There were many ways to reimagine the open-concept loft of a former carriage house into a more traditional home. The owners of this Logan Circle alley house could have put up walls, sectioned off a bedroom and a dining room, put in a gym or library or artist studio or bar or radio booth.
“I kind of assumed that they would move in and renovate and make it something totally different,” said Kerry Adams, the sellers’ real estate agent in both their 2003 acquisition of this property and its current nearly $2 million listing. “And when they called me to list it 20-something years later, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was much the way they bought it.”
The first floor is a studio apartment with thick masonry walls, exposed beams, original 1899 wood floors and high, sloped ceilings. The second-story loft, with roughly 2,000 square feet, stretches almost the length of the building. A kitchen with floating metal shelves bisects the unit, which the current owners have sectioned off into an office space with exposed brick walls on one end and a combined living room and bedroom on the other; a curtain separates the sleeping area. The space receives natural light from large windows, hayloft doors and a skylight.
Outside, a detached flex room off a covered courtyard was used by previous owners as a music room and meditation space. The garage has room for three vehicles and has an EV charging unit.
In Washington, most carriage houses are in the oldest parts of the city, such as Capitol Hill or Georgetown. Almost all in the city were renovated into something that, on the inside, resembled a typical single-family home. Few have remained open spaces.
“I don’t think you’ll find anything like this anywhere,” Adams said. “Not in D.C., not in the greater D.C. area, and really, it’s hard to find anything like this anywhere in the country.”
Naylor Court is part of a historic district that includes Blagden Alley, the neighboring alley block that houses some of the city’s notable drinking and dining establishments, including Death & Co. and the Michelin-starred Dabney. Now on the market for the first time since 2003, 1315 Naylor Ct. NW has a compelling history of its own.
It was built at the turn of the 20th century by Nicholas Haller, a prolific architect of Victorians in Logan Circle and prominent blocks and buildings throughout the District (including a Romanesque revival on F Street NW that later housed the Spy Museum). E.J Adams, a grocer, later used the carriage house as a commercial stable. The company’s name remains on the brick exterior and was refurbished by a previous owner, according to the seller.
The building was at separate times used as a moving company warehouse, a metal sculptor’s studio and, possibly, an illegal liquor establishment as evidenced by a still discovered there, according to the seller. It had two stints as an auto repair shop and one as a woodworking company that produced artificial limbs during World War II.
The listing has several virtually reimagined photos because Adams “thought the buyer could be anybody.” The living space was reimagined with a luxury kitchen; the flex room became a movie theater. A buyer could even add that radio booth — or, realistically, that podcast studio.
“This is the type of property that somebody might not even be looking to move and they’re going to see this and go, ‘Wow, I would move for that,’” she said. “It doesn’t fit the traditional mold, so we’ve had to come up with some creative ways to market it.”
$1,995,000
1315 Naylor Ct. NW, Washington
- Bedrooms/bathrooms: 2/2
- Approximate square footage: 4,400
- Listing agent: Kerry Adams, Compass
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