21 SNOWS COURT NW
Year Built
1888
History
This is one of a cluster of three row houses built by E. Pitcher for Eugene Bettes in 1888. No. 21 is a two story brick row house with a door on its left side that opens onto a courtyard it shares with No. 22. Its right side has no fenestration. It has simple brick arches over the windows, but a more elaborate bracketed cornice along the front of the house.
The Foggy Bottom Association succeeded the Foggy Bottom Restoration Association, founded in March 1955, at 21 Snows Court. By the mid-1950s, the industries that made Foggy Bottom foggy had shut down and the area became attractive to new development. The new development would either demolish or renovate the historic row houses, many of which were substandard. Either way, the remaining low-income residents, mostly African American, would be displaced. The FBRA fought for the preservation of the historic houses and blocked the enforcement of the City's ban on alley dwellings. Some of the historic neighborhood survived, but citizens were not able to prevent the construction of several new high-rise apartment buildings.
Paul Flint, was the "past president of the Foggy Bottom Restoration Association."
The renovated house has three beds, one bath and about 1,000 sq.ft. One of the bedrooms is only 9 ft. x 7 ft.
Resident/Owner
- Paul and Alice Flint
11/1958 - Roderck and Beth Alderton
Recollections
Source Material
A History Project, FB Historic District Walking Tour. "Snows Court Row Houses ." https://theclio.com/tour/2098/6
Foggy Bottom Association News, Feb. 1961
"News from the Court," FB News, Nov. 1958
Rhea Radin, "From the Bottom Up," Foggy Bottom News, June 1959
George Beveridge, "City's Foggy Bottom See Test Ground of Urban Renewal," Evening Star, Oct. 23, 1955
The front entry has a transom window and curved brick arch. (D. Vogt, Dec. 2022)
The connection of the two rowhouses is made more obvious with different paint color. (D. Vogt, Dec. 2022)
Notes from Margaret L. Franzen (4 Snows Court) documenting the original members of the FBA. (GWU, Gelman Library)