Posts tagged Historic Preservation
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Preservation and Smart Growth can be friends, not rivals
Kaid Benfield, NRDC’s Smart Growth director, looks at the mistrust between Smart Growth environmentalists and preservationists. On the one hand, he points out, some of the most walkable communities are also our most historic, from Paris to Capitol Hill. On the other hand, preservation also sometimes becomes a tool to oppose sustainable neighborhoods, like the effort to… Keep reading…
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Sette wants an enclosed sidewalk cafe. Where do we draw the line?
In November, Sette Osteria, the pizza restaurant at Connecticut and R in Dupont Circle, proposed putting a retractable awning over their outdoor seating. The awning would enable service in a wider range of weather. The restaurant’s manager initially told the community that they planned only to request the awning, not a complete enclosure. However, only a few months after… Keep reading…
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New council legislation: Third Church, WMATA compact, and more
Last year, Councilmember Jack Evans introduced a bill to exempt recently-designed churches from historic preservation. I and others argued that it could exempt other properties that might be, at the very least, less controversial. Evans withdrew the legislation amid criticism and the primary election; Marion Barry later reintroduced it, but it didn’t come to a vote. Keep reading…
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Dinner links: Stimulating our irritation
Reinvigorate H Street with a parking lot? Owners of four old row buildings next to the Atlas Theater want to tear them down to build a surface parking lot. ANC 6a is not pleased. There’s a landmark nomination pending, and if the buildings are landmarked, HPRB will almost surely put the kibosh on the raze. But must we landmark buildings to keep them from turning into parking lots? Keep reading…
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Dinner links: hungry for good architecture, stimulus money
Not so historic: Prince of Petworth posts a very non-historic building in Capitol Hill. Good reason to have historic preservation laws, or a nice addition of variety to the block? Keep reading…
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A glass tower pops out on Harvard Street
Harvard Street in Columbia Heights, between 14th and 15th Streets, looks like a typical DC street, with a combination of classic row house styles. Except, in the middle, a single glass building sticks out, in more ways than one. Keep reading…
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My wish for the holidays: development review filings online
One of the most important and contentions issues in any community is new development. ANCs spend a great deal of time discussing development proposals. We discuss them extensively, along with the zoning and historic preservation implications, on Greater Greater Washington. Several key boards make the big decisions in the District of Columbia. Yet it’s still extremely… Keep reading…
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Has preservation become an echo chamber?
The District of Columbia is not the only jurisdiction in the region that is having an ongoing debate about historic preservation. While nowhere near as high-profile as the debate over the Third Church, preservation groups are working to landmark the Perpetual Bank Building at 8700 Georgia Avenue in Silver Spring. Keep reading…
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Saint Elizabeths: reuse or abuse?
In mid-November, I attended the second St. Elizabeths West Campus walking tour hosted by the DC Preservation League (DCPL). Founded in 1852 as the Government Hospital for the Insane at the urging of social reformer Dorothea Dix and its first Superintendent, Charles H. Nichols, St. Elizabeths’ entire campus was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, designated… Keep reading…
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Dinner links: bikes, bikinis and boorish modernists
First bike sharing, now tricycle sharing: No, it’s not a program to teach kindergarteners to share their toys. A San Francisco bike shop launched a trike-sharing program for adult-size tricycles, which can carry a lot more cargo than bikes. North Beach residents are using them for errands like trips to the local Trader Joe’s. Tip: Ben T. Keep reading…