Engine Company No. 20 was the first major public structure built in Tenleytown in 1900. At the time, Tenleytown was at the edge of Washington, DC's development. Soon after, the nearby residential subdivisions of Armsleigh Park (1892) and American University Park (1897) expanded. The firehouse signaled the absorption of the former crossroads settlement into a growing neighborhood and the eventual development of the community.
Designed by architect Leon Dessez (1858-1918), Engine Company No. 20 is Italianate Revival in style. The façade has glazed buff brick with overhanging scrolled eaves, a terra cotta tile roof, and an expressed hose tower. With the addition of a one-story annex by Snowden Ashford (1866-1927), Engine Company No. 20 became the second motorized station in the city in 1913.
DC Inventory: February 7, 2002
]]>The Western Union Telegraph Company Tenley Radio Terminal is a landmark in engineering history. Built between 1945 and 1947, it served as a transmission and receiving station in an experimental radio relay triangle connecting New York, Philadelphia, DC, and Pittsburgh, inaugurating the first use of microwave radio for commercial communications. The system was an experimental one, intended to replace a century-old wire telegraphy network, and it continued in use for national security communications during the Cold War. Designed by DC architect Leon Chatelain Jr. (1902-1979), the terminal is an early and rare example of an architect-designed transmission tower. Western Union used the tower as an icon for modern communications systems in its advertising. The building’s design owes something to lingering Art Deco and Moderne styles of the 1940s and 1950s, but its restraint of detail suggests its utilitarian nature. The installation also includes a two-level poured-in-place concrete battery and engine room. DC Inventory: May 22, 2008National Register: May 21, 2004
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