Two Things Challenge: Plain / Peanut II

Plain old rowhouses on the north side of W Street and Florida Avenue NW

Jazzy new urban living: minimalist condos and apartments
on the south side of W Street and Florida Avenue NW

Getting serious about this week's challenge... Lisa Sarsfield left a comment earlier in the week about a picture of some rowhouses I featured and, as a result, unwittingly planted the idea in my head for how to interpret this week's two things. (And note to everyone: Sorry if this one was tough. I thought it would be sort of simple and fun, but I'm thinking it likely wasn't. I promise that next week's will be much, much easier and you'll enjoy it.)

Washington, D.C., like many East Coast cities, has a residential style that is largely traditional, colonial architecture. In the last five years, though, new architecture has been popping up all over the place in the form of minimalist glass and steel structures. I thought I'd juxtapose the old, late-1800s/early-1900s rowhouse look against the sleek new look going up all over town. The old is sort of plain and flat, the new is kind of jazzy and... erm... peanutty.

Okay, lame, I know. But there you have it. Plain and Peanut. And now, on to next week's challenge, shall we?

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 1/08

Variegated

Changing color in variegated beauty

I don't know what variety of tree this is, but as its leaves change color, it starts at the top and works its way to the bottom. Throw in the oak tree turned yellow and the result is this beautiful rainbow of color.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 11/07

Historic

The Founders Library on the campus of Howard University

When you drive along Georgia Avenue just north of Florida Avenue, you pass Howard University, one of more than 100 historic black colleges and universities in the United States. Originally conceived after the Civil War as a seminary for black theologians, the idea grew to include building a university. In 1867, Congress and President Andrew Johnson approved a charter for the school and Howard University was born. It started with a college of liberal arts and a college of medicine and has since grown to include engineering, science, literature, dentistry, pharmacology, and a seminary. Named after Civil War Union General Oliver O. Howard, the university is considered to be among the Ivy League of historic black colleges and universities.

Here's a good talking point for your next dinner party: in order to carry the respected label "Historic Black Universities and Colleges" the school must have been chartered before 1964--prior to passage of the Higher Education Act of 1965--and must have as its "mission the education of black Americans."

Among Howard's most notable alumni are these people:

Thurgood Marshall, U.S. Supreme Court Justice
L. Douglas Wilder, former Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the first African-American governor in the U.S.
Toni Morrison, Nobel Laureate and Pulitzer Prize-winning author
Phylicia Rashad, Emmy Award-winning actress
Jessye Norman, Opera Singer
Andrew Young, U.N. Ambassador and former mayor

To name but a very few. If you have a chance to visit any of this city's many colleges and universities, be sure to visit this one.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 11/07

Slice

Samples of Wiener Werkstätte fabrics, courtesy of the Textile Museum

Today, I got together with my friend and sister Scary Feminist, Tickle the Pear. She invited me to the Textile Museum to see "Textiles of Klimt's Vienna"--an exhibit of Secessionstil and Wiener Werkstätte fabrics from the early 1900s. The exhibit itself was rather small, but did an excellent job of explaining a period in Viennese art and culture that goes beyond just simple art deco. At one point, I wondered whether Frank Lloyd Wright had been inspired by Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Maria Likarz-Strauss, and Dagobert Peche as some of the designs and patterns from the era closely echo Lloyd Wright motifs.

The Textile Museum, 2320 S Street NW

The museum is housed in what was once the home of George Hewitt Myers, a collector of textiles and the founder of the museum. Before we went to see the Klimt exhibit, we sat in on a lecture about Turkmen rugs and bags. Tickle and I were the the youngest people in the room and we're not exactly spring chicks! Still, the information was interesting, but the room was too hot, so we ducked out early.

Washington's version of the Spanish Steps, which originally led to the entrance of a mansion.

After the museum, we walked down the Spanish Steps. There's not a lot of helpful information about the steps, except that they once led to a mansion in the Kalorama neighborhood. Now, they sit at the top of a cul-de-sac and, when you reach the top of the steps, to the right is the Ambassador of China's residence. The steps are not that far from Embassy Row (Massachusetts Avenue NW) and numerous embassies, chancelleries, and consulates are scattered throughout the neighborhood.

Art on Call:
call boxes that have been restored and feature art from local and national artists. These ones are located at the corner of Decatur and 22nd Streets NW, just below the Spanish Steps.

Following the steps down, we found ourselves on Decatur and encountered part of the "Art on Call" project that can be seen throughout the city. In the 1860s, call boxes were scattered throughout D.C. and were used to summon police and firefighters. They constituted the 911-system of that period, if you will. Despite their obsolescence, they remain on many street corners. "Art on Call" is a project to highlight these boxes and make them into art pieces. These are just two examples.

Urban renewal in the historic Shaw neighborhood. Someone gets creative!

Having wandered through parts of Kalorama and DuPont Circle, we then grabbed a burger at Fuddruckers, after which I took Tickle home. On our way to her place, we passed this recently painted house in the historic Shaw neighborhood. Given how hot and humid it was today, it seemed like a nice wrap-up to a lovely afternoon with a friend!

P.S. Tickle: Looking forward to MoBob's Moroccan!

Zips: Textile Museum, Spanish Steps, and Call Box (20008)
Watermelon House Zip: 20009

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential (Janet M. Kincaid, 08/07)

Protesting Bed Bugs

On my way into work this morning, I passed this protest taking place at the corner of 9th Streets and Rhode Island Avenue NW. Seems the building, which you can't see, but which is behind these folks, is infested with all manner of vermin and pestilence. I took the picture more because it illustrates two of America's freedoms: the right to petition and the right to assemble (U.S. Bill of Rights, Article I.) I hope they achieved their outcome.

Zip: 20001

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential (Janet M. Kincaid, 06/07)