Bleak House was at the center of what is today the Shepherd Park neighborhood in northwest Washington, DC. Goode 1979, describes the house as “the wooden Italianate, mansarded country home of Gov. Alexander R. Shepherd.” Wikipedia identifies Shepherd this way:
Alexander Robey Shepherd (January 30, 1835 – September 12, 1902), was one of the most controversial and influential civic leaders in the history of Washington, D.C., and one of the most powerful big-city political bosses of the Gilded Age. He was head of the DC Board of Public Works from 1871 to 1873 and Governor of the District of Columbia from 1873 to 1874. He is known, particularly in Washington, as "The Father of Modern Washington."
See The Portrait Gallery for a look at Alexander Robey Shepherd.
John P. Richardson, in his 2016 biography notes that Alexander Shepherd and his wife Mary (Mary Grice Young Shepherd) built the house in 1867.
In 1867, when Alexander and Mary Shepherd decided to build an out of-town home for their growing family, they returned to the vicinity of the old family farm in the county north of Rock Creek Cemetery. Consistent with his new wealth and embrace of conspicuous consumption, Shepherd built an elegant house that the family named “Bleak House” from the title of the Charles Dickens novel the children were reading at the time. A family account described the approximately 260 acres as the highest spot in the District, with old apple trees, meadows, and woodland running back to Rock Creek.40 The Second Empire–style wooden main house was one of the showplaces of this remote suburban district and considered large in its time. The estate contained a bowling alley and gymnasium, a barn and overseer’s house, as well as trout ponds and a cherry orchard. The formal entrance to Bleak House was a stone porter’s lodge on Seventh Street Road (today Georgia Avenue) at some distance from the residence. Bleak House was to hold many memories— both happy and sad— for the Shepherd family.
Daughter Grace Shepherd Merchant later described Bleak House as meaning much more to the family than the mansion Shepherd later built on Farragut Square. -- Richardson, 2016, Chapter 3, Pages 52-53.
The house on Farragut Square mentioned above is the towered left-most of the three town houses in what was called “Shepherd Row” at Connecticut Ave. and K Street, where Farragut North metro station is today.
The Rambler, Harry Shannon, visited Bleak House just before it was torn down in 1916. He found the 260 acre estate reduced to 4 acres. “Bleak House and its garden is bounded by four new streets. Alaska avenue on the east. Holly street on the north. Geranium street on the south and 14th street on the west.”
I've outlined in red the block occupied by Bleak House (square 2776) on this 1911 map of “16th Street Heights” the development that preceded Shepherd Park. Since the streets that were prospective in 1911, and still new in 1916, are still there, this gives us the location of Bleak House, in modern terms. Since the house faced east, we'd say it occupied the 7400 block of Alaska Avenue.
Richard Hage in Shepherd Park News (Nov/Oct 2007) nails down the location of Bleak House, “at the rear of what are now the lots for 1321 and 1325 Geranium Streets and extended into the alley.” Beth Allaben's map shows the location clearly and relates it to the Carriage House behind 1332 Holly.
So, the rear of 1321 Geranium sits today where the front of Bleak House sat. When I snapped this photo I was standing in the alley at what had been the north corner, of Bleak House.
Goode describes the architecture of “this delightful service building.”
The entrance porch and door itself reflect the Gothic Cottage taste of the pre-Civil War period, while the slender chamfered piers, which supported the lacy gable, hint at the stick style then coming into vogue. The rough ashlar walls meld well with the lodge's rustic setting. The mansard and hood-molded dormers, however, were the only features that unified the lodge with the design of the main house.
The lodge's location became the northeast corner of the property that until recently was Walter Reed Army Medical Center. In 2023 it is a construction site.
Another driveway descended from Georgia Avenue north of Bleak House which can be seen on the 1907 Baist map above. Shepherd Road NW is the remnant of that northern driveway.
There are only 4 addresses on Shepherd Road -- 1124, 1126, 1128, and 1130 -- paired up in the two brick duplexes visible on the south side of the road. 1130 actually faces 12th street but has a Shepherd Road address.
All that remains of Bleak House is the Carriage House in the alley behind 1332 Holly Street (lot 27 on the 1919 Baist map above) belonging to Richard and Kathleen Hage. (See Richard Hage's article in the Oct/Nov 2007 issue of Shepherd Park News, cited above.)
Hi Mr Browne my name is John Bennaman and I'm interested in the history of Waters Mill in Black Hills Regional Park. I've taken some shots of the mill ruins and the tail race but I wanted to know where specifically in the park or trails was the foundations of the millers house that was blown up by Guy Vernon Thompson on November 18th 1920 that claimed the lives of Hattie Shipley's two young children and the owner of the mill John Bolton.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like you know a lot more about Waters Mill than I do. I think my wife has your phone number I'll call and we'll see if I can help at all.
DeleteIt looks like you know much more about the Waters Mill than I do. I think my wife has your phone number so I'll call and we'll see if I can help.
ReplyDelete-allen