Evening star., 1945-04-15

Kearney. in 1900, bought lot l8, on A
street and in the following year sold
to MacIntyre e. Armstrong for 81 ,435 86,
with the brick house thereon. S. Col
lard. F. Kirby and Mr. Walker owned
ground on A street and W. Byram on
East Capitol street in 1901. In 1902 E.
Fallon and John MacIntyre are reg
istered as buying lot lo. In this year
Mr.. Walker sold lots Is and II to Will
liam Tunnicliffe, who. in 1904 sold to
Pontius B. STEELE In 1905 z. Farrell and
J ~ Brashears bought lot 2, on East
Capitol street.
The prices of the lots in 1903 were 6
and cents foot, but that these figures
Go not cover all the improvements within
the square is evident from the title rec
ords and the advertisements in the old
Intelligencer. Some of these are signed
by Mr. Carroll, offering buildings about
the northeast corner of the square for
sale or rent. and Carroll buildings often
appear in the records. While title was
vested in others they all afterward went
to Mr.. Carroll.
The corner as above stated, First and
A streets, passed from Lund Washing
ton to George Walker prior to 1900, and
in 1902 Mr. Walker had title to II, on
the cast. On these lots had been erected
three-StorY brick buildings and stabling,
and William Tunnicliffe, who had been
in the hotel business near Ninth street
and Pennsylvania avenue Sc. bought
them and opened Tunniciiffes Hotel.
This. in 1904. went into the hands of
Pontius D. Stelle, and the place became
widely known under that name. The
consideration to Mr.. Tunnicliffe was
100000 for the ground, buildings and ef-
fects, with stabling for so horses"
On East CAPITOL Street
BY l846, East Capitol street, for sew
eral blocks from First street, had grown
into quite settlement, and on the
north side. in the block where stands
the Supreme Court Building, the fol-
lowing persons resided: R. T. Mills,
grocer, at the corner of First street;
Mrs. Phillips, widow; Phillips e. Small
wood grocers; James B. Phillips; Ed
NdIu ISilty, w lllldII NldIe,
- Clary; J. Horning, baker: -
kitchell, messenger; Charles McNamee,
and baker with suggestive name
J. H. Cake.
An even older building than the Brick
Capitol, which was also removed when
the site was cleared for the present
structure, was known as l22 East Cap
itol street. 1t was for many years
owned by Capt. William Easily, and is
said to have been erected somewhere
around $780, and sold by Daniel Carroll
of Duddington, in 1924, to Benjamin
Burch, who almost Immediately trans
ferred title to Capt. Easily, whose widow
took up her residence here about 1857.
Early Recollections
Col. James S. Easby-Smith. grand
son of Capt. Easily, some years ago gave
the writer his personal recollections of
East Capitol street, between First and
Second streets, in which he said, in
part:
My earliest recollection of this house
dates from 1875, when I was a small
months visit to my grandmother. From
1879 to 1894 it was my home.
I'm 1875 the only houses on the north
side of East Capitol street between First
and Second were houses numbered ll6,
122, 124, 128 and 100 (Which still exist
and two large frame houses next to
the corner of Second street, which
were demolished few years ago when
an apartment house was erected on
their former site. The latter, and all
other houses except those above men,
toned, were built after 1875.
House 116 was built by Charles
McNamee, sr., about 1851. He was a
lawyer and for many years was one
OF the clerks of the Supreme Court Of
the District. This house was occupied
by him and his wife and his sons,
Charles, jr, who was also a lawyer;
John, conveyancer, and Samuel. The
descendants of Charles, ST., through his
son Samuel, still live in Washington.
THE sister Catherine of Charles
McNamee, ST., is the ancestress Of many
present residents Of Washington. In