Mrs. McCain’s Parlor

Abstract

A housing restoration trend—called “brownstoning” in New York, and urban pioneering or the back-to-the-city trend in other cities—had a noticeable impact in several major U.S. cities from the late 1950s onwards. Nowhere was the trend more influential than Washington, D.C. In key “intown” residential areas such as Georgetown, Capitol Hill, and Dupont Circle, the popularity of housing restoration was catalyzed by a very active set of neighborhood preservation and restoration groups. Focusing on the Capitol Hill area, this paper explores the organizational and publicity apparatus that drove the restoration process as well as the cultural politics and racial tension that accompanied it.