Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-07-16
REAL ESTATE GOSSIP
Changes Made to Suit Mod
ern Requirements.
A Ian ID RK GONE
WIDE RANGE OF CHOICE OF
HOME SITES.
improvements in Progress in Various
Sections of the City-Some
Fine New Residences.

The house which was the home for so
many years of the late Admiral Porter, on
the south side of H street between 18th and
18th streets, Is being remodeled Into
three-story fiat building, which will be fit
ted up for use as offices for physicians. Mr..
Theodore D. Boal, who purchased the prop
erty for a Colorado realty company, In
tends to occupy portion Of the building.
While the work now going on may be
spoken of as remodeling. yet the improve
ments that are being made will result In
practically a new structure. as only the
walls of the old building will be left. For
the present 1t Is not the intention of the
new owners to make any use of the garden
on the west side, but 1t is supposed ulti
mately that that also will be built up.
The building at the southeast corner of
Connecticut avenue and M street is being
changed from a private residence into
business place for the use Of the present
owners-the Demonets.
An F Street Landmark Gone.
During the past week considera BILE prog
ress has been made in tearing down the
building at the southeast corner Of F and
18th streets. On this site the owner of the
property, Col Henry Strong, intends to
erect a two-story building, which will be
designed for business purposes. Acting on
the advice of his agent in this city, Mr.. e.
c. Brainerd, he decided to limit the height
of the building to two stories but providing
walls of sufficient thickness so that at any
time in the future, If the need should arise,
additional stories can be added
With the removal of the building, which
was a three-story structure with an attic
story. with dormer windows of the type
common here forty or fifty years ago. what
may be regarded as one of the landmarks
of the city has disappeared. 1t is impos-
Sible to determine with any accuracy when
the old building was put up. but it seems
likely that it was not earlier than the year
1881, at which time the property passed
into the possession of Elexius Simms, whose
heirs recently sold the property to Col,
Strong. The previous owner was G. c.
Grammer, who bought the property in 1912,
and shortly thereafter removed his grocery
store from Pennsylvania avenue near 9th
street to that locality.
Variety in Home Sites.
1t Is the experience of those who market
what is known as suburban property that
the demand for 1t is as well defined as that
for realty holdings near to what may be
termed the center Of the city. At one time
1t was supposed that there was some sort
Of rivalry between these two classes of
property and that the placing of one the
market lesSened the demand for the Q. her.
Such an idea has long ago been dismissed
in consequence of the experience to the
contrary. 1t was regarded as mistake to
place on the market tracts of suburban
property when there were large areas
within the limits of the city that were still
unoccupied.
The argument was advanced that the
city ought to be built. up first, and then it
would be ample time to take hold of the
sites lying outside Of the urban borders
This, however, did not prove to be the plan
followed. Acres Of land beyond the borders
of the city were laid out in city lots, while
within the city there were square after
square in some sections and in others
broad frontages of building space that
were still vacant.
Both In and Out of the City.
These outside lots have been built up to
a large extent-in fact, to a surprising ex-
tent-as entire towns have sprung up out
side of the old municipal bounds and with
a rapidity that simply astounds the average
beholder. At the same time the building
space within the city proper has grown less
and less until now there is not that notice
able stretch of vacant land which used to
be such a familiar feature in most any Sec
ton.
The growth of the population of the
city has, of course, been the motive for
all this building and has had an influence
both on city property and on that lying
on the outside of such limits. People have
dwelling place near the center Of things
or as far away as they desired, and the
result has been that this phase of the
ma terial growth of the city has been
along natural lines
Extension to the Suburbs.
Owing to the expansion of the street
railroad system and the extension to the
suburbs of the modern conveniences as
they are called, such as lighting, water
and sewers outside property has not SUI
fered from the handicaps which are COM
mon to holdings of that character. I'm
less a man chooses to go out from the
city some distance there is no reason why
he should not have a house In the coun-
try with the same advantages as a house
| in the CITY, and he does not suffer the ad-
ditional disadvantage Of being outside of
| the range of the fire and police bounds.
Such features have undoubtedly facili-
| tated the growth of the suburbs, for the
residents there have the same supply of
water and lighting and have the protec-
| ton of the fire and police department just
as the residents do who live near the
center Of the population.
The hardships of living in the country
as conditions there are sometimes spoken
of in comparison with urban conditions
are reduced in this locality to a minimum
| 1t is likely that it will continue in the fu-
ture as in the past to be true that there
are people who want to live in the country
or semi-country, and there are also those
| who want to live in the thickly settled por-
/ tfons of the city or close to things so that