From Gardens to Garden Apartments 49TH & JAY STREETS NE Largely ignored by city officials and iso- lated from downtown DC, Deanwood remained semi-rural until around World War II (1941–1945). Lifelong residents who grew up in the 1930s and ’40s remember outsiders telling them that they lived in “the country.” And in many ways they did, with gardens and laying hens in the yards of their handcrafted homes. Some residents rode horse- back (often on animals purchased from Benning Racetrack) alongside the cars on Deanwood’s dirt roads. At least one resident continued boarding horses that competed at Laurel, Bowie, and Pim- lico racetracks into the 1970s. While most found peaceful Deanwood endearing, they also yearned for modern plumbing and electricity. In the 1940s and ’50s, the Northeast Boundary Civic Association and others finally persuaded city officials to provide paving and street lighting, and to support building projects. The National Capital Housing Authority tore down old houses to build apartment complexes. Suburban Gardens Apartments was one of those modernizing efforts. Begun in 1941, this 203-unit project to your right on the Jay Street ridge was designed by Harvey Warwick, an architect respon- sible for dozens of garden apartment complexes in the DC Metropolitan Area. The 13 two-story buildings with landscaped courtyards opened during a severe citywide housing shortage that began when thousands came to help end the Great Depression and prepare for what became World War II. The development attracted middle-class, African American families. Former DC Mayor Sharon Pratt Dixon’s parents, Mildred and Carlisle Pratt, were among them.
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