When Washington was established in the late 1700s, Georgetown was already a thriving tobacco port and completely independent Maryland community. Now it is the city's oldest and best-known neighborhood, and synonymous with wealth. Here, a tiny condominium might sell for half a million. The core of Georgetown is at M Street and Wisconsin Avenue NW, known for street parties, Georgetown University, and the C&O Canal National Historic Park.
Georgetown also boasts the oldest building in the District, Old Stone House on M Street. Many parapsychologists claim this place is one of the most haunted in D .C., an area renowned for ghosts. The Old Stone House also features a quiet garden , replete with exotic butterflies and birds, and maintained by the National Park Service . Another standout attraction in Georgetown is the 19th century Dumbarton Oaks, formerly the mansion of American aristocrats Mr. and Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss. Today, Harvard University owns the 16-acre property with its lavish landscape, and maintains the on-site museum with its pre-Columbian and Byzantine collections.
Glover Park/Beecher Cooperative
As upscale and cosmopolitan as Georgetown is, it also has the feel of a village, particularly in areas such as Glover Park. This location has access to woods and recreation, yet is convenient to the city. Within the pastoral setting of Glover Park is a community known as the Beecher Cooperative, a cluster of low-rise buildings built as military housing during the 1940s. In 1977, the Beecher was a rental property , but on Christmas Eve of that year, everyone in the 63 units received an eviction notice.
Instead of moving out, the neighbors got together and formed an apartment cooperative. Through special loans and other funding arrangements, no tenants were displaced, and in less than two years they were able to buy the Beecher. Then the members of the co-op had to bring their buildings up to code, which required gutting the kitchens and upgrading the plumbing. Over the years coop members have also put money into landscaping and more cosmetic work, as they've had time. Recently, they've pooled their resources to replace the original single-pane windows with a more energy efficient design of aluminum-clad wood.
The Beecher apartments are simply designed, and a relatively small 600 square feet . But the cooperative has kept the prices artificially low in Georgetown, which is one of the most expensive residential areas in the nation. This is possible because the neighbors share the cost and labor of maintaining these affordable homes.
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