Thursday, December 10, 2015

? 1920's photo of the McMillan Sand Filtration site, taken from a roof of a building on Channing St NW

See this message and image:

Attached is a photo that a neighbor found, I don’t know where, of the park, apparently taken from a Channing St NW roof, some time in the 1920s.  

Really neat picture, cars and all.  No fence.  

Looks like someone was on a stepladder on top of a chimney or something, couple feet above the roof.  

This is one of the loveliest pictures of the park in the old days that I’ve seen.  


12 comments:

TheCommiss said...

Nice Picture! But need to point out! Where are the kids playing on the site and the people who used this park in this photo! Oh that's right it's an industrial water filtration plant people are supposed to be on the site!

TheCommiss said...

Nice Picture! But need to point out! Where are the kids playing on the site and the people who used this park in this photo! Oh that's right it's an industrial water filtration plant people are supposed to be on the site!

Bloomingdale Resident said...

That is a pretty fancy, landscaped stairway for a purely industrial site. It looks a lot like the one to the west of First Street, which also led to an industrial site.

Victor said...

Notice there's no fence around it

Unknown said...

With a grand staircase like that it's obvious that the vast green space was intended to be used as a park. It's a green roof well ahead of it's time.

Paul Kirk said...

This is 'The Walk', just one component of this Frederick Olmsted Jr designed park. At least 'TheCommiss' refrained from calling Mr. Olmsted the illegitimate son of his father this time around!

https://tclf.org/landscapes/mcmillan-park

TheCommiss said...

do you see any people? So by today's standards a park need space for people to enjoy this was not the case here. It was landscaped over to look preety not be a park get over it!

TheCommiss said...

Payul was never a park! A park in the 1920's was something you got all dressed up for with your parasol and walked around. Since this was a huge industrial sight that look like hell they covered it to look pretty. A park with 3000 manhole covers...NOT!

TheCommiss said...

Sure is...no one liked it when it was completed and it looked awful so they made it look preety that's all...no "real park" was ever on this site!

Daniel in brookland said...

The Cities Beautiful movement of top urban designers, including Olmsted Jr., were visionaries brought to DC by Senator James McMillan(Union Station, The Mall, Lincoln Memorial). The hybrid of city utility and outdoor, open, recreation space was innovative. Had the "Emerald Necklace" of parks and greenspace been completed in NE as it was in NW, all of DC would be cooler, windier, and healthier, youth would be more invested and less criminal, and violent. So we still have this amazing opportunity to found "DC Central Park", you can be a founder! But the Commish knows better, God Bless you Barrie, if you would only put this bulldog perseverance and intensity into something more than VMP corporate schlock!

Only a mindless(stupidly hiring Fontaine) corporation like VMP, and collusion in DC government, would profit to defeat a DC Central Park that should have started in 1987, and "The Emerald Necklace". Then turn it into carbon emitting concrete, parking spaces, massive hideous buildings, and intolerable traffic congestion. You build the transportation first, and support Parkview development around the park, if it is done right, you can have it all..

The Olmsted Walk, a selling point for VMP's mundane condo garbage is a Promenade (a park) Commish, are you that dense? Was the Highline in NY, a Park? No it was an elevated railroad, and NY is smart enough to save it and adaptivly re-purose as a fabulous park, DUH! Why NY commish and not here?
In DC, VMP's herd of mediocre designers, have to hire a PR firm to falsify support where it doesn't exist. To violate the peoples first amendment rights, and pay for an impostor of public support.
Rashida Brown is kind of alone when she testified at ZC13-14A, and when she claims how her side of the neighborhood supports the VMP "monstrosity", how is it she never brings these "supporters", they have no name, and they never vote her ANC to support either. Chairman Hood of the Zoning Commission never asks her "where are all these supporters", because the Zoning Commission is corrupt, and greenlights this mediocrity no matter what DC really needs.
Bowser is stacking the fake support all over the place for Exelon and she extended the "Surplus", land theft for another 5 years, Wake up folks, it is the District of Corruption and we have to arrest it, euthanize the corruption like any other rabid animal!

TheCommiss said...

First let me stop you Daniel because I surely know more about Highland that you will ever. I was involved in that project 25 years ago so once again you are blowing smoke up your own .... Yes the promenade was the only park part of McMillan on this site. and it is being maintained along with a total of 8-9 acres of that land as a REAL PARK! This was an industrial site no matter how you spin it. And it's was decided 30 years ago to develop the site so that ship sailed a long time ago. GET OVER IT! DC is the second most green city on the east coast so stop your crying that it's some type of toxic waste land. If you don't like the Administration I suggest you run then...oh that's right you might get only your own vote. Build Baby Build!

Daniel in brookland said...

Commish, so glad you know so much about the "Highland", just check the spelling, and get the name right.
Your chant "Build Baby Build", is so intelligent, so intelligent, so intelligent. Does it refer to the Republican Presidential Convention that nominated
Sarah Palin to run for vice president?
That was "Drill Baby Drill", a SICK, mindless chant,like yours, ALL ABOUT GREED AND SELFISHNESS, and one of the most despicable, tragic, destructive, vindictive, and anti humanity, anti nature,anti MOTHER EARTH and embarrassed the United States in the eyes of the entire world! get real Barrie please, learn to spell, your family wasted all that money on college for U.
Here a place to utilize your endless energy, spelling ability and intelligence, a job for you Barrie,
get a DC Wolf Trap built in adaptive re-use of McMillan Park.