A Wall (Yes, a Wall) Has Hit The Market In Georgetown

• July 16th 2023

by UrbanTurf Staff

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In 1992, Martin Berger acquired a number of properties around DC, including a peculiar one in Georgetown. The property was a lone red wall near the corner of 30th and M Street NW (map), according to his son, Allan. Now, the wall is up for sale. 

"He wanted to be able to say he owned property in Georgetown," Allan Berger told UrbanTurf.

When a rowhouse is torn down, occasionally a wall is left standing. Demising walls are partitions that separate one tenant space from another. Because this type of wall usually separates adjacent properties, there are instances where the wall is not owned by either property owner. And that was the scenario for the red wall in Georgetown. 

In the early years of ownership, Allan Berger said that Perpetual Bank along M Street NW helped preserve the wall. As the years went by and the bank changed ownership several times, that arrangement went away. 

When Berger inherited the wall following his father's death, he offered it to friends as a canvas for artistic murals. He also unsuccessfully attempted to sell the wall to the owner of the adjacent 30th Street home. 

The eventual buyer is probably someone that would want to use the wall for artistic or advertising purposes. However, any uses of that nature would need go before the Old Georgetown Board. 

UrbanTurf will monitor the property to see if anyone bites at its current $50,000 asking price. 

Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that Martin Berger acquired the wall via a tax lien auction in 1972. As 20002ist researched and discovered on Twitter, Berger actually purchased the wall from the owner, along with a number of other properties around the city, in 1992. 

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/a_wall_yes_a_wall_has_hit_the_market_in_georgetown/21259.