National Register of Historic Places Registration Form

NFS Form 10-900« OMB Approval No. 1024-0018
(M6)
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
CLEVELAND PARK HISTORIC DISTRICT
WASHINGTON D.C.
Section number 8 Page 12
A. The low rise Cleveland Park commercial area which extends from Macomb to
Porter streets along both sides of Connecticut Avenue is a significant part of
the community. Richard Longstreth (Director of the Graduate Program in
Historic Preservation at the George Washington University) recently said, "The
whole precinct, Klingle Bridge to Porter Street, is without question the best
remaining example in Washington D.C. of a linear neighborhood commercial
development." *(Informal lecture on shopping centers, July 18, 1985) Small
businesses serve the residents and occupy buildings constructed primarily in
the 1920's and 1930's which represent the quickly changing architectural
fashions.
A. The Colonial Revival firehouse which opened
in 1916 heralded the development of Connecticut Avenue
and established the low rise scale for the
avenue. It is an excellent example of the mode so
popular at that time which drew its inspiration
from 18th-century American architecture. It was soon
accompanied by apartment houses, rowhouses and a
shopping center also representing the interest in the
revival of this early American domestic style.
B. "The "Park and Shop" of 1930 (3507-3523 Connecticut)
is a good, and appears to be a very early, example of a
neighborhood shopping center oriented for the automobile
in which the supermarket was the anchor facility."
^(Richard Longstreth, Informal lecture on shopping
centers, July 18, 1985)
C. The popularity of the Art Deco Style can be seen in
the Uptown Theater of 1936 and the adjoining shops on
both sides of Connecticut Avenue in the 3400 block.
"... the extensive one-story building around the
Uptown Theater on Connecticut Avenue, with its unbroken
display of commercial Art Deco, is among the best
examples in the city." *(Hans Wirz and Richard Striner;
Washington Deco; Art Deco in the Nation's Capital;
Smithsonian Press, 198A)
5. From its earliest days the houses in Cleveland Park have been subject to
alterations and additions of the highest quality. This tradition continues
today with well known architects expanding the living spaces and creating
interesting new architectural features.
A. President Grover Cleveland was responsible for the
first major addition in this neighborhood. In 1886 he
hired architect William Poindexter to design a summer
house for himself and his new bride. Poindexter