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Trump Campaign

Derek and Vee

The outside of this three-story limestone building, in D.C.'s Chinatown neighborhood, is decidedly sober, despite the wine and liquor store in its street-level storefront. Passersby might never guess that the interior is anything but ordinary.

Constructed as a residence in 1910, the building, at 475 H St. NW, was converted into office space in the mid-1970s, and at one time, it housed the District of Columbia Lung Association.

A couple bought the building in 2005 and turned the upper floors back into residential space. They handed the design reigns to D.C. architect Robert M. Gurney.

The building is attached on both sides and had just six windows, all on the facade, which made for a dark and dreary interior. Gurney resolved that problem largely by cutting out sections of roof and top floor to create a large skylight that soaks the interior in natural light. He also added windows to the rear of the building, which faces an alley, to bring in more light.

“That’s what I think really transforms the space,” owner Keith Horvath said. “Otherwise it would basically be a dark shoebox.”

The industrial-style renovation added blue epoxy flooring, exposed brick walls, walkway bridges over the skylight openings and a three-story galvanized-steel wall. It won an American Housing Award in 2011 from the American Institute of Architects.

The column explores the most interesting properties for sale in the D.C. area. Is there a listing we should know about? <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/03/07/submissions-house-of-the-week/" target=_blank>Tell us here</a>.

The former owners, who ran <a href="https://dc.eater.com/2019/10/2/20895694/chinatown-coffee-company-closing-dc" target="_blank">Chinatown Coffee Co.</a> from the storefront, listed the building in 2019. Horvath and his wife, Catherine, had toured other Gurney-designed properties, in the suburbs, but hoped to move downtown. And Keith had saved a Zillow listing for this property years before they bought it.

Since the Horvaths bought the building, they’ve rented the storefront to H Street Fine Wine &amp; Liquors, and they’ve renovated parts of the residence. Most of the residence is unchanged, but some bathrooms were modernized, and the kitchen was updated with steel reclaimed from commercial kitchens.

The most personal addition was made to a half-wall on a rooftop deck. Keith Horvath, a self-described “recovering cardiac surgeon” and painter, looked at the wall and saw a canvas. In a salute to the neighborhood, he painted a Mandarin idiom on it: “Persistence can change even steel rods into sewing needles.” Next to the idiom is a graffiti-styled sutured heart — a nod to Horvath’s former profession.

The entrance to the residence opens to a living room soaked in natural light from the glass roof three stories above. At the front of the house, a sitting room has a wood-burning fireplace with a built-in wood-storage nook and recently upgraded windows. The kitchen has stainless-steel Miele and Sub-Zero appliances and a steel island. At the rear of the main level, a media room with frosted windows is separated from the kitchen by the reclaimed steel wall.

Upstairs and over a bridge walkway, a flex space under the skylight could become a reading nook or an office. A sliding steel door opens to the primary bedroom suite, which includes a steam shower in the en suite bathroom. Two other bedrooms share a full bathroom. This floor also has a laundry room.

The top floor connects two rooftop decks at the front and back of the home. One is accessed by retractable garage doors. The space between the decks was recently upgraded with ipe Brazilian wood flooring.

The Horvaths are selling the entire building, the residence and the street-level storefront with 1,320 square feet of retail space. The storefront is under contract.

Keith Horvath remembers moving here as an easy choice.

“When we saw this, the design really struck us as ‘this is a place that would accomplish our goal: moving to the city, and having a really interesting, unique place to live,’” he said. “It made the decision not that complicated.”

<b>Features</b>: The upper floors of the 1910 building were renovated from office space back to residential space in the 2000s by a prominent D.C. architect. It now has a storefront and the residence, which has a big skylight. The property comes with two off-site parking spots.

<b>Listing agent</b>: <a href="https://jennsmira.com/ppc-search-ads-general-campaign/?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyJuXw-L6iQMV5l1HAR3F-DE_EAAYASAAEgKC_vD_BwE" target=_blank>Jenn Smira</a> and <a href="https://www.compass.com/agents/marc-ross/" target=_blank>Marc Ross</a>, Compass Realty

American University, BA in Journalism and Political Science

Sophia Solano is an editorial aide and freelance writer for fine arts and pop culture at The Washington Post. Before joining The Post, she worked with NBC4 Washington and Voice of America Student Union.

Sophia Solano

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