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Roads to Diversity
Adams Morgan Heritage Trail
13 "Best Addresses"
Dubbed "best addresses" by historian James Goode, the grand apartments of the Kalorama Triangle are among the city's earliest. The Mendota (1901) located at 2220 20th, is the city's oldest intact luxury apartment house. The Wyoming (1905_1911), ahead of you on Columbia road, and the Altamont (1915) over your right shoulder, offered elaborate façades, elegant lobbies, and spacious units of more than 2,000 square feet. Many buildings boasted swimming pools, beauty parlors, servants' quarters, sleeping porches, and rare early elevators, dishwashers, clothes dryers, and air conditioners.
These elaborate buildings filled quickly. Thirty Mendota residents appeared in the 1910 Elite List, Washington's social register. By 1918, there were 48. Not all who lived here were wealthy, of course, but many were notable. A man who would be president, Dwight Eisenhower, once lived at the Wyoming, a former president, William Howard Taft, as well as General John J. Pershing and entertainer Lena Horne, resided at 2029 Connecticut Avenue.
Shortly after these buildings opened, some tenants became concerned about rising rents and the question of who would live next door. So they established co-operative ownership. In Adams Morgan, the Netherlands at 1860 Columbia Road was the first to convert in 1920. During World War II, DC rents topped those in all other American cities, leading to more conversions. The Altamont went co-op in 1949, followed by the Mendota in 1952, and 2029 Connecticut Avenue in 1977. The Wyoming converted in 1982, was designated a historic landmark after community groups prevented its demolition for a proposed expansion of the Washington Hilton. |