RSS FeedYou Write The Caption: Lonely Bentley
There are many one liners we could have used as a caption for this Bentley Continental Flying Spur we found parked one weekend in the massive parking lot behind the Chester Arthur Building at 425 Eye Street, NW. It seemed, well, just a little out of place and lonely with no other cars nearby to keep it company. To make the captioning more fun, we’re turning that task over to you, our PQ Living readers. Be creative!
We’ll start it off with…
“The Spice Girls have a hard time finding parking in the PQ when they come to town.”
5th And Eye Receives Seven Proposals
DC received seven, count ’em, seven different proposals from development companies for developing the half acre lot at the corner of 5th and Eye Streets, NW. According to the press release:
The various proposals for the site include boutique and high-end hotels, restaurants, spas fitness clubs, cafes and coffee shops, jazz clubs and live entertainment venues. Some proposals included apartments and condos, which would include affordable housing. All the proposals included at least 100 underground parking spaces.
Separately, Walnut Street Development will be developing the low slung buildings on the right into the Eye Street Lofts. PQ Living covered Walnut’s plans in a post almost one year ago. Walnut did not present a proposal proposal as primary contractor for the 5th and Eye lot.
DC Metro Urban Diary has a nice write up too. Next up will be a meeting where the seven companies will pitch their proposals to the public. Given the list above, what would bring the most value to the community?
Wayback III: Washington Monument Back In The Day
It’s hard to believe that this is what the Washington Monument looked like for over 20 years but around 1856 construction on the Monument effectively stopped and didn’t resume until 1879; this photo was taken in 1860. The cornerstone was laid in 1848 and the capstone in 1884. Why did construction stop? The simple answer is that the money ran out. The more complicated answer is that the Know Nothing party took control of the project from the Washington National Monument Society (WNMS) and couldn’t keep the project going. When they turned control back to the WNMS, the Civil War started and that delayed construction. Congress didn’t appropriate more money for construction until 1876. After removing the colonnade from the design construction resumed in 1879, some three years later.
Robert Mills, who designed the Treasury Department building and the Penn Quarter’s very own U.S. Patent Office building (now the National Portrait Gallery/American Art Museum), is the architect of the Washington Monument.
Photo Credit: Shorpy, The 100-Year-Old Photo Blog
CrimeEye Goes Live At 7th & H St NW
This past Thursday morning, workers were seen installing a CrimeEye on the NW corner of 7th & H St NW.
