Harry Wardman

Harry Wardman (April 11, 1872–March 18, 1938) was a real estate developer in Washington, D.C. during the early 20th century whose developments included landmark hotels, luxury apartment buildings, and many rowhouses. When he died in 1938, one-tenth of the residents of Washington were said to live in a Wardman-built home.

Born in Bradford, England in 1872 (the 1900 federal census - Washington, D.C. - says he was born April 1869), Wardman was the son of English textile workers. In 1889, at age 17, he arrived in New York City, where he worked in a department store. He later moved to Philadelphia, where he worked at the Wanamaker's department store and met his wife, Mary Hudson. They had one daughter, Alice. In 1898, he apprenticed himself to a local carpenter to learn construction. By 1900, Wardman was widowed. In 1902, Wardman moved to Washington, D.C., where he worked as a carpenter, learned to build staircases, and soon got into building homes and apartments. In 1908, he married Lillian Glascox. Harry and Lillian had one daughter, Helen.

Wardman built many of the city's rowhouses, especially in the neighborhoods of Columbia Heights, Bloomingdale, Eckington and Fort Stevens Ridge. Wardman’s first houses, designed by architect Nicholas Grimm, were located at the 900 block of Longfellow Street, NW. To this day, his homes are renowned for their high-quality construction and materials. In 1907, he embarked on a project to build 750 rowhouses in Columbia Heights, which included new design elements, most notably the front porch. Some of his design ideas were copied by the dozens of other developers — Lewis Brueninger, Harry Kite, Francis Blundon, David Dunigan, and others — who built massive rows of townhouses in the District.

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