Evening star., 1938-03-19

Mr.. Wardman communicated with
him and secured job as contractor by
submitting the low bid for the house
The new builder made such a favor
able impression on Mr.. Burglin that
the tailor decided to help him and
Is a result Mr.. Wardman obtained
some financial backing. During the
next few years he became a large
operator in various sections Of the
city, and in 1913 formed his own real
estate organization.
The World War slowed construc-
ton activity in the Capital, but it
was during that period that he started
work on the Wardman Park Hotel, q
daring project that left his more con-
servative contemporaries aghast. Never
before had any one undertaken to
build so large hotel 50 far from the
center Of population.
Operations Extensive.
At one time Mr.. Wardman was
credited with having provided housing
sufhcient for one-tenth of the citys
population. In addition to Wardman
Park, he built or helped to build
Cathedral Mansions, Clifton Terrace
Apartments, Brighton Hotel Apart
nents, Dresden Apartments, the old
Department OF Justice Building, the
Racquet Club, the Federal-American
Bank Building, the Carlton Hotel, the
Hay-Adams House, the Printcraft
Building, the group of apartment
buildings at Connecticut avenue and
Davenport street, the Chastleton
Apartments, the Shoreham ONCE
Building, the Conard Apartments, the
Annapolis Hotel, the English Village
development, Woodley Park homes,
the Fort Stevens community dwell
ings, Sheridan Park, the Boulevard
Apartments, the Highland Apartments,
tie Hotel Roosevelt. Stoneleigh Courts.
270o Connecticut avenue, the Park
Lane Hotel in London, England, and
. large number Of individual homes
and row houses.
In the late twenties, an era of tight
enlng credit and scarcity of cash, Mr..
Wardman's extensive holdings began
to slip away from him until, in 1880,
ne signed over all of his holdings with
. total appraised value of more than
$3O,oo0,o00 to the Hotels Management
d Securities Corp. Mr.. Wardman was
retained as manager at a salary of
$50,o00 a year.
RefinanaciDg Meets Reverses.
The properties were refinanced
through group of investment bankers
and used as the basis for the author
lied issuance Of sl6,000.o00 of securi-
ties. OF which some Sl3, 100000 actually
were sold. This issue soon went into
default and congressional committee
investigated charges the bonds were
sold on the basis OF greatly inflated
appraisals. Later the bulk of the
properties were sold at public auction
for $2,8o0,ooo.
During the congressional investiga-
ton, Mr.. Wardman testified he knew
nothing Of the reflnancing, arranged
principally through the firm of Halsey
Stuart g. Co.
Il did the building work." he said
"and signed the papers when they
were put before me. All that stuff was
foreign to me-"
Asked at the time If he intended to
rebuild his real estate empire. he re-
piled: INC sir. I'm through with that.
thought was a rich man." he added,
"and then woke up and found I
didn't have q nickel"
Makes Comeback.
For some time Mr.. Wardman took
little part in rea, estate operations,
but In recent years he had made a
comeback" Through the D. G. De-
veloping Co. and Harry Wardman, Inc,
he is estimated to have built several
hundred small homes in various Sec
tions Of the city.
Mr.. Wardman was q member of the
Washington Real Estate Board and
formerly was very active in its work.
He also belonged to the Washington
Board Of Trade, the Racquet Club, the
Columbia Historical Society, the COL
umbia and the Burning Tree Golf
Clubs, and the American Club In
Loodon. .---e ~: