Yarrow's property was sold for taxes. The tax sale occurred in the summer of 2011 and was finalized in May 2012. This isn't the first time the property had been lost in a tax sale. Yarrow's heirs lost it in 1837 for delinquent taxes. Yarrow's niece was still around then. Maybe she didn't try to save the house because she didn't have the money to pay the delinquent taxes, or maybe she didn't know her rights. But, a few years later, she sued to collect on an old loan of his and won.
Now that it is in the hands of a new owner the house appears being readied for demolition even though no application has been filed with the DC government for permission to do so. Below are three images. The first is how the house looked in April; the second is how it looked on May 10; and the third is a close up taken on the same day of the siding that has been removed and stacked to the side.
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| April 2012 |
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| May 2012 |
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| May 2012 |
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A DC Government STOP WORK ORDER was placed on the property at 1:26 pm on May 11, 2012.
ReplyDeleteViolations cited were "Partial removal of siding and the erection of a pool perimeter fence in a historic district without permit approval."
I was wondering what was happening with this property and if the burial of Yarrow Mamout was known and delineated....
ReplyDeleteYarrow's lot came under new ownership in May 2012. As I understand it, the plans are to tear down the current structure and put up a new one. Various permissions are required before this can be done. There seems little doubt: this was not the structure that Yarrow lived in. However, the brick cellar may be made of bricks that Yarrow made by hand. The yard itself could, theoretically, contain objects that he discarded, e.g. trash. As for his body, his obituary, probably written by Charles Willson Peale, said he was buried in the corner of the lot where Yarrow went to pray. Presumably, that would be the southeast corner, closest to Mecca, but it could also have been right outside his house, on the east side, or who knows? Although various technologies exist for finding a grave, nothing has been done. As yet, no one with the technical expertise to do any of these things has stepped forward.
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