west, Klingle and Woodley Roads to the sou ...

Historic District A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...

apartment complexes in Washington. Its entrance has been designed so that the eye of any visitor is drawn upward toward of a pair of

high relief High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift t ...

female figures, a pair of

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

male figures, and further toward the

rose window Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term ''rose window'' wa ...

on the massive square elevator tower in the background. White brick bands within the red brick facade line the main and top floors while shorter white bands lay just below each floors’ windows. Triangular projecting sculptured panels and niches that hold

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.05%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4.5%), or 0.25 for low carbon "mild" steel. Wrought iron is manufactured by heating and melting high carbon cast iron in an ...

deco railings interrupt a peculiar

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

treatment, and additional light and air for most of the apartments are provided by the encirclement of two dozen projecting bays. The building represents an exceptional double-U design.

Building

The interiors of Sedgwick Gardens include solid

mahogany Mahogany is a straight- grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus ''Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: Universit ...

doors,

brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

hardware, and

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

in the

octagon In geometry, an octagon () is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, which alternates two types of edges. A truncated octagon, t is a ...

al lobby. Two dozen Moorish-style arches and columns, the six-sided skylight, and the restored octagonal fountain enhance the space. In the center rear of the lobby a small staircase leads to the first floor, just up half a story. In the style of the 1930s, dinettes replaced the large formal dining rooms in all 120 apartments. Originally each of these, including the one-bedrooms, contained a

Murphy bed A Murphy bed (also known as a pull-down bed, fold-down bed, or wall bed) is a bed (furniture), bed that is hinged at one end to store vertically against the wall, or inside a closet or Cabinet (furniture), cabinet. Since they often can be used as ...

, but today only a few remain. In the current day, renovations continue to be made by its owners, DARO Realty, Inc., and in particular, attention has been paid to upgrade kitchens while still striving to preserve the apartments’ original architectural elements. The restoration included restoration

architects An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and

artisans An artisan (from , ) is a skilled worker, skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by handicraft, hand. These objects may be wikt:functional, functional or strictly beauty, decorative, for example furnit ...

to ensure that the original character of the building has been retained. The exterior, lobby and hallways have all been restored. Of particular note is the recent renovation of the lobby complete with

and

floors, Moorish-style arches and columns, an octagonal water fountain, and an enormous hexagonal skylight that allows plenty of natural light.

Grounds

The Victory Gardens, which date to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, abut the park to the apartment building's western property line. The War brought many changes. The basement storeroom was cleared to make room for an air raid shelter and tenants donated carpets, furniture, and canned goods to fix it up. After the War, a self-service elevator was installed and many changes have continued to occur over the years, but the buildings old charm survives. Most of the cabana doors are still intact and date back to the original 1930s design for the building. Although every apartment today has air conditioning units, there are

louver A louver (American English) or louvre (Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, see spelling differences) is a window blind or window shutter, shutter with horizontal wikt:slat, slats that are angle ...

ed doors, which are screen-like, allowing ventilation to the halls and between apartments. Today, the site of the Victory Gardens has been reconstructed to accommodate the grounds parking lot.

References

* James M. Goode. ''Best Addresses: A Century of Washington's Distinguished Apartment Houses'', Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books, 1988.

External links

Sedgwick Gardens, Daro Apartments (official website)
{{coord, 38.939, -77.0609, display=title Residential buildings completed in 1931 Art Deco architecture in Washington, D.C. Residential buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C. Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Washington, D.C.