Evening star., 1941-06-22
Woman Managed Apartments
Here for Quarter of Century
Mrs. Marie Pierce
A Pioneer in Work;
Calls Courtesy VitoI
Ry JESSIE FAINT EVANS.

Mrs. Marie S. Pierce, Washing
tons woman pioneer in apartment
house management. says human
relationships must be on personal
and gracious individual basis in my
profession, if our tenants are to be
satisfied. incidentally, my instruc-
tions to our house employees are
invariably based upon the asSump-
ton that the tenant is always right,
but if we are sufficiently courteous
and obhging, we may occasionally
convert him to the thought that
another way might possibly meet
the emergency"
A quarter Of a century ago, Mrs.
Pierce, native Washingtonlan, re-
turned to this city after the death
of her husband TO assume the resi-
dent managership of one of WASH
ington'S largest and most exclusive
apartment house buildings, job
which had not hitherto been held
by one of her sex in this city.
The building for whose manage
ment she has since been solely re-
sponsible did not then even have
its front doors hung Upon Mrs.
Pierce was placed the immediate
responsibility of every detail of its
operation, including the stating of
its servants and telephone Oper-
atorS.
A 24-Hour Job.
AS a background for this then
new field of feminine endeavor, she
had her own talents as a home
maker and housekeeper, plus an in
tensive survey on her part of the
management of apartment house
properties in New York City.
Fortunately" she declares, Il
had always been more intrigued by
the hardware departments in my
favorite shopping centers, than with
any others. or l might not have
been able to cope with some of the
problems which Immediately pre-
sented themselves. They ranged
from stopping and starting balky
elevators. learning how to run
switchboard, connecting up gas and
electric stoves, and Washington's
first mechanical ice plant, to show
ing brides how to defrost the ice box
one minute and suggesting how to
stretch lace curtains the next"
1t was during those early months
of getting adjusted to the million
and one problems of getting a new
apartment building under way. that
she discovered residential apartment
house management has this in COM
mon with the running of home.
1T is a "a job magnihed by the
number of apartments to the build
ing. with the totally unexpected like
~ to happen in any one OF them,
any moment"
Tells Angles of Her Work.
Early in her career as an apart
ment house manager, she discov-
cred it was better for her own peace
of mind and that of her tenants if
she left her telephone number when
absent from the building. One of
her perennial problems is the oc-
casional absent-minded tenant who
manages to misplace his key.
Cabinet officers. Chief Justice
and Associated Justices of the United
States Supreme Court, Senators and
Representatives, Gen. Pershing and
President and Mrs. Franklin D.
Roosevelt, when the President was
Assistant Secretary of the Navy dur
ing the last World War, are among
those who have been tenants in the
apartment building Mrs. Pierce
manages.
Asked about the most unusual
circumstance that had ever befallen
her in her job, she said unhesitat-
ingly, Our efforts to scare of nest
ing pigeons with the red cloths
which had been suggested to us by
well-known United States Govern
ment agency The results were
satisfactory as far as driving away
the flock of pigeons was concerned,
but we were reported to the District
Commissioners by certain passersby
on the ground that we were housing
Communists in the building who
were attempting to signal their &C
completes elsewhere by means of
those red flags"
An apartment house manager,
man or woman. would not be able