Hyattsville: Madison to Jefferson St
My commute joined US 1 at its intersection with Madison St in Hyattsville. Three buildings have stood at that intersection over this entire period, although the appearance and use of each has changed during that time:
Just across Madison St is the former Jey's Auto Care has undergone a slow transformation:
The third building at this intersection, across Baltimore Ave from the other two, is the former Lustine Chevrolette dealership. This automobile showroom, built in 1950, was by all accounts unique, with its tall, curved plate glass window facade and rounded metallic overhang. It served as the focal point for post-war development of businesses along this stretch of US 1, and now has been renovated, while retaining its Art Moderne character, to serve as a gym for residents of the surrounding, newly-constructed apartment complex.
A technical note: When I started this project more than 25 years ago I first shot 4x5 chromes, then used an early digital back mounted on a Hasselblad. To make panoramic street views, I had to walk down the street, shooting multiple images head-on, then piece them together with the seams showing. That is how the 2006 Lustine photo, with the white spacing between the images, was made. Since then I have acquired a higher resolution digital back which I mount on either a 6x6 or 4x5 technical camera. Coupled with with a selection of wide-angle view camera lenses, I am now able to shoot grids of up to 12 or more digital images that I can then merge seamlessly. The 2011 Lustine image is a simple example of that technique, merging three exposures.
In the mid-1890's, Washington's street grid was extended beyond the borders defined by Pierre L'Enfant's original plan. Boundary Street, about three blocks to the left of this image, was renamed Florida Av and the newly absorbed land was platted for development. Harry Wardman, an English immigrant who had worked his way up in the construction trades to become a builder himself, worked with architect Nicholas Grimm to fill this part of town with brick row houses, both small "two-flat" units and larger (and more profitable) buildings, like these, all of which were built with the distinctive facade seen here: a projecting multi-story window bay, often topped with a conical or polygonal roof. And sometimes with additional flourishes, like the Moorish archways surrounding some of these front doors, or on the other side of the street, ornate carvings in limestone trim. These whimsical designs still unify the neighborhoods in this part of town more than a century later. (Historical information from “Housing Washington,” ed. Richard Longstreth, 2010.)