Out and About - When a building this size goes co-op today, it’s news

Anyone who has traveled up 16th Street in Dupont Circle is bound to notice the wedding cake-building called the Chastleton. After a checkered history, the Chastleton became a co-operative on May 18, and many of its tenants, now owners, are beginning to enjoy windfall “profits” by selling out. One unit recently sold for roughly twice the $152,000 that the tenant paid to become an owner. Several other units, largely unrenovated, are now or soon will be on the market at prices that are rather high in the current sales environment.

The history of the edifice is perhaps worth considering. An eight-story brick, terra cotta and stone 315-unit luxury hotel-apartment building, the Chastleton was built starting in 1919. At the corner of 16th and R Streets NW in the Sixteenth Street Historic District, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was known as the largest Gothic Revival apartment building in Washington.

The building's exterior design features a double-story-height pointed arched Gothic window with terra cotta gargoyles, tracery and pseudo-buttresses. The striking Gothic motif continue inside, where the two-story main entrance lobby, lounge, ballroom and public spaces feature flagstone floors and pilasters with floral capitals. The balcony railings showcase ornate ironwork and the richly detailed plaster work ceilings were highly intricate and appropriately elaborate.

Following are major excerpts of an article the Intowner newspaper by Paul Kelsey Williams, an historic preservation specialist with Kelsey & Associates in D.C.:

For a brief period, Washington's largest apartment building, the Chastleton was built beginning for the S.W. Strauss Co. of New York City and has had a varied series of ownership ever since. Used variably as both an apartment and hotel complex, the building has also been home to many notable residents.

The building was designed by architect Philip M. Jullien as one that was only about half the size of the present day configuration, containing 155 apartments. Upon its completion in August of 1920, the owner had him immediately prepare plans for an expansion on the northern side, in effect doubling its size. Costing $1.7 million, the expanded Chastleton opened in 1921 with 310 apartments ranging from efficiencies to two bedrooms. Originally, there were a total of 2,410 distinctive casement windows that were covered with removable awnings during the summer months.

Filling a need for small, high-end apartments that had been missing until that date in Washington's even then overpriced housing market, the Chastleton was sold only months after completion to investor Felix Lake for $3 million. He, in turn, sold it at an inflated price just a year later to Alfred I. du Pont of Wilmington, Delaware. Shortly thereafter, that transaction resulted in a lawsuit claiming that Lake had also inflated the true value of the rental income. Losing the case, the du Ponts sold the building in 1923 to an owner who briefly changed its name to the "Sixteenth Street Mansions;” three owners and three years later, it was changed back to the Chastleton.

In March of 1926, prolific builder and developer Harry Wardman bought the building and operated about 25 per cent of it as a hotel. He also had a drug store established at its R Street entrance. Wardman lost the Chastleton and several other apartment buildings he owned in 1932 as a result of financial reverses brought on by the Depression.

Over the years, it was home to General Douglas McArthur, Wallis Simpson, who later became the Duchess of Windsor, and an assortment of Members of Congress and local business persons.

During World War II, the federal government proposed housing women naval officers in the building, but the nearly nightly protests of the Chastleton's 800 residents eventually persuaded officials otherwise. After the War, in 1946, the building was sold and converted into a transient hotel with 623 rooms. In 1958, it was converted back into an apartment house with a total of 309 apartments, and its popular dining room closed for good.

Owner Norman Bernstein renovated the Chastleton in 1966, removing the casement windows and installing new bathrooms, kitchens and HVAC systems. It sold in 1979 for just $4 million to developer Virginia Page, who unsuccessfully attempted to offer each resident $4,000, a then novel color television and a five-month rent subsidy in Southwest Washington if they moved out so she could convert the building into condominiums. All but 12 took the offer and stayed in the building until 1984. Two years later, she completed another total renovation in partnership with an investor group styled Interstate General of St, Charles, Maryland, and began renting apartments once again.

Two units now available for sale in the Chastleton are underwhelming and overpriced. One of them contains 518 square feet, a single bedroom, oppressive views and a small, shabby kitchen – remember, these apartments were carved out of a hotel for transients. The price is $299,900, making the cost per square foot close to $600. In a market where apartments are languishing, such a price is indefensible, though the agent suggests that the novelty of the co-op conversion of such a well located and impressive looking building can fetch a premium. In addition, the likelihood is great of a successful negotiation with a seller who is looking at considerable instant return on his or her investment.

The other unit is on the building’s second floor. It is bigger, enjoys open views and has little else to distinguish it from the fifth-floor apartment. The price: $319,000. Too much! Other properties listed by D.C. area agents and seen in the past week:

• A 750-SF one-bedroom, one-bath condo in the Park Fairfax neighborhood of Alexandria. Listed at $309,900 with a $211 condo fee, it seems a smidge overpriced for this market. The 1941 townhouse style apartment has an updated kitchen with fancy Bosch washer and dryer, an inviting living area with hardwood floors that, with many windows, looks into the private, green and flagstoned backyard. The bedroom is a decent size, but the non-existent closets would have any clothes horse running in the opposite direction. It would be to the seller's advantage, after more than 20 days on the market, to lower his asking price to a kinder sounding $299,000.
  
• A 14-unit condominium in Logan Circle with two units for sale. The one-bedroom apartment on the tippity top floor – three long flights – has had many attractive added touches, including a compact new maple and granite kitchen, white-on-white bath with granite, recessed lighting, walk-in closet, plasma TV, central air conditioning, three skylights, a very pleasant deck and all the charm of an aerie in the sky. With two years paid parking down the block, this 609-SF condo is too expensive at $454,900 with a $245 monthly fee that excludes anything costly. The first-floor apartment features a three-window bay, 11-foot ceilings, custom built-ins, working fireplace, garage parking, an impossibly small and discordantly designed kitchen, and needless extra molding in the living room, yet the appearance of a comfortable space. The 682-SF apartment is listed at $474,900 with a $277 monthly fee. It should be $15,000 or $20,000 less.
  
• In Dupont Circle, a two-bedroom, one-bath condo in a handsome pet-friendly building with a swimming pool. The second bedroom of this 924-SF corner apartment is barely a bedroom but would do as such; it is separated from the living room by added doors. Bright and sunny, the unit has a new and very attractive open kitchen, in-unit washer/dryer, oak floors, good closets, granite in the roomy bath, and the possibility of purchasing a garage parking space for $45,000. It is listed at a reduced price of $540,000 with a $400 monthly fee that excludes utilities and the extra $32 fee for parking. For such a condo in such a location, the price is just a tad high.
  
• A Mount Pleasant attached rowhouse with a spacious and appealing in-law suite, a total of six bedrooms and three and a half baths in its four levels, a hefty climb to the front door, decently updated kitchen, detached two-car garage, lovely hardwood floors upstairs and original ones in need of refinishing downstairs, plus a finished attic with skylight that is not uninviting as an office, despite the low head clearance. Facing Rock Creek Park, this home suffers from having just one bath to be shared by the three bedrooms on the second floor. Still, at $875,000, this home represents good value, even if it is not a bargain.
  
• In Shaw, a brand new semi-detached home of puzzling design and disconcerting proximity to a large, currently vacant lot. Dripping with style, this home has three bedrooms, two and a half baths, parking for two cars, a six-burner Dacor gas stove, flagstone patio, gas fireplace, good closet space and an unfinished basement with plumbing. What it doesn’t have is sensible flow: Entry is into a small sitting area, then down a long dark hall equipped with a built-in desk and finally into the open kitchen with dining and living areas beyond. The upstairs layout is similarly awkward, but perhaps finishing such as granite, high ceilings, tall custom windows, beautiful tiled baths and trendy exterior design compensate for the property’s deficits, at least for some buyers. The asking price of $799,000 is more or less within reason, all things considered.
  
• An attached turn-of-the-century rowhouse on a quite block in Kalorama Triangle. This home shows extremely well, thanks to its sensitive renovation, which features a top-of-the-line kitchen, small parlor, home office and good-size dining room on the main floor with access to an agreeable deck, patio and two parking spaces. An airy and welcoming living room with fireplace, high ceilings and a wall of built-ins was created on the second floor, which also has a bedroom, wet bar and a full bath with tumbled limestone flooring. On the third floor, find the master suite with black and white ceramic tile, frameless shower door and separate whirlpool. The basement apartment is under-rented at $1,200 a month. Appraised one and a half years ago at $1.4 million, before all the work was done, the house is listed not unreasonably at $1.695 million.
  
• In Columbia Heights, A two-bedroom, two bath renovated rowhouse with not enough space to make comfortable. Entry is into a small living room and open center-island kitchen, to which the eye travels immediately, transforming the main level into one medium-size kitchen. Outside is a sunken patio; that is, it is deep, narrow and surrounded by walls. The upstairs has the bedrooms and one of the two baths, which boasts white wainscoting floor to ceiling. The lower level, which has almost a full kitchen and Mexican tile floor, doesn’t have any logical place to array much more furniture than a table and chairs or perhaps just a bed. Another issue is the nearby street corner, where an all-night little grocery store attracts loiterers even in daylight. As a condo alternative, maybe someone will think the residence is worth the $565,000 asking price. However, that’s a someone in need of therapy.
  
• A condo in Springfield, Virginia listed at $315,000. This two-bedroom, one-bath, two-level unit in Cardinal Forest is an attractive end unit with a newly remodeled kitchen and new floors throughout the main level. The upstairs has the standard layout of two smaller bedrooms and the home's only bath. Its inviting private and fenced-in patio suggest barbeques and parties with friends. The condo fee of $237/month covers all the usual things as well as the condo association's pools, tennis and basketball courts. This almost 1,000-SF apartment is well priced, so it is surprising that it has lingered on the market for more than a month.
  
• In Brookland, a 26-unit condo conversion that has been marketed for more than a year, with fewer than half now under contract. These mostly one-bedroom, one-bath apartments feature hardwood floors, decent closet space, in-unit washer-dryers, modern kitchens with okay appliances, travertine tile floors in the baths, and no parking. Their reduced prices range between $199,500 and $269,500 with $5,000 closing credit, and their modesty suggests starter apartments for any buyer who is not expecting wide open spaces or looking to wow visitors.
  
• A U Street Corridor townhouse in an ersatz old complex with three bedrooms and two and a half baths on three levels. The open floor plan on the main floor is welcoming, there is an attached garage, and the kitchen is modern. What this home lacks is a décor that will appeal to a wide market, furnished in retro style and painted in impossibly vivid colors. Can you spell kaleidoscope? Another problem is its location, which has the front door facing a blank brick wall, and its entry on the lower floor to the living area via a space commonly used as an office and as access to the garage. All in the all, the price of $685,000 is unrealistic.
  
• On Capitol Hill near the Southeast Expressway, too near that noisy highway for some sensibilities, an 11-unit condo conversion aimed at the entry market. These small but stylish units are priced at least $35,000 too high, between $379,000 and $399,000, and given layouts that make most of the living rooms into nothing more than big kitchen and enough closet space for only a few shirts or skirts. Really! Go figure.
  
• An irrepressibly charming little attached rowhouse in Dupont Circle with just two bedrooms, one and a half baths and two parking spaces. This handsomely renovated home has just two levels with basement storage, small but pretty rear and front yards, a kitchen with high-end appliances, including Viking stove and a true exhaust fan, and a cute bath with a tub painted red, appealingly. It should go under contract for more than its $699,000 asking price.