Phillips Row: The First Upper Middle Class Housing in Dupont Circle
By 1878, real estate, the price of building materials, and labor costs were at record lows due to economic deflation and were feared to go even lower. But a Washington lawyer, railroad manager, and entrepreneur, Samuel Louis Phillips, had faith that the economy was bound for a recovery. Phillips purchased 170 feet of frontage on Connecticut between the British Legation and William Galt’s house between 1302 and 1314 Connecticut Avenue from Thomas Sunderland, a member of the Pacific Syndicate. Just a five years before, Sunderland had sold the southern half of the same block to the British Legation.
Phillips hoped to attract investors by hiring former Board of Public Works architect Adolf Cluss to design a speculative row of town houses on the lots. As Cluss had previous designed Shepherd's Row and William Stewart's "Castle," having Cluss also design these houses would help make them attractive. For Phillip, Cluss designed seven fine fo…
