Best Addresses

Best Addresses by James Goode. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780874744767.

A century ago, the popularity of early Washington landmarks like Stoneleigh Court and the controversial Cairo (which, at a soaring twelve stories, shocked District officials into enacting the citys height limit) made it clear that apartment living was here to stay. By the 1920s, Beaux Art and Art Deco palaces offered residents all the luxuries of a first-class hotel: barbershops, ballrooms, rooftop terraces, and indoor pools. Soon other innovations in apartment living—the garden complex, the cooperative, and the mixed-use building—put Washington at the forefront of urban planning. Today the resurgence of the historic heart of the nations capital has created an apartment boom rivaled only by that of the 1920s. Through residents personal recollections, original floor plans, and more than 690 photographs, Best Addresses offers an intimate tour behind the facades of 162 remarkable buildings. Some have already been destroyed or disfigured beyond repair, making their preservation here especially valuable, while others continue to set the standard for elegant living in the nations capital.