Posts tagged Preservation
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
Preservation very different up the coast
For good or ill, it’s much, much easier to landmark a building in DC than in our fellow Northeastern cities. In New York, the Landmarks Preservation Commission doesn’t even act on many landmark requests, and can’t stop developers from ripping off historic cornices to avoid landmark designation. The Commission declined to preserve St. Thomas the Apostle Church… Keep reading…
-
Breakfast links: Things that stink
The “smelly fish under the table”: Purple Line supporters argue in the Post that the Purple Line will bring job access and development opportunity to poorer eastern Montgomery and Prince George’s, and that opposition stems at least in part from “elitism” and a desire to keep those brown people out of their areas. Keep reading…
-
“Persuading” or “evaluating”?
Before attending the DC Preservation League’s recent panel discussion, “Evaluating the Significance of Modern Structures,” I wondered if it would focus on differentiating the significant from the insignificant or just advocating for modern structures’ significance. I found a little of both, but more of the latter. As Reid wrote in a comment after… Keep reading…
-
On the calendar: modern, new, and fast
There’s one week to go until Thanksgiving, and Greater Washington has some exciting events to pass the time: Keep reading…
-
HPO writing new rules for establishing historic districts
During the debate and vote over the Chevy Chase historic district, many district opponents warned that HPRB could legally ignore community wishes and designate the district despite opposition. Since HPRB is made up of preservationists, some wondered whether they would really respect community opinion. And Marc Fisher, never a moderate on historic preservation issues, wrote… Keep reading…
-
I’m unique too!: Whitman-Walker development plans
No sooner had the dust settled in Dupont Circle and U Street from the debate over the Utopia project at 14th and U, or the furor over the Room and Board purchase of 14th and T, than controversy erupted on the next block. Earlier this year, JBG acquired the former Whitman-Walker Clinic at 14th and S, along with the adjacent, non-historic buildings making up that block of 14th. They plan a… Keep reading…
-
Breakfast links: death and life of metropolitan America
Obama serious on cities: The President-elect will create an Office of Urban Policy, to “better coordinate federal efforts to help America’s cities.” Via Matt Yglesias. Keep reading…