Dan Antion

A Few DC Doors – #ThursdayDoors

Part of the Chinese Community Church – close-up of the door.

The last day I was in Washington, DC, I had an early meeting in the city. I took the local subway (Metro) into Union Station and walked from there to the meeting site. It was still cool enough to walk the roughly 1.3 mi (2 km) and not arrive at the meeting looking like a damp dish towel. This gave me a chance to take some door photos. My route was one I had taken before, but I don’t think I captured any duplicates. My fellow door aficionados will understand the fact that I purposely chose a few turns that took me down roads I knew were different.

The first interesting door I saw was an old, apparently unused door on the Phoenix Park Hotel. This boutique hotel dates to 1922. It has been renovated on the interior and is said to offer a nice array of modern amenities. One article I found mentions the addition of a nine-story wing in 1992. At first, I thought the new wing was the smaller wing on the left. After closer consideration, I believe the left section is the original.

  • The Phoenix Park Hotel – I’m curious as to why they added the arched elements in the new addition. I like the style, but I don’t think it’s a good match.
  • The Phoenix Park Hotel – Now that I look at this close-up. I think maybe this is the original building.

The next building on my walk is Engine Company Number 3. I do think that I’ve shared these doors before, but I’ve learned more about them. First, you’ll notice that the doors are slightly open, and that they don’t open like standard overhead doors. The firehouse dates back to 1916 when fire apparatus was much smaller than today’s firetrucks. Another interesting thing about this building is that it might be haunted. The spirits of both a fireman from the (predecessor) Columbia Company and a horse, both of whom died in the line of duty (different incidents) are said to have been seen or heard in the modern firehouse.

  • Engine Company No. 3 – It’s said to be haunted.

After the fire house, I encountered that I was able to find some information about is the Chinese Community Church. Similar to many other churches I’ve featured on Thursday Doors, the church and the building exist along different timelines. The congregation was formed in 1935. They purchased the current building in 1994. The building began its history in 1852 as a Presbyterian church. It later served Jewish and Baptist congregations, and finally a Presbyterian congregation.

  • Chinese Community Church
  • Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association.
  • Part of the Chinese Community Church – close-up of the door.
  • Part of the Chinese Community Church

The other doors were more random encounters for which I was not able to find much information. I put my observations in the captions.

Today’s post is another contribution to Norm Frampton’s famous and fun Thursday Doors blog hop. If you enjoy looking at doors, you can find many such entries at Norm’s place. If you enjoy photographing doors and sharing them, you can find out how to do that at Norm’s place as well.

I am including a few extra doors today, as I continue my experiments with the Block Editor (Guttenberg). I will add that my experience has been frustrating, but I want to give it a fair shake. At Hugh’s (Hugh’s News and Views) suggestion, I am trying a ‘stacked gallery’ today. I also added a slide show gallery. The stacked gallery works better for longer captions, since the slide show captions are over the images.

  • Yeah, we need some TLC here.
  • I wasn’t able to find much about this building, but between the doors and the fire escape, I couldn’t resist.
  • A door, a security gate, and a mini-door (perhaps an old coal chute), and a bunch of junk.
  • Under construction. I think they bought surplus paint and had some fun.
  • The employee entrance to whatever this building is.
  • This would be the customer entrance.
  • Under construction. I think they bought surplus paint and had some fun.

Published by Dan Antion

Husband, father, woodworker, cyclist, photographer, geek - oh wait, I’m writing this like I only have 140 characters. I am all those things, and more, and all of these passions present me with opportunities to observe, and think about things that I can’t write about in other places. I have started this blog to catch the stuff that falls out, overflows and just plain doesn’t fit the other containers in my life.

84 comments

  2. A walk down unfamiliar streets early in the morning is the way to go 🙂

    The church with “nine-lives” and the old firehall would both catch my attention. I noticed a hose running from one of the doors to an outside sewer (?). That triggers multiple questions.

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  6. I really like Engine Company #3…..not just the doors but the whole front of the building …. but what’s up with a hose going to what looks like the sewer?

    The Chinese Community Church doors are nice, as is the building. Nice brickwork and trim.

    The left side (new/old?) of the hotel is attractive, the right side isn’t! What were they thinking! 🤔

    Nice collection today.
    🐾Ginger 🐾

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    • Thanks Ginger. I have to agree about the hotel. It’s weird, I saw a photo from the 60s that has the awning covered entrance, but the addition wasn’t built yet. So they preserved the awning, but ignored the arches. Shaking my head.

      You also have sharp eyes yo notice that hose. I didn’t think anyone would see it. I’m thinking, the less we know, the better.

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    • Thanks Jean. I love those firehouse doors. The way they open, the shape and of course, the color. I wish the hotel had kept the addition in the style of the original.

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  10. Great doors, Dan. The Chinese church looks terrific. I wonder why the Phoenix Park Hotel didn’t follow the arch scheme of the original. (If the small part on the left is the original) Would have been cool to have the whole thing look the same.

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  14. Thank you, Dan, for another jaunt through history. I love seeing an area through the doors of buildings. I’m especially drawn to the red door next to the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association. :)

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  15. Hi Dan – the hotel extension is a little odd – I agree should have kept to rectangular windows. Fascinating different styles … cheers Hilary

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  18. Hands down, my favorite is number 504, the Chinese wooden door. I just love anything wood. Especially doors. Cool new look to your gallery, Dan. I’ll still use the old one. I hesitate to use anything new in WP in case I cannot get my “original” back.

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    • Thanks Amy. I love the old wooden doors, too. I’m not sure what look I’m going to end up with. It might be one for this and another for that. Trying to figure out what works, and then how to make it work reliably has me going just a little crazy. I just want a setup I can work with without having to work di hard – this is supposed to be fun.

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  19. The modernized/commercial style church doors are yuck, but all of the others very pretty. Early morning doorscursions are often the most productive. This certainly holds true with this collection. Good stuff Dan :-)

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    • Thanks Norm. I, too was disappointed in those church doors. The church was built in 1852, so the original doors had to be beautiful.

      It’s been so hot that I welcomed a somewhat cool morning.

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  20. Some great doors, and the red brick makes me feel at home! In your experiment with the new editor, have to admit I like how your comment over the image – stands out more this way

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  21. Washington DC does have a variety of doors, doesn’t it? The Phoenix looks like the Riverside hotel in Reno Nevada which was built about the same time. I wonder if they had the same architect or if that style was just popular back then.

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  24. Wet dish towel look isn’t a good look, but those doors are wonderful. And, I’m glad you shared how you’re working through the G slideshow functionality. That wasn’t working the last time I tried a post in G. Are you 100% in on using it now?

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  25. Thanks for the mention, Dan. Glad the ‘Stacked’ gallery block worked for you. WordPress seems to have added a few new blogs during my Blogging break.

    The firehouse sounds an exciting place, especially as it’s haunted. I wonder if they sleep in there (while waiting for a call) and have seen/heard anything? I wouldn’t like to work in a place like that.

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  26. Sorry to be late, Dan. Morning is about the only time I can stay connected (to Internet) long enough to read a blog post. I’m waiting for the technician now.
    You’ve really been working hard, trying out different ways with the photos. You have a good eye for spotting beautiful architecture. When I’m out, all I can usually see is the “press” of people and everything that is going on. Another beautiful post. Hugs!

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  28. I like the original Pheonix Hotel’s arches and brick the best of the two sides. I love the red firehouse doors and thought that it’s haunted. I’d want to go in and hang around hoping to hear the ghosts. Just to find out if it’s true or not. 😉
    This was a nice morning walk down some streets in DC I’ve never seen. Thanks for that arm-chair tour.

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  30. I like the surplus paint in the slideshow – nice duo with diversity
    And a haunted fire station- wow – and if I pass by that when I am
    In dc I will be all in the know! And you never know how stories like this come in handy – because we bloggers sure fill each other with info that comes in handy!!

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  33. I must say that this stacked gallery has super tiny captions, too small for my tired eyes, no matter how huge my screen is. And I can’t click on a photo to view them in the horizontal gallery, which is how I prefer to view any gallery. But the bottom slideshow is looking quite good. I’ve had some gallery trouble as well lately. Never a dull moment with this new editor.

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    • Thanks Manja. I gave up on the new editor until after I retire. I think I need to find a theme that works better with that editor, and I have to figure out a better way of working with it. I don’t really use the editor to write my posts, I use Word. I just want to past the text, add the images and go.

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