National Register Listing

Penland, W. H., & Company

a.k.a. Mount Vernon Stables;Proctor Alley Livery Stable

1211--1219 13th St., NW., Washington, DC

The Proctor Alley Livery Stable is a free-standing three-story structure located in mid-block on Square 281, between 12th, and 13th, Mand N Streets, N.W. The building was constructed in 1894 as a horse stable and carriage barn for an existing livery business which was headquartered in two buildings that fronted 12th Street. The Proctor Alley Stable served as a horse stable until 1908, at which time it was adapted to use as a parking and service garage for automobiles. The building continues to serve as an automobile service garage.

City Directories indicate that a livery business was first opened at 1232 12th Street in 1877, and changed ownership as many as seven times in the next ten years until it was purchased by the Tennessee-based William H. Penland Company in 1887. D.C. Permits to Build show that Penland, together with a local representative, Elbert S. Maloney, constructed a two-story stable at 1236 12th Street in 1889 and a two-story building for the storage of carriages at 1232 12th Street in 1891. The subject building, a three-story stable located in the alley behind these buildings, was constructed in 1894. The Penland Company's buildings were either sold or changed names to the Mount Vernon Stables in 1898.

The Proctor Alley Stable remained a part of the Mount Vernon Stables complex until it was sold separately to the Terminal Taxicab Company in 1908, at which time it was converted to use as a parking and service garage for automobiles. A D.C. Permit to Build from 1908 indicates that the conversion included the removal of the horse runway to the second floor, with a stair installed in its place, and the removal of the horse stalls on the second floor. Additional work included unidentified renovations to the coach room on the third floor for use as a work area and the installation of a low-pressure heating system. While the conversion of stables to automobile garages would become common, due to their similar loading requirements and open plan configurations, this represents a very early conversion. The building has served primarily as an automobile garage since 1908, with short periods of vacancy and alternate uses.

The buildings at 1232-1236 12th Street, N.W., which at one time made up the remainder of the original Penland/Mount Vernon Stable complex, were razed in 1972 by the Redevelopment Land Agency. The stable building at 1211 (R)-1219 (R) 13th Street is the only remaining building in the complex. While once part of a larger complex, the subject building alone retains the integrity of design and conveys important information about the 19th-century urban transportation system.

While utilitarian in appearance, the Proctor Alley stable's function is clearly expressed in its design. The two large flat-topped openings on the east side served as the entrance and exit for the horses and carriages, allowing an orderly procession for the carriages to go through the building. The first floor was used as an assembly area for the horses to be harnessed and hooked up to the carriages. An interior ramp, once located in the northwest corner of the building, was used to bring the horses down from their stalls on the second floor. The interior ramp was removed in 1908, and the present stair was added. The horse stalls themselves are clearly expressed by the twenty-one small casement windows on the south and east facades, although the stalls themselves were also removed individual windows not only provided light and air to each of the horses it was also believed that a view would keep the animals more alert.' The concrete flooring on the second floor, where the stalls were located, is original and was considered state-of-the-art technology for stables in 1894, as it allowed for the horse waste to be easily cleaned up, without penetrating into the building's floor system. The stablemaster's office, a tongue, and groove wood paneled room on the second floor are still largely intact.

On the north wall, the large arched opening on the first floor indicates the location of an interior elevator for hoisting feed and tack to the upper floors. While the present elevator dates from 1937, the location and size of the cab are original. The large size of the cab indicates that it was probably used to hoist carriages to the third floor, where a carriage repair room was located. The remainder of the rooms on the third floor is well ventilated and lit by skylights and numerous two-over-two windows on the east and north facades were used for tack and feed storage.

STABLES IN THE 19th CENTURY CITY

Livery stables were an integral part of all 19th-century cities. As Washington evolved into a densely developed city after the Civil War, stabling facilities became an indispensable and widespread building type for housing the growing population of horses. The Proctor Alley Livery Stable is a notable and valuable example of a commercial industry that was a crucial part of the city's 19th-century transportation system. The building's importance is compounded by the relative rarity of this once-common building type.

Horse stables and carriage storage buildings took several forms. Most common were the small, utilitarian buildings located in alleys directly behind single-family houses. While many of these were intended only for carriage storage, with horses boarded off-site, some also served as stables. These carriage garages and private stables, found throughout the in-town neighborhoods of Capitol Hill, Blagden Alley, Georgetown, and the Logan and Dupont circle areas, were usually constructed of brick and were one or two stories in height. This type of stable was located at the rear of house lots with access from the alleys.

Wealthier Washingtonians often constructed private stables which were quite large and architecturally ambitious. Many of the urban mansions constructed in the Lafayette Square, Farragut Square, and Dupont Circle neighborhoods had grand livery stables located on the original grounds or in close proximity. While most of these have been demolished, several remain in existing historic districts. The two individually designated stable buildings on the D.C. Inventory represent this type of private stable, built as support facilities for large private houses (The Van Ness Stables (1816) and the Walsh Stables (1902-3)).

The Proctor Alley Livery Stable represents a distinctly different type of stable building which came about only in the late 19th century and represents the emergence of a new commercial building type. The large-scale commercial livery stable emerged as an important service center for a city with a rapidly growing middle and professional class. For a fee, the commercial stable could provide shedding and grooming services, limited veterinary care, carriage and wheel repair, and tack maintenance. City Directory advertisements from the period indicate that livery stables also served as "hack for hire" taxi services, in which the stable could be called and a taxi sent.

Many livery stables also served as centers for buying, selling, and trading horses and tack. Finally, the commercial livery stable was used as a horse and carriage boarding facility for the horses and carriages of nearby residents. The commercial livery stable served as a combination of a horse and carriage service station, taxi company, trading post, and horse and carriage parking garage. These services provided support essential to the expanding transportation network of the 19th-century city.

Entries in D.C. City Directories indicate that commercial livery stable businesses appear to have emerged just after the Civil War, and reached their peak during the 1890s when the Proctor Alley stable was built. At that time (1894), at least 78 commercial stables operated in the city. The stables were located in the prime residential areas of the period, which included Mount Vernon Square, Blagden Alley, and Logan Circle, as well as Capitol Hill and Georgetown. Predictably, the number of businesses quickly bottomed out and disappeared during the 1920s with the increasing popularity and affordability of the automobile.

Architecturally, the commercial stable building type seems to have been predominately utilitarian in appearance and was usually relegated to alley locations. Of the few examples of commercial livery stables that remain today, only two have been identified that would have equaled the Proctor Alley Livery Stable operation in size. However, both the Tally-Ho Livery Stable in Blagden Alley (within Square 368, bounded by 9th, 10th, M & N Streets, NW) and the building which has been converted to the Capitol Hill Squash and Racquet Club (North Carolina Avenue, SE) have undergone significant alterations and additions, particularly on their interior, and yield less information about the nature and operation of the 19th-century commercial livery business.

Local significance of the building:
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1994.