Preservation Online: Today's News Archives: D.C. Brewer's House in Hot Water

From Preservation Online, the online magazine of the National Trust for Historic Preservation

www.preservationonline.org

D.C. Brewer's House in Hot Water

Story by Allison Firestone / Feb. 9, 2006

Although the Brewmaster's Castle in Washintgon, D.C., the most intact late-Victorian house museum in the country, is in the throes of a financial crisis, its builder's grandson, Gary Heurich, remains optimistic that he can save the mansion from foreclosure in less than a week.

The Heurich House Foundation, chaired by Heurich, has turned the publicly owned building into a self-sustaining business through tours, rentals, and special events. But its loan's interest rate, which has risen from 4.25% to 7.25% in the past two years, has exceeded the foundation's budget. To avoid foreclosure, the group must pay the bank $250,000 by Feb. 15 for its default from missed interest payments. "The real tragedy would be the loss of the interior to the public," Heurich says.

Although the 31-room mansion is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, its ornate, original interior is not protected. Heurich fears that it could be purchased by a restaurant or converted to an embassy, which would be exempt from protecting the building's exterior.

Last Saturday about 200 people lined up around the corner to tour the 1894 poured-concrete, reinforced-steel mansion—the city's first fireproof residence. As of Monday, the foundation had raised $30,000 from personal donations and larger efforts from the National Trust and Cultural Tourism DC, an organization that seeks to bring tourists to the city's non-federal landmarks.

The Brewmaster's Castle was the home of German immigrant Christian Heurich, who resided there until his death at age 102. In October 1872 Heurich and a partner purchased a brewery one block south of his home. Over the next 10 years, he expanded the business into the largest brewery in the city. The home remained in the family until Gary Heurich's mother donated it to the Historical Society of Washington following her death in the 1950s. It remained an office for the organization until 2003, when Heurich and his cousin Jan Evans Houser borrowed money to purchase the mansion, saving it from being put on the real-estate market. They formed the not-for-profit foundation to keep the castle's interior intact and open to visitors.

If it secures ownership of the mansion, the foundation plans to mount a restoration effort. "It's going to be extraordinarily dramatic," Heurich says. "I hope I live to see that."