This Week’s Find: A Bridge in Brookland

• October 22, 2014

by UrbanTurf Staff

When Richard Senerchia moved into a four-bedroom Brookland Victorian back in 1977, there was but a large wood stove to heat the whole home.

“I raised seven kids in this house, and aside from a few space heaters, the house was heated by the stove,” Senerchia told UrbanTurf, noting that none of the bedrooms were heated.

Last year, central heat was installed, adding what is likely the missing piece to a remarkable looking home.

The green Victorian is somewhere between a farmhouse and a home that you might find near Bourbon Street in New Orleans. It’s first owners added on a third room to the back of the house, as well as a third story, but it wasn’t until Senerchia bought the property in 1973 that the real renovation started.

The transformation began with replacing the foundation, the removal of some of the interior walls and a first floor bath addition. Senerchia moved in four years after he purchased the home, and continued other renovations over the years, including an expansion of the second floor, rebuilding the home’s brick patio, and reconstructing the very cool looking bridge that leads into the home’s main level.

“The home always had a bridge, but it had to be torn down shortly after we moved in and we rebuilt it in the 1980s,” Senerchia said. “The front door of the house is actually on the lower level. The bridge leads to a large family room.”

The listing has a whopping 33 windows that look out onto a massive yard where Senerchia’s late wife tended to cherry trees, peach trees and apricot trees as well as numerous vegetable beds.

Now retired, Senerchia, a former organist at the Naval Academy who remembers when Colonel Brooks Tavern opened as the first restaurant in the neighborhood, is looking for something a little bit smaller.

“I am living alone and this is a lot more house than I need, but it will be a great home for whoever buys it.”

Here are the details:

• Full Listing: 1351 Otis Street NE (map)
• Price: $775,000
• Bedrooms: Four
• Bathrooms: Three
• Year Built: 1890
• Listing Agent: Jacob Abbott, Prudential PenFed Realty

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/this_weeks_find_a_bridge_in_brookland/9124