Soon after I got my real estate license, I became fascinated with a monolithic brick building on the corner of Connecticut Avenue and Porter Street NW. It was the Broadmoor Cooperative, one of the largest buildings in Cleveland Park. Back then, 1983, there was one old guy who was sort of the real estate king of this lovely old building.
His name was Nelson, and he must have been 200 years old. He got all of the listings, and he put nothing into the multiple listing service, which was a fairly new thing back then. If Nelson liked you, he'd call you and let you know when something came on the market. I loved the building and I made it a point to schmooze this particular colleague. Call it primitive social media.
We got along really well until one day the old guy goosed one of my clients as we were going up to the sixth floor to see one of his listings. She bought the unit anyway.
I remember when he gave me my first tour of the building, including a history lesson. The Broadmoor opened its doors in 1929, right around the time of the stock market crash. It was luxury living.
Many of the early tenants were members of the old Washington Senators baseball team. There were a few other Senators, including Huey Long, who is said to have moved in with a gang of pretty scary looking “body guards” (AKA, thugs) who hung out in the lobby.
The apartments have outer slatted doors, which helped with cross ventilation before the advent of air conditioning. Some of them still have decals dating to World War II reminding owners: “Please turn out your lights when leaving rooms. Blackout alarms may occur when you are out.”
And there are little enclaves on the second floor that Nelson described as “courting areas”, used by young women who were much too respectable to invite a gentleman caller up to their apartments.
The building converted to cooperative ownership in 1948. A 1-bedroom with a solarium cost about $11,500 back then, and recently one sold for $427,000. It's a favorite building of mine, but alas, not pet friendly. And I can't live anyplace that would not welcome Willie the Labradoodle!
Pat..Wow..what an awesum place..with so much history..We have the same thing here in Philly..most places do not allow dogs..Thanks for the tour
HELPFULHANNAH
I would love it too..if they allowed my Shadow in. Beautiful decor and old style wonderful to say the least!
Pat -- I love the Broadmoor --it's a wonderful old building - and I could live there in a heartbeat too.
Those pictures are fabulous!
I think I was born at the wrong time. The "courting area" sounds so charming.
So sorry they wouldn't take Willie - looks like an awesome building. I loved reading the history
Hannah, this place won't allow cats, or birds or goldfish!
Sally, since I can't imagine life without pets, I will never get to live here. Oh well.
Alexsandra, the building is charming and the apartments are all huge - from about 1000 to 1700 square feet.
Kris, they were recently redecorated. They used to have love seats. They are just a little bit private.
And Janice, yes, I'm afraid the Willie thing is a deal breaker for me.
My niece lives in DC, and I think she would like this area - I'm sending her a link! Thanks!
Patricia- I love history and of buildings, well, they tell their own story don't they! I was laughing when reading this post. I have had my share of old geezers like this running the shows in buildings here in Palm Beach! You had to really be on their good side to know about their listings:) Ahhh, a different kind of social networking back then:)
Hi Pat, Looks like a building with some real charm and a great deal of history behind it. It sounds like a fabulous place to live! Thanks for giving us the tour.
Very cool. You could pretend you're in one of those Masterpiece Theatre mystery things -- Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot. Afternoon teas. The whole nine yards. Men wore tuxes to dinner and women wore evening gowns. What fun!
Wow, this brings us back to our days of living in Cleveland Park. We walked by this building dozens of times and didn't know the history---thanks for the information. If you do a blog about the Uptown Theater or Atomic Billiards, it's really going to bring back the found memories of DC, and especially Cleveland Park.
Pat - Hi stranger!
This is a beautiful building - thanks for sharing. I haven't done any research on it, but was wondering if the Broadmoor's of your building have any relation to the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs - another beautiful, historic property built in 1918: http://www.broadmoor.com/colorado-springs-resort.php
That's a neat lobby photo. How many square feet are the units?
What an interesting history! Glad to hear the building has been taken care of through the years.
What happened to Nelson? Did you step in and take over his shoes?
I've always enjoyed riding past this building and thought there must have been some famous residents, given its awesome location. I'd still love to see it someday.
Pat, I love this building too! The spaciousness and architectural details of the units are amazing. Built in an era where having a real separate dining room, even in an apartment, was a must! I came close to selling a unit in there once, but my client ultimately decided that the "no pet" policy was the restriction that broke the camel's back. She didn't have a pet then, but hoped to get one one day. She was also rightfully concerned about re-sale - given a choice, a potential buyer with a pet would opt for another building that was pet-friendly. In general, coops are hamstringed to some degree by their other inherent restrictions that the no pet policy may be one restriction too many, hindering marketability. Perhaps one day the owners will vote to change the policy to ensure that their building remains competitive. But then again, the Broadmoor is such a storied, grand building with a fabulous location, it may fair just fine anyway. Always seems to have a very low inventory of units for sale.