This DC Victorian — and Former Brothel — Is Now All About Clean Lines and a Unique Black-and-White Palette

Positioned just north of the US Capitol building, Washington, DC's Bloomingdale neighborhood is known for its Victorian row houses built by developer Harry Wardman, who constructed 180 row houses in the area between 1903 and 1908. While there are subtle architectural variations here and there, the Bloomingdale row houses stuck with a fairly consistent design, as Wardman and architects Nicholas R. Grimm and Albert H. Beers composed a formula that worked well for them. Due to the layout of row houses, their consistent design and the historic protections of the neighborhood, each row house is relatively equal in value to this day. However, a corner-lot row house is unique in that it boasts an additional long side filled with windows. In 1893, when mid-block lots were selling for $75, this corner lot sold for a staggering $200.

This is exactly what drew owners D'Artagnan Catellier and Eric Matthew Struchen away from their mid-block row house in DC's Shaw neighborhood. They teamed up with architect Sarah Snouffer of Third Street Architecture to renovate a stunning 3,984-square-foot Bloomingdale Victorian. As if its enviable corner position and rich history weren't enough to make the home noteworthy, it has a unique past that has made it the talk of the town. "We found out that it was a brothel during the 1980s and 1990s," says Sarah.

The corner row house features rough-cut stone window lintels — horizontal supports above a door or window — which was a detail associated with Nicholas R. Grimm, as Albert H. Beers later opted for smooth concrete lintels when he became Wardman's primary architect in 1905. The home's exterior remains relatively unchanged, even boasting the original front door, which was once replaced. "There was an existing front door that was there from an early-2000s renovation that just did not meet the style of the home," notes Sarah. "After digging around, the original front door was found in storage in the basement. It was brought to a refinishing specialist in DC and, through a lot of time and love, the original door was put back in its rightful place." The corner row house is unique in that its front door is positioned on the long side, rather than the short front like the mid-block row houses.

The original front doors open to an elegant vestibule with a mosaic tile floor, consistent with similar DC Victorians. While the space could've been scrapped in an effort to open up the narrow row house floorplan, Sarah instead extended it, adding a coat closet with another set of original doors found in the basement that served as a butler's double swing door in their past life. A traditional black-and-white marble tile in a modern chevron pattern was intentionally chosen to represent the home's blending of old and new.

The goal of the renovation was clear from the start of the project. "We wanted to balance the beautiful, historic Victorian architectural features and scale of the home with the demands of modern life and a more clean, minimal aesthetic," says Sarah. Visually, this translated to preserving valuable Victorian details, such as the original paneling on the staircase that greets you upon entering the home, but editing the design through a modern, minimalistic lens. "After a few mock-ups, it became clear that the paneling needed to be a critical focal point and dramatic to stand out," she notes. The paneling was painted with a semi-gloss black. The little door leads to a broom closet that also contains the home's modem.