Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-03

point of rent in this country. is the Brevoort
House, New York which rents for $27. 500,
and has three owners; it is kept on the Euro
pean plan, excepting the table d'hote, which
it does not keep up. as it has made its repu-
tation on the best cuisine in the world"
THE original proprietors of this block, known
as square 222-bounded by Fourteenth Fiji
tenth and H streets and New York avenue
were John Davidson and Samuel Davidson It
was at first divided into Is lots, lot I being
at the corner of Fourteenth street and New
York avenue, and lots 2, 3, a. and also
facing that thoroughfare, the last numbered
lot being at the corner of Fifteenth street,
where the National Savings & Trust Building
stands
Lots T. 8 and faced Fifteenth street lot 10
being on the corner now occupied by the Wood
ward Building, and on the H street side were
lots IL. IL, IS, a. and ending at Fourteenth
street with lot IS
When the time arrived for dividing these
lots between the Government and the original
proprietors lots 4, S. 6, z, 8, Is and IA were
assigned to the heirs of John Davidson,
was probably also lot 10, and to the Govern
ment went lots l. 2, g. 9, IL, IL and IS
Subsequent to the signing of the agreement
with the original proprietors and the date OF
the agreement accepting the division of the
lots John Davidson had evidently died for we
IlIlu MS WIDOW, Eleanor DaVlQSOn, on March
%, 1797, agreeing to the division "for herself
and mother natural guardian, and next
friend to Mary Davidson and Samuel Davidson,
infant children of John Davidson: Margaret
Davidson. and Thomas Harris, for himself and
Eleanor. his WIFE,"
ATER on in years. the original IS lots in
this square were subdivided and in some
crept in, so that in 1887 we find New York
avenue the following owners: Lot I, at the
northwest corner of Fourteenth occupied by the
Clarendon Hotel-A. Gleason; lot had three
buildings on it; on lot there was the building
Of the Young Mems Christian Association
(stiH standing to the rear); lots 8. 4, S, 6
and were then owned by John T. Lehman
and upon which was the Lehman Building:
the National Savings & Trust being on lot g.
on the corner.
On the Fifteenth street side Welker had lots
6, 10, II and IL, and the Columbian (now
George Washington University, covered lots
8, 10 and IL, at the southeast corner of Fiji
teenth and H streets. On H street, j. T. Lee
owned lot IL; Richard Smith, lots Is and IA:
Clara A. Rines. lots Is and Is: w. p. john
ston, lot II, and lot Is was the southwest corner
of Fourteenth street.
Mr.. Israel, a part of whose notes regarding
this square, of about so or go years ago, the
writer will also avail himself Of mentions ON
the New York avenue side Fussels, A. c. Plant,
grocer; and the savings bank. Facing Fiji
teenth street, at No. 721, lived Fernando Wood,
members Of Congress and mayor of the City
of New York. william Pinkney Whyte and
William T. Hamilton, both of whom served as
Senators in Congress and as Governors Of Mary
land, and George Vickers, a Representative
from that State, also lived at this number,
but not In the present building. At an early
date Horace I. King kept a boarding house at
705 Fifteenth street
Regarding the site now occupied by the
Woodward Building, MIR. Israel says that this
corner was once occupied by an old antebullum
mansion, where the French Minister once re-
sided 1t was surrounded by a large garden
and probably because it was vacant for long
time, 1t had the reputation of being haunted
This old residence probably the Ripley
mansion, once occupied by the Metropolitan
Club and the building that was removed when
the Columbian University was erected ca this
corner