National Register of Historic Places Registration Form

NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 10244018
(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 35
The Broadmoor is another example of the suburban style apartment house
occupying a five acre site and constructed at the same time as Tilden Gardens.
It differs in that it is a single structure which wraps around an expansive
lawn creating a formal appearance, whereas Tilden Gardens represents the more
informal picturesque merging of its six buildings with a romantic landscaping
scheme. Both, however, are clothed in medieval revival styles, drawing their
decorative elements from English buildings of the 16th- and 17th-centuries
recalling the Tudor and Jacobean periods.
Joseph Abel, the architect, is a native Washingtonian born in 1905 and
still living nearby. He received his architectural degree from George
Washington University. He served an apprenticeship with George Santmyers in
the 1920's and then worked as a draftsman for Arthur B. Heaton. Later he
formed several partnerships with Charles Dillon (Dillon and Abel), with Julian
Berla (Berla and Abel), and finally with Jesse Weinstein (Abel and Weinstein).
His career spanned a variety of stylistic and technological changes, and he
attempted to stay on the forefront designing some of the earliest
International Style buildings in Washington D.C. He was also an innovator in
the area of apartment house design and in 1947 he published the book Apartment
Houses with co-author Fred N. Severud who was responsible for the section on
structural engineering. "In July of 1947, Progressive Architecture stated
that Abel's name was synonymous with advanced apartment house design in
Washington D.C. 1 One year later, the Architectural Forum praised Abel's
striking apartment buildings which have done so much to raise design
standards and awaken the public to the necessity for change.'" ''(Antoinette
Lee, Landmark Application for the Governor Shepherd Apartment House, Feb. 4,
1985)
The Broadmoor is a familiar Cleveland Park landmark which signals the end
of the commercial area and the beginning of a series of significant large
apartment houses along Connecticut Avenue. Its extensive open space in front
of the tall structure allows air and light to reach Connecticut Avenue thereby
respecting its existence as an avenue of old world grace and charm.
Sedgwick Gardens, designed by Mihran Mesrobian in 1931 for Max Gorin,
president of the Southern Construction Company, represents the "Piece de
resistance of Mesrobian's originality of plan and sculptural decoration"
according to Caroline Mesrobian Hickman, an art historian (and Mesrobian's
granddaughter), who has done extensive research on his architectural
career.*(Caroline Mesrobian Hickman; "Mihran Mesrobian (1889-1975):
Washington Architect;" Design Action; Vol2/Number3, May/June 1983, p. 4.)
When this apartment house was completed in 1932 it quickly became known as the
"Queen of Connecticut Avenue." It has an unusual plan which is uniquely well
sited providing a very sumptuous and highly visible entrance at the corner of
Connecticut Avenue and Sedgwick Street and enabling all of the apartments to
have ample light, ventilation ana good views. It is also very significant
because of Mesrobian's design of the original ornamentation which incorporates
Byzantine and Middle Eastern (Islamic) motifs into an overall Art Deco scheme.