Park View, D.C.

Gamewell fire call boxes, like this one, were once installed on pedestals throughout the city

The Fire Alarm Box, and less so it’s Police Call Box counterpart, are among the most recognizable remnants of all of DC’s historic street architecture. Many of them have been turned into street art throughout the city.

I’ve often wondered why there are so few in Park View, thinking that perhaps it had to do with when the neighborhood was developed. However, I recently discovered that this is not true. In reading a copy of the Park View News from April 6, 1916, it was instantly clear that Park View once had just as extensive an alarm box system as any other part of the city. You can read that article below:

The article above identifies 10 locations for fire call boxes. Of those, only two still have the posts and harps for those boxes. They are located at the intersections of Warder & Kenyon and Gresham & Georgia. Sadly, the harp at Georgia & Lamont has only recently vanished. As shown in the Google image below, it was still there earlier this year.

The call box harp at Lamont and Georgia is a recent loss to the community

Upon walking the neighborhood, I’ve also discovered two harps that were not on the 1916 list. They are located at Warder & Otis and Princeton & Georgia. These harps, and the call boxes once installed in them, were produced by the Gamewell company and painted red. You can see a picture of Park View’s remaining 4 fire alarm box pedestals and harps after the jump.

Pedestal and harp located at Warder and Otis

Pedestal and harp located at Warder and Kenyon

Pedestal and harp located at Gresham and Georgia

Pedestal and harp located at Princeton and Georgia

This entry was posted on November 23, 2010 at 7:01 am and is filed under DCFD, History. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

Tags: DCFD, history and culture, Park View