Cooke's Row

Cooke's Row represents the last phase in the efflorescence of the Italian Villa style in the heights of Georgetown. At the same time, it also is one of the few examples of the Second Empire style in the neighborhood. As a group, the row presents an irregular, picturesque silhouette in an area otherwise defined by geometric forms and many common cornice lines. Georgetown banker Henry David Cooke commissioned the group of four duplex row houses set back from the north side of Q Street. It was designed by the architectural and engineering firm of Starkweather and Plowman, which made its mark in the area with the Theological Seminary in Alexandria and several private schools and churches in Georgetown. The row included Second Empire duplexes on the ends, sandwiching two Italian Villa duplexes in the center, yielding eight units. Although in different styles, these duplexes share common spatial relationships. Changes in floor-to-ceiling heights, the extended towers and cupolas, the high chimneys, and bay windows, as well as differences in window shapes and heights, provide picturesque irregularity and variety.