I think Part 5 of this series was a bit confusing in that I organized the tour by type of building, not by address. I won’t do that again.

We start today at 16th and Q and walk north.

The Chastleton contains 300 units, opened as a rental, and is now a co-op. It has had several lives, including at times being partially or fully occupied as a hotel, and was almost seized by the federal government during World War II to house female government workers. It was originally opened in 1920, and was most recently renovated in 2007. It appears that recent 1 bedroom unit sales average about $450,000.

Next to the Chastleton is the masonic Scottish Rite Temple.

This building was completed in 1915. If it reminds you of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, don’t be alarmed. That was the model, and the architect was John Russell Pope, who also designed the National Gallery, the National Archives, the Jefferson Memorial and more.

You can go through the Masonic meeting rooms, the library, the archives, the Robert Burns collection, and more with tours given three or four times daily. The building was built on a deep lot going all the way to 15th Street. The back lot is now home to a large, new, attractive apartment development, still in its initial leasing.

We continue walking and pass on our left the Universalist National Memorial Church, built to be the main Universalist church in the country, as I understand it, and now a standard Unitarian Universalist church. It opened in 1930. Its architect also designed the Riverside Church in New York,  although you can’t tell by looking.

Continuing to walk, up from the church, you find elegant townhouses, most of which are now broken into apartment units, some rental and some condo.

There was one for sale sign in front of a very nice building. I looked it up. It was a $400,000, 525 square foot, one bedroom unit.

Continuing, we see high rise buildings interspersed between groups of townhouses, and one small hotel, the Windsor, whose website pictures look a bit austere.

We then see two unusual buildings. One is an art deco apartment house, built rather late for the neighborhood in 1952, and looking out of place, but intriguing. There are only ten units in the building, and they may be the least expensive in the neighborhood. The building is named the Stanford.

Across the street from the Stanford, there is a modest building with an awning with the initials ICUA prominently displayed.

The ICUA is the Interdenominational Church Ushers Association.  Its mission is to provide training for church ushers and networking opportunities, but its website has no upcoming events listed, so whether or not it is functioning, I do not know.

We are now at the intersection where 16th, New Hampshire and U Street meet. U Street is a major commercial street, and this gives us one of the few opportunities to see anything commercial on 16th Street. We look to our left at this corner and see a building housing a Starbucks. We do not go in.

In part 7, we will explore two more blocks. And then, the neighborhood changes.