BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Tenleytown neighborhood

DC -- Tenleytown neighborhood:

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[1] TENLEY_101113_001.JPG	[2] TENLEY_101113_007.JPG	[3] TENLEY_101113_035.JPG	[4] TENLEY_101113_049.JPG	[5] TENLEY_101113_061.JPG	[6] TENLEY_101113_067.JPG	[7] TENLEY_101113_074.JPG	[8] TENLEY_101113_077.JPG	[9] TENLEY_101113_082.JPG	[10] TENLEY_101113_085.JPG
[11] TENLEY_101113_092.JPG	[12] TENLEY_101113_095.JPG	[13] TENLEY_101113_117.JPG	[14] TENLEY_101113_135.JPG	[15] TENLEY_101113_140.JPG	[16] TENLEY_101113_153.JPG	[17] TENLEY_101113_158.JPG	[18] TENLEY_101113_164.JPG	[19] TENLEY_101113_174.JPG

Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. TENLEY_101113_049.JPG: Top of the Town Tenleytown Heritage Trail #13 To the Rescue The brick building across the street opened in 1928 as the Convent of Bon Secours (literally, "good help"). The convent's sisters had arrived in Baltimore from France in 1881. In Baltimore they quietly nursed both wealthy and needy patients in their homes. Soon after the sisters moved to Tenleytown in 1905, they aided the community during the frequent typhoid and influenza epidemics. Neighbors remember the exquisite lace and other handwork the sisters created in their spare time. As people turned to hospitals for nursing care, the sisters explored expanding their convent for on-site care, but lacked the necessary resources. So they sold their building to the Embassy of France. The French International School held classes here in the late 1960s, followed by the all-girls Oakcrest School. In 2010 the Yuma Study Center planned to occupy the old convent, a city Historic Landmark since 2004. Hidden from view to your right is Dunblane, one of the last remaining estate houses in Tenleytown. The Greek Revival style country retreat was built in the early 1800s. When fox hunting grew fashionable later that century, the house hosted the elite Dumblane Hunt (the name has two spellings). Eventually the grounds were sold for Immaculata Seminary, and the old mansion was adapted for elementary school classes. Today American University's Tenley Campus enjoys the mansion and these historic grounds. Ahead on your left is St. Ann's Church, a Tenleytown institution dating back to 1866. This building, dedicated in 1948 as the church's third on this site, is a fine example of the magnificent urban Roman Catholic parish churches built between 1900 and the Great Depression of the 1930s.
2. TENLEY_101113_092.JPG: Top of the Town Tenleytown Heritage Trail #10 Set in Stone You are standing on the west side of Mt. Airy, a subdivision spanning Wisconsin Avenue laid out in the late 1890s. Mt. Airy evolved into a dense, working-class neighborhood, where policemen and dairymen lived in modest houses. Among them were the Perna and Porto families which eventually gave Tenleytown five generations of building tradesmen. Stone mason Frank Perna arrived from Italy during the late 1880s to work on federal construction projects. Twenty years later brother Louis joined him. They formed Perna Brothers in Tenleytown, near both raw materials and the demand for new housing. Their sister Anna Maria married Benjamin Porto, also a stone mason. The Pernas and Portos, and their descendants, worked in stone and construction, building entire houses, as well as fireplaces, walls, and foundations. You can see the families' handiwork straight ahead at 4619 and 4621 42nd Street and nearby on Chesapeake Street (4112-4118). They worked on the Washington Monument, St. Columba's Episcopal Church, and buildings at Glen Echo. The Portos constructed 4319 Ellicott Street, among other houses. Although Washington's small Italian community centered downtown when Frank Perna arrived -- close to building projects on Capitol Hill -- shoemakers Giovanni Errigo and Tony Bredice and barber Frank Errigo also found their opportunities in Tenleytown. Around 1912 builder, former Marine Bandsman and second-generation Tenleytowner Frederick W. Parks built a double house for his family at 4115 Chesapeake Street, one block to your right. Three more generations enjoyed the sturdy frame structure until it was razed in 1962.
3. TENLEY_101113_135.JPG: Top of the Town Tenleytown Heritage Trail #7 In Touch with the World "Tenley Tower," behind you, dates from the mid-1940s. Western Union Telegraph Co. built it as part of an experimental system using microwaves to transmit telegrams in the mid-Atlantic region. This new technology helped erase telegraph wires and poles from the landscape. In addition, the tower was designed to relay recently invented television signals, which gave Western Union and its partner RCA a decided head start in the television revolution of the 1950s. During the Cold War era, the 90-foot tower also handled national security communications. In 1996 it became a cellular telephone transmitter. Also taking advantage of this high point beginning in 1953 was Broadcast House, located behind the tower, at 40th and Brandywine Streets. With three WTOP TV studios and four WTOP radio studios, Broadcast House was the nation's first production facility designed for both media. In the 1950s, Pick Temple's Giant Ranch was produced here, with local children playing "Giant Rangers" amid the studio's bales of hay. It was home to Washington's CBS affiliate, until WUSA-9 moved to 4100 Wisconsin Avenue in 1992. In 1993 American University's public radio station WAMU moved into 4000 Brandywine Street. The building diagonally across the intersection was N.M. Cohen and Samuel Lehrman's third DC-area Giant Food Store. When the first Giant opened in 1939, it helped end an era. In place of the grocer who quoted prices and handed you your order, Giant offered up-to-date marked pricing, self-service, and efficient check-out.
4. TENLEY_101113_164.JPG: Tenleytown library
Wikipedia Description: Tenleytown, Washington, D.C.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tenleytown is the historic name for a neighborhood in northwest Washington, DC.

In 1790, Washington locals began calling the neighborhood "Tennally's Town" after area tavern owner John Tennally. Over time, the spelling has evolved and by the 19th century the area was commonly known by its current name, although the spelling Tennallytown continued to be used for some time in certain capacities, including streetcars through the 1920s.

The area is the site of Fort Reno, one of the forts that formed a ring around Washington D.C. during the American Civil War to protect the capital against invasions. It proved to be the crucial lookout point for preventing a siege of Washington (indeed, it is the highest natural point in the District of Columbia).

Fort Reno was decommissioned with the surrender of the Confederate armies.

In the post-Civil War era, Fort Reno was a free black community. This community was almost entirely wiped out when the federal government decided to condemn most of its housing to build Deal Middle School, Wilson High School, a park, and a water tower. The Jesse Lee Reno school building, which housed an African-American school during the Jim Crow era, is one of the few remaining traces of this history.

Within the park boundaries lies the highest natural point in the District of Columbia, 429 feet above sea level. Fort Reno also hosts community gardens, free rock concerts in the summer, good sledding in the winter, and tennis courts, playing fields, and lots of dogwalkers year round.

Tenleytown and adjacent American University Park are served by the Tenleytown-AU stop on the Washington Metro Red Line. The mostly residential area has been called the "town" for American University, which lies approximately one mile to the west in the Spring Valley neighborhood. A free shuttle bus runs between the Metro stop and the university's main campus.

The neighborhood is defined by Tenley Circle which lies at the intersection of Nebraska Avenue, Wisconsin Avenue, and Yuma Street. On Tenley Circle itself is St. Ann's Catholic Church, a large imposing stone church which serves area Catholics. On the opposite side of the circle is Wisconsin Avenue Baptist Church. American University's Tenley Campus, formerly the Immaculata School, also bounds the western edge of the circle.

Tenleytown was transformed on October 2, 1941 when Sears Roebuck opened its department store on Wisconsin Avenue at Albemarle Street. At the time the store was notable for its size and for its 300 car rooftop parking lot. In the 1990s, Sears abandoned its retail operation at the location and the building was used by Hechinger hardware until its demise in the late 1990s. In the 2000s, the building was converted to a mixed-use development complex called Cityline at Tenley, with luxury condos (The Cityline) on the top level, a Best Buy and a Container Store at street level, and an Ace Hardware underground, located within the parking garage that serves the aforementioned stores. The west entrance to the Metro stop is at the front of the building. A Sears Appliance Store now exists in the former location of a Hollywood Video store on the east side of Wisconsin Ave., in a block that also houses a Whole Foods Market, a Starbucks and other businesses that cater to the area's mix of affluent residents and students. An Indian restaurant is due to open soon in the neighborhood. Tenleytown used to have a movie theatre which is now the location of a Commerce bank after much opposition from neighbors.
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