Brookland Bowling Alleys

Last updated
Brookland Bowling Alleys
Brookland Bowling Alleys.jpg
Brookland Bowling Alleys in 2019
Location map District of Columbia street.png
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location3726 10th Street, N.E., Washington, D.C.
Coordinates 38°56′10″N76°59′36″W / 38.93611°N 76.99333°W / 38.93611; -76.99333
Built1939
ArchitectWilliam Edward St. Cyr Barrington
Architectural style Art Deco
NRHP reference No. 100004306 [1]
Added to NRHPAugust 19, 2019

The Brookland Bowling Alleys is an Art Deco-style building in the Brookland neighborhood of Washington, D.C., that housed a bowling alley from its construction in 1939 until 1950. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2019.

Contents

History

The building was constructed as a duckpin bowling alley in 1938 and 1939 for the Brookland Recreation Center, Inc., on 10th St. NE in the Washington, D.C., neighborhood of Brookland. It was designed by William Edward St. Cyr Barrington, an architect who had studied under Jules Henri de Sibour, in the Art Deco style. The building was initially one story tall, but a second story was added within a year of its opening. [2] [3]

Bowling saw a boom in popularity in this period as a form of cheap entertainment during the Great Depression. At the time of the Brookland Bowling Alleys' construction, there were 13 other commercial bowling alleys in D.C. [2]

The Brookland Bowling Alleys was managed by prominent local bowlers. It operated for just over 10 years, until a major fire damaged the structure in 1950. [3] The blaze was attributed to "a cigarette, defective wiring or spontaneous combustion." [4] The building was restored under Barrington's supervision, but it was repurposed as a wholesale store for electric lighting, parts, and appliances. [3] It is currently occupied by Atlantic Electric Supply Corp. [5]

The Brookland Bowling Alleys building is one of only a handful of remaining structures that once housed bowling alleys in D.C. The city's Historic Preservation Office described it as a "visual landmark of the neighborhood." [3] It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 19, 2019. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miami Beach Architectural District</span> U.S. historic district in Miami Beach, Florida

The Miami Beach Architectural District is a U.S. historic district located in the South Beach neighborhood of Miami Beach, Florida. The area is well known as the district where Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace lived and was assassinated by Andrew Cunanan, in a mansion on Ocean Drive. It is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Sixth Street to the south, Alton Road to the west and the Collins Canal and Dade Boulevard to the north. It contains 960 historic buildings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Downtown Stamford</span> United States historic place

Downtown Stamford, or Stamford Downtown, is the central business district of the city of Stamford, Connecticut, United States. It includes major retail establishments, a shopping mall, a university campus, the headquarters of major corporations and Fortune 500 companies, as well as other retail businesses, hotels, restaurants, offices, entertainment venues and high-rise apartment buildings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Contributing property</span> Key component of a place listed on the National Register of Historic Places

In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district significant. Government agencies, at the state, national, and local level in the United States, have differing definitions of what constitutes a contributing property but there are common characteristics. Local laws often regulate the changes that can be made to contributing structures within designated historic districts. The first local ordinances dealing with the alteration of buildings within historic districts was passed in Charleston, South Carolina in 1931.

Gillette Historic District (GHD) is a residential area in the Midtown section of Tulsa, Oklahoma. It consists of the homes on Gillette Avenue and Yorktown Place, and is bounded by 15th Street on the north, the alley between Gillette Street and Lewis Avenue on the east, 17th Street on the south and the alley between Yorktown Place and Yorktown Avenue. It contains 31 single-family homes and 6 duplexes that were constructed between 1924 and 1941. The district were named for James Max Gillette, a merchant, real estate entrepreneur and oilman who built his home in what is now the district in 1921.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mihran Mesrobian</span> Armenian-American architect

Mihran Mesrobian was an Armenian-American architect whose career spanned over fifty years and in several countries. Having received an education in the Academy of Fine Arts in Constantinople, Mesrobian began his career as an architect in Smyrna and in Constantinople. While in Constantinople, Mesrobian served as the palace architect to the last Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed V.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vesey Street</span> Street in Manhattan, New York

Vesey Street is a street in New York City that runs east-west in Lower Manhattan. The street is named after Rev. William Vesey (1674-1746), the first rector of nearby Trinity Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisner Auditorium</span>

Lisner Auditorium is a performance venue sited on the Foggy Bottom campus of George Washington University at 730 21st Street Northwest, Washington, D.C. Named for Abram Lisner (1852-1938), a university trustee and benefactor whose will provided one million dollars towards its construction, it was designed in 1940 and completed in 1946. Constructed in the stripped classicist style of the late Art Deco and host to major classical, folk, rock, blues, opera, and theatrical performances over the decades, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990 for its dual significance as an architectural work and as a performance venue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outing Club</span> United States historic place

The Outing Club is located in the central part of Davenport, Iowa, United States. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1977. In 1985 it was included as a contributing property in the Vander Veer Park Historic District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baltimore Heritage</span> Nonprofit historic-preservation organization

Baltimore Heritage is an American nonprofit historic-preservation organization headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newton Theater</span> United States historic place

The Newton Theater is located at 3601 12th Street, Northeast, Washington, D.C., in the Brookland neighborhood. The Art Deco building was designed by John Jacob Zink and opened on July 29, 1937. Zink is credited with more than 200 movie theater projects in this region. The first film shown at the Newton Theater was I Met Him in Paris, starring Claudette Colbert and Robert Young.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bulletin Building, Washington, D.C.</span> United States historic place

The Bulletin Building is an historic structure located in the Chinatown neighborhood in Washington, D.C.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Engine Company 17</span> United States historic place

Engine Company No. 17 also known as Chemical Company No. 4 and the Brookland Firehouse, is a historic firehouse located at 1227 Monroe Street, NE, Washington, D.C. It was constructed in 1902 and housed an early “chemical company” which fought fires in outlying districts using large soda-acid extinguishers rather than using steam pumpers on the unreliable municipal water supply. The firehouse was innovative at the time of its construction, having a built-in electrical system, and it was designed to make use of the new call box system installed in the neighborhood. It was officially designated Engine Company 17 in 1905.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fulbright Hall</span> United States historic place

Fulbright Hall, formerly known as The Everglades, is an undergraduate residence hall on the Foggy Bottom campus of the George Washington University (GW), named after J. William Fulbright, located at 2223 H St., Northwest, Washington, D.C., in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Engine Company 23</span> United States historic place

Engine Company 23 is a fire station and a historic structure located in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The two-story Italianate style building was a collaboration of the Washington, D.C. architectural firm of Hornblower & Marshall and District of Columbia Municipal Architect Snowden Ashford. It was built in 1910. The exterior of the structure features segmental-arched vehicle openings and quoined limestone frontispiece. It was listed on both the District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites in 2005 and on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007. The building sits on the campus of the George Washington University near Kogan Plaza.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott's Addition Historic District</span> Historic district in Virginia, United States

The Scott's Addition Historic District is a national historic district located in Richmond, Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Vernon Triangle</span> Place in the United States

Mount Vernon Triangle is a neighborhood and community improvement district in the northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. Originally a working-class neighborhood established in the 19th century, present-day Mount Vernon Triangle experienced a decline in the mid-20th century as it transitioned from residential to commercial and industrial use. The neighborhood has undergone significant and rapid redevelopment in the 21st century. It now consists mostly of high-rise condominium, apartment and office buildings. Several historic buildings in the neighborhood have been preserved and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Mount Vernon Triangle is now considered a good example of urban planning and a walkable neighborhood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blagden Alley-Naylor Court Historic District</span> Historic district in Washington, D.C., United States

The Blagden Alley-Naylor Court Historic District is a neighborhood in the Shaw district of Washington, D.C., characterized by two alleyways, Blagden Alley and Naylor Court, bounded by 9th, 10th, M and O Sts., NW.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Architecture of Spokane, Washington</span> Overview of the architecture in Spokane, Washington

Spokane and its neighborhoods contain a patchwork of architectural styles that give them a distinct identity and illustrate the changes throughout the city's history. Spokane has a rich architectural history for a western city of its size and much of it is a product of its circumstances at the turn of the 20th century when as a rapidly growing city, the Great Fire of 1889 destroyed 32 blocks of the city center which was quickly rebuilt in a more grand fashion by a community flush with money coming from regional mining districts. Many of the architects that found work in the city and building on the blank slate of the downtown commercial district became highly esteemed architects such as Kirtland Cutter, who has been credited with giving the city a distinctive character. In particular, the city has a high concentration of Romanesque Revival style institutional and commercial buildings and American Craftsman bungalow residences. The architecture of Spokane gained national recognition in industry publications in the early 20th century.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 "Brookland Bowling Alleys". DC Historic Sites. Retrieved 2020-12-06.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Brookland Bowling Alleys" (PDF). Historic Preservation Review Board. 2016-07-28.
  4. "4-Alarm Fire In Washington". The News. Frederick, Maryland. 1950-04-19.
  5. "Atlantic Electric Supply Corp - Company Profile". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2020-12-06.