Help us ID Old Washington DC Photos on the Commons!
Recently, we uploaded a new set of photos by Martin A. Gruber of Washington, DC from the early 1900s to the Smithsonian’s Flickr Commons. Yesterday, we added new photos to that set, and now we need your help!
Are you a DC'er? Do you like Google Street View? All of the photographs in the slideshow above are of unidentified locations around Washington, D.C.from this Flickr Commons set. So, come on over to the Flickr Commons and take a stab at helping us identify these unknown locales around the city! Just leave your (educated) guess in the comments below any of the unidentified photos!
Also, if you have the photo bug, and are living or traveling in the DC area, we’re putting the call out for “Then & Now” photos for this set too! For those of you not familiar with “Then & Now,” you simply choose an old photo of DC from the Martin A. Gruber set, then take your own photograph at the same exact location, or as close to the same spot as possible (for examples, check out the “Then & Now” group on Flickr). We would love to compare and contrast, and to see what these DC locales look like now! Post the results in the comments of your chosen photo in the Martin A. Gruber set and upload your image to the Smithsonian Through Your Lens group on Flickr! We’ll feature the best images in an upcoming blog post. We look forward to seeing what you come up with—happy hunting!
Comments (15) – Leave a comment
The last in the series, by Martin Gruber, shows the National Academy of Sciences building near 21st St. and Constitution Ave. or C Street NW, right? It seems to be from somewhere near the current entrance of the State Department building. David Taylor
Hi David-
Thanks for your comment!
I'm assuming your ID is for this photo, correct?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/smithsonian/4919753223/
If that is the case, your guess looks promising when compared with a photo of the National Academy of Sciences by Jinjian Liang:
I'll check with our archivists and get back you you!
Thank you for your help!
Catherine
I am thinking that the placement of the Washington Monument would be wrong for the National Academy of Sciences (On Consitution Ave and 5th St NE), also there is a guard house in the picture. The guard house and the placement of the Washington Monument lead me to think the picture might the West Wing of the White House, before the 1930s addition of the second floor. http://www.flickr.com/photos/smithsonian/4919753223/
Sorry, I was trying to do to many things and typed in the wrong address. The National Academy of Sciences is on Constitution between 21st and 23rd. Making it seemingly to far to the west for the Monument placement.
7th pic shows the curve of the building that houses the Corcoran Gallery. The 4th is located at the Old Soldiers site, near the NTHP Lincoln summer house.
Marie Casey, you are correct--the building is not the National Academy of the Sciences (the Academy has vertical vents/grated windows at top and the Gruber images shows horizontal ones), it is actually the West Wing of the White House!
CaseySeanM also ID'd it correctly on the Flickr Commons , and we concur! My colleague Ellen Alers found this great Library of Congress photograph that makes the match clear:
Julia- Thank you for the note about the Corcoran Gallery! corcoranspecialevents also ID'd the Gallery for us on the Flickr Commons. grits'n collards, friend to all also helped us ID the fourth photograph, which is indeed down the street from the National Trust for Historic Preservation Decatur House. grits'n collards noted that this photo is, "E St. NW between 13th and 14th NW, looking north. In the foreground is what is now 'Freedom Plaza.' The buildings visible in this picture have all been demolished." Thank you to all for your incredible help with these identifications! It's looking like we'll have most of these figured out soon...
The photo with the streetcar in the distance on a tree lined street is Connecticut Ave somewhere north of Rock Creek. The line poles holding the trolley wire are a giveaway, along with the silhouette of the streetcar. I am not sure of the location given the curve in the roadway.
Hi Wesley-
Thank you for the information on this photo:
You sound like an expert on the DC trolley system. Did this particular line have specially shaped line poles and trolley cars? Those details might help others pinpoint the location or give us more information.
I'll be curious to see if anyone else has specific guesses about where this might be!
Catherine, The defining items in this photo that favor a Connecticut Ave. location are as you stated - the design of the steel line poles in the center of the street and the silhouette of the streetcar in the distance. If you can get a high resolution and zoom in on the street car it may be possible to provide further information, particularly if a car number can be identified.
I looked closely again. This appears to be taken on Calvert Street, just north of the bridge over Rock Creek. See pages 30, 120 and 134 of "100 Years of Capital Traction" by Roy King. Wesley Paulson National Capital Trolley Museum
Hi Wesley-
Wow, that's a lot of great information! I'm sorry we didn't have a more high resolution image on hand--the snapshot is quite grainy so even on the original scan it is difficult to get much specific information from the trolley itself.
Of course, you made an ID anyway. Here's today's view from Calvert Street looking south back over the Connecticut Avenue Bridge:
View Larger Map
We don't have a copy of 100 Years of Capital Traction on hand at the moment, but we'll get one, and I'll certainly pass along all of this information to our archivists. Thank you so much for your help!
directionally the "modern" view above is inaccurate compared to the original photograph. The old photograph looks east on Calvert St from Connecticut Ave, the original bridge over Rock Creek Park is seen in the distance.
Thanks to the map on page 125 of LeRoy O.King's (jr.) excellent documentation; "100 Years Of Capital Traction" one can trace the Connecticut Avenue streetcar line in it's entirety. This streetcar route operated from the 7th St. wharves at NW P and Water streets, 7th St to Florida Ave, U St., 18th St. to Calvert St. to the Rock Creek loop where the change-over from underground conduit to overhead trolley wire was made. The car then proceeded westward across the original 1891 steel/iron bridge to Connecticut Avenue* *(it was here that the old photograph was made) the car then turned onto Connecticut Ave. to Chevy Chase Circle and/or Chevy Chase Lake..
@robspost- Thank you very much for all of the great information! I've only seen a link to “100 Years Of Capital Traction" online, but never the book in person. I'd love to see the map that you speak of. I'll pass along the information to our archivists so we'll have it on hand! Best, Catherine Smithsonian Institution Archives
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