The Sunday porch: lattice and brick

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“William Windom house, 1723 de Sales Place, Washington, D.C., Terrace,” ca. 1925, four hand-colored glass lantern slides by Frances Benjamin Johnston, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Johnston used these slides in her “Gardens for City and Suburb” lectures. (You can scroll through larger version by clicking on ‘Continue reading’ below.)

De Sales Place (now Row) is an alleyway between L and M Streets, N.W. (It connects 18th and 19th Streets.) The house is gone; an office building occupies the site.

The William Windom who gave his name to the home was twice Secretary of the Treasury, as well as a Congressman and Senator from Minneasota. He died in 1891. His son, also a William, may have been living in the house at the time of these photos.  He died in 1926.

[We] usually learn that modesty, charm, reliability, freshness, calmness, are as satisfying in a garden as anywhere else.

— Henry Mitchell, from The Essential Earthman

Click on any thumbnail in the gallery below to scroll through larger images.

Sweet little back porch

I think there’s an icebox inside.

What was this little door for?

Cafe table with bottle and glasses of iced tea or beer perhaps?

Looking at an arbor seat from behind the table

There’s a pipe on the table as well. Maybe fruit cordial drink in the glasses?

I like the green striped awnings on the building opposite.

I love the line of very small pots.

The gate to a garage perhaps?

There are two of these tiles, but I can’t figure out the pattern.

This is the last of this week’s birdhouses.