The building we now know as Del Ray Pizzeria has a long and distinguished history in Del Ray. In 1908, Robert Yates graduated from George Washington University Medical School and launched construction on 2216 Mt. Vernon Ave, using the first floor in his new role as town doctor, and the second as his residence. An interest in politics led to his election to the town council in 1922. He won the mayoral election in 1924 on the “law and order” ticket, although this referred primarily to unstinting enforcement of the 18-mph speed limit against passing residents of neighboring cities. His most notable accomplishment was the replacement of the old wood fire house with a new brick combination town hall and fire house. He was not to see it completed, however, as he had finally succumbed to nephritis (a form of kidney disease) in July 1925, aged 61. As the children moved out, his widow Gertrude was left alone in a large house.

 

The final departure was marked by the marriage of daughter Frances in September 1931. In what must have been a bittersweet event, the ceremony took place at the house she had grown up in on Mt. Vernon Avenue; in the absence of her father, she was given away by her brother Robert, and the ceremony was presided over by Rev. O.C. Beall, who had married her parents 30 years earlier.

Gertrude eventually moved out as well, selling it in 1937 to real estate investors Michael and Joanna Barry for their office and home. They quickly enclosed the front porch to increase office space at the inevitable cost to aesthetics.

 

By the early 1940s, they had become a power realty couple as investors and realtors to the north and west of Old Town. Michael’s health went into decline in the 1950s, and he was finally felled by a massive heart attack at home in July 1957. Joanna, notable for her German accent, continued her energetic style until retirement in 1987. She sold the building as two undivided half-interests, including one to Graph Tech, Inc., who erected the single-story brick extension on the north side. Both half-interests were sold in 2010 to house the new Del Ray Pizzeria.