Coming Up: "Palaces of the Public"
My new book is a cultural history of DC's most notable hotels
Streets of Washington
Unique vintage images from postcards, stereoviews and other ephemera as well as in-depth stories about historic people and places in the Washington, D.C. area.
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Washington's first armory, nestled on the Mall
Completed in 1858, it was converted to a hospital during the Civil War.
The Once Ubiquitous Peoples Drug Stores
They were a community focal point across the city.
Charles Sumner at home in Washington, DC
He built and lived in an imposing mansion on Lafayette Square.
The Longfellow Building: Modernism comes to Washington
Its historic appearance, covered up for 45 years, is returning soon.
Bread for the City: Shaw's Historic Bakeries
The city's major commercial bakeries used to be concentrated along 7th Street.
Sweatshop: The Bureau of Engraving and Printing in the 1900s
With the exception of the reviled “continentals” circulated during the American Revolution, it wasn’t until the Civil War—when the government essentially needed to write IOU’s for hard currency it didn’t have—that the production of paper money by the federal government began in earnest in this country.
Endangered "Pastoral Capitalism" in Friendship Heights
The iconic GEICO complex will not be around much longer.
Lansburgh's, Anchor of Downtown Commerce
The venerable department store began before the Civil War on 7th Street NW
F Street NW and the "Bon Ton" Shopping District
A look at the buildings on the western end of a once lively commercial thoroughfare