You Must Remember…the Developers Who Built Today’s Washington

“It’s Been an Amazing Change”

Perhaps the biggest change in Washington since 1965 has been its landscape. What once was a region where people lived and worked in or close to the District has spread out, while the city itself has been transformed in ways few could have imagined five decades ago. While many real-estate developers had a hand in making Washington what it is to-day, here are a few, including Giuseppe Cecchi, Robert E. Simon Jr., Oliver T. Carr Jr., Theodore Lerner, Milton Peterson, and Joseph Gildenhorn.

Cecchi: “I don’t think I had the vision of what was happening. I don’t think anyone did. I came in the 1960s, when Washington was a sleepy city. It started developing into an international metropolis. It’s been a great experience to live through. In 50 years, it’s been an amazing change. It won’t happen like that, I don’t think, in the next 50.”

Sherri Dalphonse

Executive Editor

Sherri Dalphonse joined Washingtonian in 1986. She is the editor in charge of such consumer topics as travel, fitness, health, finance, and beauty, as well as the editor who handles such cover stories as Great Places to Work, Best of Washington, Day Trips, Hidden Gems, Bikes and Hikes, Fairs and Festivals, Great Small Towns, and the Washington Bucket List. She lives in Arlington.