William Wuerdemann Residence

"From 1836 to 1849, the German immigrant William Wuerdemann (1811-1900) was the Chief Mechanician of the U.S. Coast Survey, Cluss's first employer in Washington. In 1849, Wuerdemann started his own business as a Mathematical and Optical Instrument Manufacturer, but stayed in close contact with the Coast Survey. When Wuerdemann asked Cluss to design this row house located just northwest of the Capitol, he was already in his seventies and retired. Two years later, Wuerdemann built two more houses at 10-12 B Street. All three houses were around the corner from Wuerdemann's own house at 204 Delaware Avenue NE. Other members of the family owned nearby houses at 200 and 206-210 Delaware Avenue. Wuerdemann also owned a house in Dresden and a schooner. All of Wuerdemann's Washington houses were demolished around 1910 to make way for park land and a Senate office building."