The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-12-28
HOME LIFE IN THE NATIONS CAPITAL Houses Are All Built on
 Uniform Plan EXTEND FOR MILES Block After Block of the Brick or Stone Buildings Are Exactly
 Alike in General Ap-
 pearance
 
BY WALTER HARPER

Washington. December 27.-(Special) The plan on which most of the resi- dences in Washington are nullt IS one of the first features to attract the inT terest of the visitor from the far south after he has seen the capitol, the mon ument, the White House, the library anu a few other things of public i'm sportance.
 The visitors first impression on visiting the residence section Is not pleasing but this gives way to ab- solute approval when yoo get used to the innovation and can appreciate the advantage.
 The residences do not stand discon- nected with yards all round as they do in cities and towns of the south. They are joined just as business houses in the business section.
 There is no open space with par tition fences between. There can be no accumulation of trash either be- tween or under the houses. All the ,. houses. have roomy basements and are built from the basement cement floor up and are of brick, stone or concrete There are but very few frame houses in Washington.
 Most of the houses are equipped with hot air and hot water furnaces. Gas is used for illumination more than electricity. All houses are equipped for gas though some are wired for : electricity in addition. Gas costs 80 cents per 1000 cubic feet. The average cost, lighting and cooking in seven room house is s3 per month. If you rent a house the water bills are paid by the landlord who makes a stand i. ing maximum charge of DO cents per month for the service. This is added to your rent bill. You are encouraged in the use of plenty of water, espe- clally for bathing purposes.
 But l am drifting from the main fea- ture that I intended to discuss in this letter.
 Most of the modern residences are now being erected by large real estate and development companies who build entire blocks at a time.
 A string of buildings erected on the identical plan stretch across an entire block sometimes around three sides of the block All the houses in a string arc exactly alike inside and out, but all are very attractive The average size for tenant and individual home purposes have seven and nine rooms. You find your home in the row by means of the number over the door. the angle of your porch swing, the lamp post in front, a dent in the stone step, the particular de- sign of the iron fence around the nine by twelve grass plot you call yard, or some other characteristic with which you familiarize- yourself and can find if you go home sober. fs aA After a weeks careful practice I was able to get into my own home out at Holmeade Place without serious embaI- ressment. I butted into the wrong place only twice during that first week before l got it down pat that my house was the first in a row of gray bricks with two short flights of cement steps leading d- rectly up from the sidewalk with patches of green grass between.
 No houses are allowed on the alleys ex- cept in tho business section and these are usually blacksmith shops and ware houses. The alleys in the residence sec tions are kept open, are paved with brick and ara for the use of garbage and ash wagons. Cleanliness is imperative.
 In the northwest section of Washing ton, which is the principal residence sec tion, and which is developing very rap idly, there are hundreds of miles of these attached houses. The uniformity of the houses is not monotonous as you may imagine. While all the houses in string on one side of the street are just alike in color and design, the row on the oppo- site side is of different shade and de- sign. And so the variations go all over town.
 This same idea is carried out in the ultra fashionable section of the city. While there is more variety perhaps in tho fronts, the houses as a rule are at tached and run in long rows. Foreign Ambassadors, United States senators, congressman and chiefs of federal de partments occupy houses that resemble those of their neighbors.
 There are dozens and dozens of large apartment houses. many of them larger than the Woodward building where fam flies of congressman and others live and never know the occupants of the adjon- ing suites of rooms.
 These apartment houses are most com monly used by members of Congress and others who only remain in Washington part of the year.