Posts tagged 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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Revised Whitman-Walker plans cruising toward approval
After making a few revisions in response to neighbor and historic preservation concerns, the proposed residential development with ground-floor retail on 14th Street between S and Swann is solidly on track for approval. The project retains the historically contributing, former Whitman-Walker Clinic building at the corner of 14th and S, and replaces the other one-story structures… Keep reading…
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Then and Now: Union Station
Oh, how cute: people once played baseball across from Union Station. The U.S. Senate long ago took over this public space for storage of their personal vehicles. Via DC Metrocentric. Top: Union Station and Columbus Circle, 1925. Photo from the National Photo Company Collection. Bottom: Union Station today as seen in Google Earth. 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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Just propose a Federal style store already, Apple
Georgetown’s ANC and the Old Georgetown Board, the special historic preservation review body for Georgetown, recently rejected Apple’s proposed design for a store on Wisconsin Avenue. The Current reported on it last week, and yesterday City Paper exposed the story to the Web, prompting more coverage in the tech press. 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…