About 438 Massachusetts Avenue- DC's Oldest Firehouse
Old Engine Company No. 6 served as the first firehouse of the Metropolitan Hook and Ladder Company in Washington, DC. Built in 1862, the firehouse accommodated horses with heavy equipment. Old Engine Company No. 6 also responded to some of the city's earliest historic conflagrations, such as the Smithsonian Institution Castle (1865) and the U.S. Patent Office (1877).
This firehouse reflects the professionalization of firefighters in DC. Since firehouses were private volunteer companies, local government hoped to quell rivalries between the forces. By an 1864 DC government act, the DC Fire Department consolidated stations to organize paid fire departments, transitioning from a volunteer force to a modern professional one. However, the DC Fire Department still had some volunteer staff.
Old Engine Company No. 6 occupied the building for 95 years before its decommission in 1974; until that point, it was the oldest operating firehouse in DC. In 2012, the location reopened as the Sixth Engine Restaurant. The owners sold the restaurant in 2019 when it then became Present Company Public House. "PC", as regulars like to call it, still has the same neighborhood-friendly vibe, serving craft beer, cocktails and gastropub fare. The upstairs is used as a beautiful event space where you can still see the spot in which the old fire pole was located!
DC Inventory: April 29, 1975
National Register: September 5, 1975
(info from https://historicsites.dcpreservation.org/)
