R Street Firehouse Finds a Buyer

• July 25, 2013

by UrbanTurf Staff

931 R Street NW

A Logan Circle firehouse-turned-home on R Street has found a buyer.

931 R Street NW (map) was born as Engine House No. 7 in 1885, and went on to serve as a fire station for the city over the next 90 years. In 1940, it became Engine House No. 4, the city’s first all-black fire company.

In the 1970s, the building took on a new life when it was repurposed to manufacture harpsichords. It wasn’t until 1992 that the property was purchased by current owner Craig Kraft, an artist who used the building as a live-work space. If you have lived in Logan Circle for several years, chances are you have seen Kraft’s neon sculptures around the neighborhood.

UrbanTurf wrote about the firehouse when it was listed about a month ago for just over $2.6 million by TTR Sotheby’s International Realty. It went under contract earlier this week.

For the last 20 years, Kraft has used the ground level of the former firehouse as a studio space and the upper floors as living areas. (The property also has two, one-bedroom rental apartments.) Despite its transformation, the 6,267-square-foot home still holds on to aspects of its former life. Inside, you will find the brass fireman’s pole, wooden lockers and exposed masonry from when it was a firehouse.

Photos courtesy of Sean Shanahan.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/r_street_firehouse_finds_a_buyer/7369