Before There Was CVS, Park View Had Peoples
(Image: Reservation 323B photographed on 6/17/1927,
Collection of Historical Society of Washington, D.C.,)
Long before ground was broken for the new CVS at Georgia & New Hampshire Avenues, or even the gas station that preceded it, there was Peoples Drug.
The four-story combination market and apartment building that once was located on this prime corner location broke ground around July 1, 1922. It housed the Petworth-Parkview market with an entrance off of Georgia Avenue, the Peoples Drug with the entrance on the corner, and the Shenandoah apartments with an entrance on New Hampshire Avenue. The Shenandoah consisted of 10 apartments per floor. The building was constructed of gray pressed brick and trimmed with white terra cotta. It cost an estimated $200,000 to build.
(Typical Peoples Drug interior ca. 1922)
The full June 18, 1922, Washington Post article describing this building is after the jump
Tags: history and culture, Park View
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November 13, 2009 at 10:52 am
Wow, I wish we had this building back instead of what we’re getting!
November 13, 2009 at 1:09 pm
This is fascinating piece of history. Hopefully what they build would look more like this.
November 13, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Great history! Man, I sure wish the building to be erected could look like this one. I still can’t understand the decision behind constructing a one-story on such a prime location. What a waste of air space.
November 13, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Ayone know what happened to this old beaut? Looks like a monumental building, one that most certainly should have been sturdy enough to be standing to this day.
November 13, 2009 at 3:23 pm
I haven’t been able to find anything related to its demise … so I think I’m going to have to talk to the older residents. My neighbor, Joe, told me he remembered the building and he move into Park View in 1949.
December 9, 2009 at 10:29 pm
What a shame to lose a strong old well-built place list this. Was it burned in 1968?
July 19, 2010 at 2:32 pm
[...] It also will mark the return of a drug store to this location after close to 40 years. Starting in 1922, this site once housed a Peoples Drug. [...]
June 16, 2011 at 8:03 am
[...] The intersection of Rock Creek Church Road/Georgia Avenue/New Hampshire Avenue. Among the items that the sign could include are Engine Co. 24, the Little Tavern Shops, York Auto (introduction of car culture to society), and Peoples Drug Stores. [...]