Park View, D.C.

Here’s a photo of the Lincoln Memorial from ca. 1928 that I think is interesting. It was taken from the window of an apartment building called The Riverside — which appears that it was located on C Street, possibly where the State Department is today. The view is to the south.

What I like most about the photo isn’t the subject of the image (which is the monument) but rather the view of 22nd Street. I also like that in the background one can see the early construction on the Arlington Memorial Bridge which helps date this to around 1928 or 1929.

Below is a close up of the houses, monument, and bridge construction. The street in the distance is Constitution Avenue (then B Street) and just to the south of the houses you see a trace of Upper Water Street which no longer exists.

While this part of D.C. has been massively reconfigured over the years, the block of 22nd Street, NW, still exists between C Street and Constitution. The eastern side now has the National Academy of Sciences and the land where these houses were now contains the American Pharmacists Association.

The detail from the Baist map below shows this area in 1919, giving an idea of all the roads that have been closed, the buildings that have long since been razed, and how the area has been built up over the years. The houses pictured above are located on the northwest corner of the 22nd and Upper Water streets in the map below.

(This 1919 map detail shows a largely undeveloped area around today’s Constitution Avenue and 22nd Street — among the few structures are a mix of houses and industrial buildings.)