Ponce de Leon Apartment Building

The Ponce de Leon Apartment Building located at 4514 Connecticut Avenue, N.W. was designed, built, and owned by David L. Stern. The 1928 building was one of the designs that established Stern's reputation as an architect of merit in Wahington, D.C. The choice of the Spanish Revival style and its skillful execution represents a significant increase in the sophistication of Stern's work up to this time. Stern, whose career lasted over fifty years, was especially active in the design of apartment buildings in Washington, D.C. More than eighty apartment buildings have been credited to him, the majority having been designed in partnership with Frank Tomlinson. of these, seventy-six were designed in the 1920s, representing more than ten percent of all apartment buildings constructed during the decade that witnessed the most apartment construction in Washington's history. Stern is best remembered for his luxury apartment buildings constructed in the late 1920s, during the decade in which the greatest number of apartment buildings were constructed in Washington.

Stern was born in Washington in 1888. He was of German descent and the son of one of the first rabbis of the Washington Hebrew Congregation. After attending local public schools, Stern went to George Washington University. He did not complete these studies before he began work at a local architectural firm.

World War I not only interrupted Stern's career, but it dramatically decreased the amount of housing constructed in the city during the war because it consumed most of the civilian industrial capacity and created considerable material shortages. Meanwhile, Washington's population was increasing dramatically as a result of the expanding federal government. Consequently, there was a great demand for housing when civilian construction resumed in the early 1920s. Architects, builders, and developers rushed to fill the void and the decade of the 1920s experienced a burgeoning of both apartment buildings and single-family residences.

After serving in World War I, Stern resumed his architectural career. In 1919, Stern collaborated with Frank Tomlinson on his first apartment building. Thereafter, they formed a partnership that lasted seven years. The D.C. Apartment Buildings Survey identified 63 apartment buildings designed by the firm of Stern and Tomlinson during the years 1919 to 1926.

Their first project, 3115 Mount Pleasant Street, was stylistically consistent with apartment buildings designed before the war. The 1919 design is a four-story apartment building with projecting bay windows in the colonial Revival style. Between 1919 and 1922, Stern and Tomlinson continued to design modest three-, four-, and five-story apartment buildings, each accommodating fewer than thirty families. The buildings reveal a stylistic evolution toward simple and flat facades which used classical vocabulary. Their ornament is generally confined to the main entrance, the cornice, and sometimes quoins and belt courses. In 1922, Stern and Tomlinson began to design larger apartment buildings. The first was the Shawmut at 2200 19th Street, N.W. which accommodated seventy-one families. In the same year, they designed the Argonne at 1629 Columbia Road, N.W. which housed 242 families. The Argonne is the largest apartment building that Stern and Tomlinson designed together. Throughout their partnership, they favored classical Revival motifs, although their use of ornament was not limited to this style. One of their last commissions, and perhaps the most outstanding example of their work, were the twin, Gothic Revival buildings: the Windmere, 1825 New Hampshire Avenue, N.W., and the Harrowgate, 1833 New Hampshire Avenue, N.W. They were designed in 1925 for A. Joseph Howar, a Washington real estate developer who worked closely with Stern during this time.

In 1926, the partnership between Stern and Tomlinson was dissolved. Both architects continued to design apartment buildings on their own. Stern opened his own architectural office. Stern's apartment building designs continued to use restrained Classical Revival details for approximately the next two years. Between 1928 and 1930, Stern designed large, luxury apartment buildings and used a variety of architectural styles; some were designed in collaboration with A. Joseph Howar. These buildings include the Ponce de Leon; Lombardy, 2019 I Street, N.W.; the Sedgewick, 1722 19th Street, N.W.; the Frontenac, 4550 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.; and, Oaklawn terrace, 3620 16th Street, N.W. This group forms the core of Stern's most interesting work and the buildings for which he is most remembered.

In 1929, Stern moved his residence to Ponce de Leon. He lived in apartment #403, the most ornate unit in the building. His colleague, A.J. Howar lived next door in apartment #402. Stern resided there until 1933 when he moved to the Broadmoor at 3601 Connecticut Avenue, N.W. Howar had relocated the previous year to 1722 19th Street, N.W., another apartment building designed by Stern.

Few buildings were constructed in Washington during the early 1930s as a result of the stock market crash and the subsequent building hiatus. Financial problems arose for Stern when the firm of Swartzell, Rheem, Hensey, et al., the financiers of the Ponce de Leon, as well as many other apartment buildings, went bankrupt. Apparently, the firm illegally released the building, and Stern sold it in early 1929. When the bankruptcy process began, the legal title to the Ponce de Leon became a contested issue.

Stern established the David L. Stern Construction Company in 1936 and remained its head, even while semi-retired, until his death in 1969. To date, only a small percentage of this work has been identified through D.C. building permits. The majority of these buildings are plain brick structures with little ornament. One notable exception is 4801 Connecticut Avenue, N.W. It was built in 1938 with an arresting Art Moderne design.