Saturday, January 07, 2012

Your Next Place


If you like woodwork, this 1870s four-level Victorian in Logan Circle is the house for you. In all my open-housing, I don't think I've ever seen a house with this much finely-maintained classic wood. This house made me nostalgic, as I grew up in a Civil War-era house with a lot of similar woodwork (though the house wasn't nearly as nice - in fact it was across the street from Iowa's First Crack House), and much of my childhood chores involved waxing, wiping, or dusting all the woodwork around the house. Which is still the best reason to have kids - unpaid servants!

The living room features a wonderful antique fireplace and built-in shelves, as well as tons of light and a fantastic chandelier. Like many finer houses, there's also a "family room" or "great room" which is essentially another living room, but nicer, and this house is no exception. Bigger, higher ceilings, an even more wonderful, more antique-y fireplace. This is the perfect room for entertaining or special occasions or just reminding guests how classy and cultured you are (if the tuxedo tshirt doesn't get the message across.) The only problem is that while the great room is clearly a showpiece, even the living room is almost too nice to lounge around in. It's like having a Bentley as your weekend car and a Maybach just for "runnin' errands." A terrible problem to have, I know. Definitely mention it as often as possible to your friends, I'm sure they'll be extremely sympathetic.


There's also a separate, elegant dining room (with pocket doors, and another fireplace - this is not a house that lacks for fireplaces), topped off with another vintage chandelier. And there's a massive kitchen, and also an au pair suite, which comes in handy when your annoying family members visit. (Pro tip: the main entrance to the suite locks on both sides.) The bedrooms also had a ton of personality - in a lot of houses, even very nice ones, the bedrooms can be sort of afterthoughts, just big rectangular boxes for sleeping in. But these bedrooms each had their own individual characteristics, like an exposed brick wall, or deluxe closets.

Also, this fine house is located in arguably the hottest up-and-coming neighborhood, just blocks from Whole Foods and various gyms and shops and restaurants and bars. And to think just ten years ago, the only place to eat on 14th Street was the homeless shelter.

1441 Q Street NW
5 Bedrooms, 3.5 Baths
$1,895,000





5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is this neighborhood still considered "up and coming"?

Anonymous said...

No, that was 5 years ago.

Rich C on Jan 7, 2012, 7:50:00 PM said...

But the nearby 1400 block of R Street is like the rest of Logan in the bad old days of about 20 years ago.

Anonymous said...

It's a nice house, but I think its an ambitious price not so much because of the location, but because there needs to be a few more upgrades on the interiors to make it match the sticker price. I'll be interested to see what it goes for. That particular block of Q Street is very attractive-as nice as anything in Georgetown. Georgetown to Dupont to Logan has almost become one continuous neighborhood price wise.

Anonymous said...

Sure, all the people in Dupont and Logan would love it if their neighborhoods became the same, "price-wise," as G'town. Keep dreaming.

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