Shelley Dziedzic
Member
Paul, here's the house. It was for sale in this photo I took back in 1992 I think it was. I'll try to hunt up the street address.
Shelley Dziedzic
Member
Oh! THAT sort of address. Do you mean The Truth About the Titanic? A copy was on ebay last week and only went for 50 dollars. Dover Press has a cheap paperback reprint in a survivor collection of personal recountings.
Darren Honeycutt
Member
His place looks run down. Must be in a bad part of Washington. I remember how shocked I was to see how bad our capitol looked being a first time visitor back in 1997. You wouldn't think slums would be allowed in our capitol city.
David F. Smith
Member
Indeed. But where would the blue collar working class live? Even the most powerful city in the nation requires minimum wage workers to keep all that marble and granite clean.
I know what you mean though. Many white collar workers live out in the suburbs because they cannot afford nice housing in the city. Yet the poorest of workers live in slums close to the Capital.
You'd think investors would buy up the slums, tear down the blighted buildings and put up beautiful townhouses for the well heeled Government staff. But where do you push the poor to? They end up creating new low income areas in the outlying towns.
The Gracie house in that photo doesn't look too bad. With a restoration it would sell for over a Million US dollars in the right DC neighborhood.
I know what you mean though. Many white collar workers live out in the suburbs because they cannot afford nice housing in the city. Yet the poorest of workers live in slums close to the Capital.
You'd think investors would buy up the slums, tear down the blighted buildings and put up beautiful townhouses for the well heeled Government staff. But where do you push the poor to? They end up creating new low income areas in the outlying towns.
The Gracie house in that photo doesn't look too bad. With a restoration it would sell for over a Million US dollars in the right DC neighborhood.
David F. Smith
Member
Dover Press released a hard cover version too that has Gracies story as well as Beesley, Lightoler and Bride.
Look for "The Story of the Titanic"
Edited by Jack Winocour.
ISBN : 0-486-20610-6
Look for "The Story of the Titanic"
Edited by Jack Winocour.
ISBN : 0-486-20610-6
Dave Gittins
Member
Isn't there a version of The Truth About the Titanic that includes a final chapter added by an editor? The book as published by Dover just ends abruptly, with no summing up.
David F. Smith
Member
The Dover hard cover edition I bought new in 1992 just has a preface by the editor. And that is dated 1960. Oddly there is no date in the front stating when this edition was released.
This book was actually ordered by my local bookstore by mistake. I had ordered a different Titanic book and they somehow got this one instead. It has no dust jacket, just a plain red cover with no illustration or title. Just the name on the book spine. When I opened it up and saw that it was the 1960 Dover book of survivor stories I quickly told them I'd buy it. LOL.
You'd swear it was a mint condition left over from 1960 since it has no other date in the front of it and the old fashioned cover. But in the back it has a listing of other Dover books forsale and some are of events that happened after 1960.
This book was actually ordered by my local bookstore by mistake. I had ordered a different Titanic book and they somehow got this one instead. It has no dust jacket, just a plain red cover with no illustration or title. Just the name on the book spine. When I opened it up and saw that it was the 1960 Dover book of survivor stories I quickly told them I'd buy it. LOL.
You'd swear it was a mint condition left over from 1960 since it has no other date in the front of it and the old fashioned cover. But in the back it has a listing of other Dover books forsale and some are of events that happened after 1960.
Martin Williams
Member
Does the Gracie house look run-down? It doesn't strike me as looking particularly shabby, although it is hard to tell from the small photograph kindly supplied by Shelley.
I have never visited Washington, so am in no position to comment on the prices properties in the smarter areas of that city might command, but I am typing this from my desk at a plush Sloane Square estate agency and can safely assert that, if the equivalent of a house of this size came up for sale in Knightsbridge, Mayfair, Fulham or Chelsea, it would go for well in excess of two or three million pounds.
Perhaps Shelley could provide us with her impressions of the neighbourhood? She has, after all, visited the house in person. Colonel Gracie was a wealthy and well-connected gentleman. I find it doubtful that he would have chosen to live in a seedy location - although it is conceivable that his street or block may have come down in the world since 1912...
I have never visited Washington, so am in no position to comment on the prices properties in the smarter areas of that city might command, but I am typing this from my desk at a plush Sloane Square estate agency and can safely assert that, if the equivalent of a house of this size came up for sale in Knightsbridge, Mayfair, Fulham or Chelsea, it would go for well in excess of two or three million pounds.
Perhaps Shelley could provide us with her impressions of the neighbourhood? She has, after all, visited the house in person. Colonel Gracie was a wealthy and well-connected gentleman. I find it doubtful that he would have chosen to live in a seedy location - although it is conceivable that his street or block may have come down in the world since 1912...
David F. Smith
Member
Martin,
Many US cities have neighborhoods that were once the "Millionaire row" lined with mansions and are now in a less than desirable area.
Many of those mansions were torn down long ago. Hartford's Washington Street was once lined with beautiful grand homes. Mark Twain (a Hartford Resident) once called it the most beautiful city he knew. Today Washington Street is all commercial buildings. Only one grand home still stands, its lawn paved over to be a parking lot, as the home is now in use as a business.
Fortunately the Mark Twain house was saved and is now a museum.
So the Gracie home could certainly today be in a "pre-redevelopement" area as they call it now.
Many US cities have neighborhoods that were once the "Millionaire row" lined with mansions and are now in a less than desirable area.
Many of those mansions were torn down long ago. Hartford's Washington Street was once lined with beautiful grand homes. Mark Twain (a Hartford Resident) once called it the most beautiful city he knew. Today Washington Street is all commercial buildings. Only one grand home still stands, its lawn paved over to be a parking lot, as the home is now in use as a business.
Fortunately the Mark Twain house was saved and is now a museum.
So the Gracie home could certainly today be in a "pre-redevelopement" area as they call it now.
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