From: Modern Brewery Age Weekly E-Newsletter Volume 57, Number 7 February 13, 2006 Page 5 |
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Effort is ongoing to save old Heurich House in D.C. |
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AP—Christian Heurich's grandson is leading efforts to
preserve his grandfather's opulent Washington, D.C. mansion, known as the
Brewmaster's Castle. It now operates as a museum, but Heurich House
Foundation must raise almost $250,000 to keep the building from being sold
and converted to a restaurant or foreign embassy.
Christian Heurich dominated the Washington area brewing scene. He ran the brewery from 1873 until he died at 102 in 1945,'' said Gary Heurich, president of the foundation. Heurich’s Senate brand beers, ales and lagers were among the few local brands to bounce back after Repeal. ‘‘Somebody had to brew the beer for the federal workers, so this became known as the house that beer built,'' said Gary Heurich. The 12,000 square-foot, 31-room mansion resembles a Bavarian castle. Constructed of concrete and steel, with masonry interior walls, it was the first fireproof home built in the nation's capital. While the facade of the 112 year-old Victorian mansion has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1969, Gary Heurich and other preservationists are still concerned about its interior. Completed in 1894, the walls of some rooms are decorated with bronze fleur dis lis. An onyx and marble staircase leads to the second floor. Ceiling canvases, painted by craftsmen who worked at the White House and Capitol, still display their vivid pastels. Porcelain plumbing fixtures installed before the turn of the last century still glisten in the master bath. The 15 marble and onyx fireplaces in the home are framed by hand carved mantels. Their bronze-plated, cast iron fireboxes are still polished from nonuse because Christian Heurich feared fire. Three fires at his 20th Street breweries prompted him to build a fireproof brewery in 1894 on the site of what is now the Kennedy Center. The house was the home of the Historical Society of Washington from 1956 until 2003. The Heurich House Foundation arranged a five-year $5.5 million loan to prevent a restaurateur from buying the home, selling off its furnishings and turning it into a pricey DuPont Circle eatery. A $250,000 interest payment must be made by Feb. 15 to prevent default. Should the house be liquidated, it could become part of Washington's Embassy Row. Under foreign ownership, none of the landmark protections would survive, clearing the way for unrestricted changes. Gary Heurich and other supporters want to preserve the home for public use, highlighting its brewing past. ‘‘There are 80 million Joe Six-packs’ out there who drink beer, the beverage of moderation,'' said Heurich. He has been talking to the Beer Institute of America and the Brewers Association about possible industry interest in preserving the site. This is an extraordinary example of the way successful
American brewers lived when beer was a hometown business,'' said Heurich. |
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