Lately I've been working on a HUGE project - sorting through at least 500 photographs (mostly snapshots) of my husband Mark, mostly from his first 15 years. Naturally, almost none of the photos are labeled or dated. I've been sorting them into groups based on numbers stamped on the backs of some (indicating they were processed at the same time), type of paper and processing used, and clues in the photos based on location, other people in the photo, and a guess on my husband's age at the time.
With the snowstorm we had a week ago, the only two pictures with snow caught my eye. Mark lived most of his early life in Corpus Christi, Texas; Myrtle Grove, Florida; and Guam - but his family did spend almost two of the World War II years in the Washington, D. C. area. His father Francis Edward Gresham (1911-1990) enlisted in the Navy on April 13, 1944, and was sent to work as a negative engraver and cameraman at the Naval Hydrographic Office in the Washington, D.C. area. During that time, the family lived at 4613 Lewis Avenue SE, Apartment D. Francis was released from military service in January 1946, and the family moved back to Corpus Christi.
Here's Mark playing outside what was probably the family's apartment during the winter of 1944-45, or late in 1945. I'm thinking it was probably the latter, as he looks more like he is age four rather than three. This was probably the first, and perhaps the only, time that he saw snow as a child.
I tried to map 4613 Lewis Avenue SE in Washington, DC, but there was no such location. When I tried just mapping the address in the DC area, I got a hit for an area in Suitland, Maryland - but the building was gone.
The photo of Mark below, processed in September 1945, had another building in the background that proved helpful in figuring out where this was. Notice the thick white framing around the door of that building, and the three rows of three window panes each in the door itself. You can see the bottom row in the photos above.
An article about Suitland at the United States Census Bureau website stated that "The Suitland Manor apartments, directly across Suitland Road from the Federal Center [where the Census Bureau is located], were built in 1942 in anticipation of an influx of federal workers. Parkway Terrace, off Silver Hill Road at Suitland Parkway was built five years later." Although Parkway Terrace was a bit closer to where Francis worked (more on that in a bit), it was not constructed until after the Gresham family moved back to Texas.
An article in the June 14, 1942, New York Times, section RE, page 6, called "BUILDS 650 SUITES NEAR WASHINGTON; Minskoff Will Open Suitland Manor About Aug. 1," stated that "An extensive garden apartment project by Sam Minskoff Sons, New York builders, called Suitland Manor is nearing completion in suburban Washington, on Suitland Road, Prince George's County, Md., for occupancy August 1."
Below is a photograph of the back side of a Suitland Manor four-unit apartment building. Mark says this looks like what he remembers.
Over the years since World War II, the 142 four-unit two-story brick buildings of Suitland Manor deteriorated. In 1993-1995, an effort was made to renovate five of the buildings, but they were ultimately sold to Prince George's County in 2000. A photo from that time period was what helped me determine the Greshams lived in Suitland Manor - the door is very similar to the door in the photos with Mark, and the address number on this building is 4701, close to 4813. A comparison of the front doors in these three photos is below.
Beginning in the early 2000s, the Redevelopment Authority of Prince George's County began acquiring properties in Suitland Manor, along Homer Avenue (now Towne Park Road), Huron Avenue, Hudson Avenue (now Towne Square Boulevard), Lewis Avenue, and Chelsea Way. The acquisition, totaling 22 acres, was complete in 2007. The tenants were relocated and all buildings were demolished (from page 6, image 9). This area is slated for new housing and other development.
Suitland Manor was located just across the road from the Suitland Federal Center, a 437-acre parcel acquired by the federal government in 1942 for offices needed in the war effort. Federal Office Building No. 3 (the large maroon one in the upper right corner in the 1986 map pictured below) was the first one built, and the U.S. Census Bureau was the first occupant, in spring 1942. Suitland Road runs across the top (north side) of this map, and Silver Hill Road runs along the right (east) side of the map. Suitland Manor was just northwest of the intersection of Suitland and Silver Hill roads.
Above: Map of the Suitland Federal Center in 1986. United States Bureau Of The Census. (1986) Suitland Federal Center ; Washington metropolitan area and vicinity. [Suitland, Md.?: U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of the Census] [Map] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/87693177/.
Below: Closeup of the northeast corner of the same map pictured above. Of the buildings pictured here, only the historic 1937 Suitland House still stands. Other buildings have been replaced by newer ones.
So what about the NIC-1? The Navy Hydrographic Office Building, later known as the Naval Intelligence Command Building or NIC-1, was completed in 1942. Originally it housed staff involved in underwater charting and naval aerial photography. Various Navy functions continued in the building until it was demolished in the early 1990s. The building is the pinkish one in the maps above that is on the far right, just below the large FB-3 (Federal Office Building #3), fronting on Silver Hill Road.
The building was originally a three story, flat-roofed brick building, 338 feet long, with 298-foot wings at each end. By 1943, a two-story wing was added on the back side between the other two wings, forming an irregular E-shape viewed from above. The building looked pretty much the same in 1944 as it did in May, 1991, when the photos below were taken (except of course for the sign above the entrance). The building was demolished soon afterward.
Photos above (front, northwest elevation) and below (main entrance) from May 1991 by Karen Schneebaum, from PG:75A-23: Naval Intelligance Command I (NIC), the Individual Property/District Maryland Historical Trust Internal NR [National Register of Historic Places] Eligibility Review Form.
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