DC alleys and stables were the pulse of the city reflecting the ecology of urban change. Their stories reflect many lives and are living artifacts of 200 years of human experience in Washington. Reconstruction cannot possibly replace preservation. In 1990, all of the properties in Blagden Alley and Naylor Court were recognized by the National Register of Historic Places.
This month there is a wonderful article in the Washingtonian magazine discussing the history of historic architectural preservation in WashingtonD.C. by Larry Van Dyne. I highly recommend it to anyone with any interest at all in the architectural history of this city. It is insightful, well written, well balanced and filled with a myriad of facts and small vignettes of the struggle between progress and preservation.
“Robert Peck – who has held top positions at the Preservation League, the Greater Washington Board of Trade and General Services Administration – sums up the past 30 years this way: Preservationists once had to sit in the path of the bulldozer to save buildings. Then we got one of the strongest laws in the country and had to adapt to having lots of leverage.”
Blagden Alley and Naylor Court were recognized in the article for their unique role in the history of the city: - “Blagden Alley and Naylor Court preserves examples of the alley dwellings that once housed many of Washington’s working poor.”
While landmark historic designation is designed to confer protection, this does not always happen. It’s up to the community to consolidate and focus their efforts to protect buildings such as the Rhodes Tavern built in 1800 that was summarily razed as was the home of Francis Scott Key at the entrance of the bridge that now bears his name. While these were examples of failures to protect history, there are many stories about how communities rallied to save buildings that would otherwise have perished.
“Each year the Preservation League (since 1996) garners press coverage by issuing a list of ten historic places it considers the city’s “most endangered” … The local list usually includes some landmarks that are legally protected but are deteriorating or face a threat from development as well as places that have yet to gain recognition.” A nomination has been submitted for Blagden Alley and Naylor Court this year in light of recent aggressive development and destruction of landmark protected historic properties in these alleys. This article clearly demonstrates that a coalition of caring individualists can ultimately make profound differences in the world Washington D.C. historic preservation.
These are two of the most frequent descriptors that weave through conversations when historical preservation architects discuss proposals for modern buildings in the midst of a group of historic properties. How large is the proposed structure? What is its configuration? Does it comfortably blend into the architectural environment? Does its presence somehow diminish the neighborhood? Mindful of these questions, the HPO and HPRB continually struggle to balance their approach to a first proposal that allows one to distinguish what is original from what is new, yet simultaneously encourage a tasteful continuity with the past. The final building should not appear contrived but rather, an interpretation of the spirit of the neighborhood. Builders and developers on the other hand strive to maximize the use of their allotted “footprint” of land. With the restrictions of 60/40 ratios of land use restrictive covenants, this often means “going vertical.” Getting the proportions right at the beginning is the key, for once a structure has been approved it very unlikely to be disapproved after the fact simply because the plans and products look somewhat different and (even objectionable) when the project is finally constructed in full scale. Not all of the city is designated as “historic” even though properties in non historic areas date back to the 19th Century and are identical in configuration to their protected peers elsewhere. This problem is under vigorous discussion.
The first block of P Street NE is an excellent example of one new building that “got it right” and a new addition “got it wrong.” It all comes down to values. Sometimes it takes the collective consciousness of a neighborhood to guide the decision making of all stakeholders. There are standards and guidelines and then there is common sense.
New construction on a double lot that blends elegantly with its environment.
New “pop up” construction that is visually jarring and entirely out of sync in massing and context.
Iam not well-suited to repetitive, detail-heavy work. For example, putting the Christmas lights back in their little plastic holder -- snapping the bulbs in, looping the wire back and forth, getting it all neat enough to slide back into the cardboard box -- is the sort of task that drives me mad. After a few minutes, I want to scream and throw things.
But the world needs the detail-oriented and the persnickety. The world needs Brian Kraft.
Slim, shaven-headed, soberly dressed, Brian looks like he would have been at home in a medieval monastery copying snippets of scripture, and in a sense that's what he did. Brian catalogued every building permit issued in the District of Columbia over a 72-year period. Working to the warm hum of a microfilm machine and the click of his laptop, Brian transferred details of the more than 60,000 D.C. building permits issued between 1877 and 1949 to a database he created.
It took him seven years.
"It was a long, hard slog," Brian said. "It's not a job I would wish on other people."
The building permit is the starting point of any structure's history. Like a birth certificate, it includes all sorts of information historians might want decades later: who built the building, who designed it, what it was for, how much it cost, what its roof was made of.
Brian, 46, had been a computer science major at Penn State. He was also interested in history. After graduating, he moved to Washington, where he became obsessed with the city's neighborhoods: Who built them? When? He consulted the microfilm stored in the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library's third-floor Washingtoniana Room.
"I was scrolling through the microfilm, and I'm thinking 'This is data,' in a way people in history or preservation wouldn't."
The pool of data had been dipped into here and there before. Brian proposed to drain it.
Coincidentally, David Maloney, the state historic preservation officer, had been thinking along the same lines. Brian was hired as a contractor. Said David: "It is truly amazing that we found somebody who was willing and capable of doing that, of just grinding it out."
And grinding it out is what Brian did. "People said, 'Oh, you just plugged that thing in and downloaded the data?' No, it doesn't quite work like that."
How does it work? "Just eyes and fingers."
Besides the sheer drudgery of copying information from every building permit, Brian had to compare plat maps to make it all make sense to modern eyes. For example, on July 30, 1897, Permit 131 was issued for a row of three brick houses on Yale Street NW, Lot 23, Block 26 of the Columbia Heights Subdivision. Today, Yale Street is known as Fairmont Street, and the houses are on Lots 0832, 0831, 0830, Square 2862. The house numbers have changed, too.
"I wanted it so that the data has current information converted to it," Brian said.
The result of his toil is a searchable database of permits representing 132,000 buildings. You want to find all the wood frame homes permitted on a Tuesday in Cleveland Park? All the churches built in the 1920s? All of developer Harry Wardman's houses? Now you can.
As we sat in the Washingtoniana Room, I asked Brian whether he could look up an address for me: 1440 Otis St. NE. With a few taps of the keyboard, he brought up the information. Permit issued Oct. 9, 1924. Concrete foundation. Shingles on a pitched roof. Valued at $6,000. No mention of an architect, but the builder was listed as A. Jeffery.
"He did quite a lot in Brookland and Woodridge," Brian said. Including the house my father grew up in.
Over the years, Brian became so intimate with the permits that he came to recognize the handwriting of long-dead bureaucrats. He came across odd little buildings, too, such as an airplane hangar built in Wesley Heights in 1910 and a multi-story wooden tower planned for the edge of Rock Creek Park.
The only thing he regrets is that he didn't get up from his chair more frequently and focus off in the distance. "My eyes were fried," he said. "I think it definitely hastened the demise of my close vision."
Brian finished entering the 1877-1949 permits in 2006. He's now in the process of cleaning up the data, and he's started collecting permit information from 1949 to 1958. He expects to be done in about a year and a half. After that: buildings from before 1877.
I am nominating Naylor Court NW and Blagden Alley NW as an historic site that has become endangered because of demolition by neglect, threats of ill-advised alteration and demolition by intent. Despite being listed on the National Register of Landmark Historic Places – which confers protection status to every address in these two alleys – historic buildings continue to be destroyed. They are being replaced by modern structures, many of which appear to be far outside of the boundaries of reasonable architectural context.
These two alleys have a rich history that reflects the development of the inner core of the city of Washington D.C. as it grew. The earliest platt of the alley dates from the late 1700’s.
I have enclosed a letter of support from the President of the Blagden Alley/Naylor Court Association – Richard Neidich - which followed a unanimous vote of support at the most recent meeting. There is widespread support within the neighborhood to preserve, protect and restore the buildings within these two alleys. The Historic Preservation Office has been working with me to raise the level of awareness of the historic value of these buildings. Naylor Court has the largest intact collection of stables in the city (15) and is an unpolished gem in the architectural history of the city.
In the mid 1950’s a group of residents in Foggy Bottom and Georgetown organized an effort to thwart the threatened destruction of the stables and other historic buildings along the C & O canal. This area has become a thriving and emotionally exciting commercial environment and a destination site. Blues Alley is one example of the many success stories in this collection of buildings.Naylor Court and to a lesser degree, Bladgen Alley, have as great a potential for similar future enhancement if protected now.
Nomination by the DC Preservation League on the list of Most Endangered Places will heighten the profile of this historic site and help to increase the awareness of those empowered within the government so that wise decisions in the future can be made to protect this enclave.
There is interest by a local film producer (Todd Clark of Onandon Productions) to develop a film documenting these two alleys.
At the last meeting of the Blagden Alley and Naylor Court Association a motion was entertained to review a collection of 30 years of archived material about the alley.
There are opportunities to apply for grants to survey and inventory the building within these two alleys as well as to create a history document of their past.
The community has spoken with Councilman Jack Evans about the destruction in Naylor Court and he has voiced strong support to protect the alley structures. He also said that this would never have been tolerated in Georgetown. In fact, one small stable in Georgetown was partially torn down and the neighborhood clamor resulted in the building being rebuilt restored completely. The ANC Commissioner (Mike Bernardo) has been very supportive of preserving the historic nature of the alleys as have representatives of the Mayor’s office (Mark Bjorge and Joe Martin).
In July I created a blogspot to document the history of these alleys and their current plight. It can be visited at http://preservingdcstables.blogspot.com .
The original documentation in support of the nomination for recognition as a Historic Landmark property was written in 1990 and has been included with other material of relevance.
Finally, I have included a CD with written material as well as many photographs showing the changes that have been occurring in these two alleys. There is also a video from Channel 7 News that covered the issue of the destruction of one of the stables in Naylor Court last summer.
I hope that you will rule in favor of including Blagden Alley and Naylor Court on the list of the DC Preservation League’s Most Endangered Places 2009. It would be incredibly sad to lose the opportunity to protect these two alleys from further destruction. Historic replication is no match for historic preservation.
John Ruskin wrote the following in "The Seven Lamps of Architecture" (George Allen and Unwin Ltd 1925, Chapter VI, aphorism 31, pp 353-354). His words are as relevant today as it was 80 years ago. Perhaps even more so.
"Neither by the public, nor by those who have the care of public monuments, is the true meaning of the word restoration [meaning the reconstruction, whether total or partial, suggested by revivalism] understood. It means the most total destruction which a building can suffer: a destruction out of which no remnants can be gathered: a destruction accompanied with a false description of the thing destroyed. Do not let us deceive ourselves in this important matter; it is impossible, as it is impossible to raise the dead, to restore [meaning reconstruct] anything that has ever been great or beautiful in architecture. That which I have above insisted upon as the life of the whole, that spirit which is given only by the hand and eye of the workman, can never be recalled. Another spirit may be given by another time, and it is then a new building; but the spirit of the dead workman cannot be summoned up and commanded to direct other hands and other thoughts." (quoted in Preservation and Conservation Principles and Practices - Proceedings of the North American International Regional Conference - September 10th - 16th 1972.)
Michael Carr - who had lived at 1312 Naylor Court from 1986 to 2002 - passed away suddenly on Christmas day in Arizona. After Mike bought the “carriage house” he gradually reconfigured it into “residential and art studio space” (1), for it had been used as an auto repair shop with dead engines and transmissions throughout the lower level. His renovation was featured in the “Building Character” series on HGTV.
Mike’s home was built in 1870 and for many years served as a stable until 1921 when F.J. Simmonds petitioned for a Certificate of Occupancy as a carpenter’s shop on the upper level.The lower level continued to be used for horses and later automobile storage. (The F.J. Simmond’s advertising sign for his business can still be seen on the side of the stable, having been restored by Mike in 1994.) In 1947 the stable began another life when permission was granted to change the Certificate of Occupancy from a carpenter’s shop to an electrical repair shop to repair washing machine motors, armatures and appliances.
Michael Carr’s home as it was when he lived in the alley
Mike’s life followed a diverse path with art always being central. He outlines some of his life through his own internet biosketch (1): -
“I resided in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area from 1968 to 2002. Stationed at 8th and I, Marine Corps Headquarters as a Musician from 1968 to 1970. I received a Master of Fine Arts in Painting, with Honors, fro the GeorgeWashingtonUniversity in 1971. Instructor in Public Schools, as well as college level through 1983. College level courses taught were drawing, painting, design and art history.
From 1966 to the present, produced fine arts and showed in
galleries in various states and the Washington, DC area. I worked for the U.S. Navy as a civilian from 1980 to 2001. Head of the graphics department as an illustrator, then graphic and publication designer and strategic planner. In 1986, purchased a carriage house in Downtown Washington, DC and renovated it into residential and art studio space. In 2002, my renovation was featured in the “Building Character” series on Home and Garden TV.
Community involvement included helping incorporate a two block area into a historic district, now encompassing over a one mile area. I was elected in a District of Columbia general election as an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner, serving from 1988-1990.
Community oriented performance art projects included “Death of a Dream”. Naylor Court, 1992-1993, producing a 350' acrylic on pavement project as well as twelve 6
'x18' canvases. The “OldCityRepublic”, 1995 to the present, the annual “Potomac Tea Party, 1995 -2001, canvas and enamel pavement painting for the “Million Mom March” against violence in 2000. “Party Animals”, in 2002, with a grant from the DC Commission for the Arts and Humanities. 200 artists raised over $5000.00 for community art humanities projects. Founded RomArt Gallery and working studio in Douglas, Wyoming in 2002.”
Mike left his D.C. alley neighborhood in 2002 to live in Arizona to help his aging parents and to pursue his artistic life and other passions. As he told the author shortly after leaving, he had become “tired of waiting for real estate values to go up and crime to go down.”His home in Naylor underwent a magnificent restoration as a private residence several years ago, and was featured on this year’s Logan Circle Christmas tour. The current owner works with film and image media continuing the spirit of Mike’s artistic karma of the past, throughout the home today.
Michael Carr’s carriage house today.
In the early 1990’s, inspired by the notion of chalk outlines as an icon for crime scenes Michael undertook a project of creating a series of “body outlines” in the Naylor Court alley. He eventually painted 452 individual acrylic body outlines within alleys to “commemorate the escalating number of violent deaths in Washington … and began painting outlines of bodies in the style he had seen used at the scenes of homicides depicted in movies and on television.”(2) It’s ironic that chalk outlines have moved into the art world as the “police abandoned its use after many defense attorneys contended the chalk outline tainted evidence from a crime scene.”(2) In addition to being an artist and a well-known “character” in the alley, Mike was an urban activist. At the height of this period in his life, he and five alley compatriots wrote a declaration of independence for Naylor Court. Mike Carr wrote the following (3) for an immediate press release on February 24th 1995: -
“The city of Washington DC, the nation’s capitol, the nation’s murder capitol, the nation’s laughingstock, is now on the verge of losing what little capacity for self-governance it once possessed. The incompetence of its governing officials and bureaucracies has brought the city to its knees, and has caused its residents to flee in droves.
Rather than flee, however, some of the residents of Naylor Court, an inner-city alley, have chosen to take a stand where they live. To this effect, they have declared their independence from the city of Washington, District of Columbia, and resolve themselves citizens of the newly formed OldCityRepublic, a square block historic alley system within a mile of the White House. The rat has been adopted as the Republic’s symbol, intended as good-natured humor.
It is the beginning of a revolution. It is not an armed revolution; rather, it is conceptual, a revolution of thought and humor, taking place both in cyberspace and our neighborhood. It is a revolution against crime, dirt, debt and inept officialdom.
A Declaration of Independence has been written, representatives will be sent to Congress, consenting households will be annexed and diplomatic relations will be established with other governments.
As Marion Barry himself has declared … at this point, the city’s problems are beyond the District’s capacity to solve them (The Washington Post, 1/7/95). Residents all over the city agree. They do not necessarily agree, however, that Congress us any more fit to take over the city than its present officials are. The fact remains that under either scenario, the residents of WashingtonD.C. still are taxed without representation, and receive pitiful, if any services in return for their tax dollars. OldCityRepublic represents a sane alternative to these distasteful options.”
In a 1995 City Paper article (4), Dave Nuttycombe reported that Carr – a Naval Air Systems Command management expert would like to apply his skills to District Government problems. Carr is quoted as saying that “The government of the nation’s capital should be a model for the world; the reality is quite different … I’m very concerned about the quality of life in the District” Apparently Carr presented his declaration document to Mayor Barry on the steps of the DistrictBuilding.
The last remnant of Michael Carr’s alley art.
Michael Carr’s tale is like many, whose sparks of creativity are stimulated by life within the netherworlds of WashingtonD.C.’s alleys and stables. Perhaps people like Mike are drawn to the alley culture because they are free spirits to begin with. At the very least it’s a symbiotic relationship between place and person. Mike’s spirit will remain alive in the memories of those who knew him and doubtless grow anew within others who never knew him but one day might find themselves as kindred souls in the future.Some of Mike’s delightful sketches can be seen on the BAANC blog site (5).
(The author gratefully acknowledges the input from Hal Davitt and Roger Thiel in writing this article)
The National Trust for Historic Preservation request for nominations of historic buildings or areas that are recognized as being at risk of destruction http://www.preservationnation.org/issues/11-most-endangered stimulated the author (DC Preservationist) to launch an initiative to help preserve the few remaining Washington D.C. stables – S.O.S. (Save our Stables). On December 7th 2008, the Logan Circle Christmas Tour will feature several stables in Blagden Alley and Naylor Court to share insights into the past seldom seen worlds that lay behind the elegant Victorian homes on the Streets in front of them. (Dakota stables c. 1944 as a garage)
(From the Office for Metropolitan History reported in the New York Times)
Preservationists lost a battle to protect the Dakota, built in 1894 and shown here in 1944, after the owner secured a stripping permit. Soon word spread that a demolition crew was hacking away at the brick cornices of the stables, an 1894 Romanesque Revival building, on Amsterdam Avenue at 77th Street, that once housed horses and carriages but had long served as a parking garage.In just four days the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission was to hold a public hearing on pleas dating back 20 years to designate the low-rise building, with its round-arched windows and serpentine ornamentation, as a historic landmark. But once the building’s distinctive features had been erased, the battle was lost. The commission went ahead with its hearing, but ultimately decided not to designate the structure because it had been irreparably changed. Today a 16-story luxury condominium designed by Robert A. M. Stern is rising on the site: the Related Companies is asking from $765,000 for a studio to $7 million or more for a five-bedroom unit in the building.The strategy has become wearyingly familiar to preservationists. A property owner — in this case Sylgar Properties, which was under contract to sell the site to Related — is notified by the landmarks commission that its building or the neighborhood is being considered for landmark status. The owner then rushes to obtain a demolition or stripping permit from the city’s Department of Buildings so that notable qualities can be removed, rendering the structure unworthy of protection. In the case of Dakota Stables, some preservationists have accused the landmarks commission of deliberately dragging its heels. “The commission had no intention of designating Dakota Stables,” said Kate Wood, the executive director of Landmark West!, a preservation group. “They waited until it had been torn down. It was clearly too late for them to do anything meaningful.” Some commissioners say the landmarks commission and the buildings department should adopt a more reliable alert system to prevent pre-emptive demolitions. “When a property owner goes to the buildings department for a permit to strip, it should be a red flag,” said Roberta Brandes Gratz, who has served on the landmarks commission since 2002. Christopher Moore, a commission member, also said the situation demanded redress. “There is a standard of honor I wish the developers would follow,” he said. “The landmarks commission should have greater authority” over the granting of demolition permits, he added. “All of a sudden, the cornice is gone.”
Stables are architecturally simple yet elegant structures, melding form and function. Because of this simplicity and their “hidden” location in alleys, many DC stables have been blessed with multiple lives over the past 150 years. Originally built to house horses, carriages and hay, their classic features – bollards, square two story configuration, hayloft door and beam, horse head height windows, cupolas and massive doors and hinges – make them readily recognizable today. Some were private and small while others were commercial and large. The occasional stable was born into elegance as part of an estate (such as the Heurich mansion). With the civil war, came a massive demand for D.C. stables that continued throughout the period of reconstruction. However, by 1900 few new stables were being built as the automobile eclipsed the horse and carriage, street car lines developed and demand declined. Nonetheless, their simple architecture allowed easy conversion of many stables to alley auto repair shops. These were hard lived years for stables. Some were abused but most were neglected. Many were destroyed as alleys began to be abolished by government fiat through a series of alley abolition acts. Ironically a long period of building stagnation in D.C. (after the1968 riots) protected many of the remaining stables. Today, few alley auto repair garages exist but stables are slowly being rediscovered and restored to live adaptive new lives as musician and artist studios, offices or homes. Unlike the labyrinths of London mews, intact collections of stables are virtually nonexistent in D.C. today.Almost none were built outside of the city as it was defined by turn of the century maps. Today, stables have a hard earned right to be protected (two D.C. alleys and their stables were recognized as National Historic Landmarks in 1990) and nurtured so that they can continue to thrive. They uniquely remind us of their struggles and the roles that they have played in the special history of Washington, its alleys, transportation, commerce and the arts. They have a special charm that is timeless.
The DC alleys are unique in the nation with their collections of old stables and other bygone commercial buildings such as sausage smoke houses (in Treto Way). Very few are left in the city with the potential to be sensitively developed in an historic manner so that they recall and preserve segments of alley lives of the past. No doubt there will continue to be discussion about traffic management over the coming years with proposals ranging from full traffic access to restricted access to pedestrian access only. Below is an article from Greater Greater Washington that reviews a recent "discussion" about restricting traffic flow from a proposed large development on U Street and 14th Street.
"Our curb cut is limited to the present circumstances"
Article and Photo by David Alpert
How often does Councilmember Phil Mendelson (at-large) personally show up to the Board of Zoning Adjustment to testify in support of a variance? I suspect not often, but show up he did at yesterday's BZA hearing on the 14th and U "Utopia" project.
Mendelson read a letter in support of locating the proposed garage entrance on 14th Street instead of in the alley behind. The developer, the Dupont ANC, and local residents and businesses all want this as well. Councilmember Jack Evans also submitted a concurring letter, which his committee clerk, Jeff Coudriet (who also lives nearby), presented at the hearing. The BZA voted to approve the curb cut and all of the variances the developer needed.
I agree in this case. This is an unusual block with an unusual alley system, and the garage entrance poses many problems. But I'm very concerned that this not set precedent for other, less exceptional situations. Along U Street west of 13th, developers plan to replace the one-story, bland Rite Aid with a larger hotel and ground-floor retail. The rear of the building faces a standard alley, but a row of townhouses back onto the other side of the alley. Some of those residents are trying to pressure that developer to build their garage entrance across the 13th Street sidewalk, instead of off the adjacent straight alley.
Bad idea.
Unlike at Utopia, using this alley doesn't require cars to make two sharp turns and take three separate alleys. Unlike at Utopia, there are no alley dwellings. This garage entrance could be located at the eastern end of the alley, so cars only have to drive on a very short part. I'd even be okay with widening the alley a little bit right at the end, so there's enough room for one car in each direction. But another, extremely wide curb cut right next to an existing alley curb cut harms the rest of the public too much, while alley access to the garage harms the local property owners little.
It's clear that some major political chips got called in to get Mendelson to show up in person for the Utopia curb cut, and to generate the repeated letters from Evans supporting neighbors' position on the project. The political pressure was so potent that yesterday afternoon, DDOT decided to withdraw its original comments opposing the curb cut. That's politics, and I don't agree with those who complain about corruption every time an elected official weighs in. Taking positions on issues and pushing agencies on behalf of constituents is what elected officials do, and if you want to influence them, organize.
While Evans and Mendelson weren't wrong about this curb cut, we need to get organized and connected enough to ensure that Council members aren't sending letters in support of every curb cut when some residents don't want traffic in their alley. Alley traffic impacts the residents, but a curb cut impacts everyone else. A curb cut increases the opportunities for vehicles to hit pedestrians and bicycles; it reduces the space we have for sidewalk cafes; it visually widens the street, making drivers go faster.
Fortunately, Mendelson's letter gives us good ammunition for differentiating the Utopia case from others, like the 13th and U Rite Aid/Hotel:
There are very few communities in the District like the one comprising the residents of [the alleys behind Utopia]. The two others that come to mind are Blagden Alley in Shaw and Brown's Court on Capitol Hill ... It is important to consider that this space is atypical. It is unlike the typical square with all the dwellings fronting on the public street, only to back up to alleys. [The residents of these alleys] must walk down their alleys to go anywhere, which creates unavoidable pedestrian and vehicular conflicts.
Public policy must balance a larger impact on a few against the smaller impact on many. Typically, in the political process, the few are better organized and louder than the many. Through this blog and Smart Growth organizations, we the many are getting organized. And I want to make it clear to Evans, Mendelson, and any other elected official that while I don't disagree with their views on the Utopia curb cut, such an exception, and their political muscle on its behalf, should be extremely, extremely rare.
The Economic Development and Zoning Committee is taking action against a series of procedures that they say DC has backwards. As it stands, someone who wants to develop a property needs to go to the Historic Preservation Review Board first to make sure that their proposed development doesn’t violate any historic restrictions. Then the person goes to the Board of Zoning Adjustment, taking them through a tougher process to determine whether their proposal violates any zoning regulations. And finally, they get approval on any use of public space their proposal may involve.
The committee researched other cities’ systems, and they found that in Baltimore, Philadelphia and Boston, zoning and permit issues need to be resolved before the local historic commission reviews the plans. They concluded, “We believe that the current system in Washington, DC, would be improved by a change in the order of review. Putting the public space and zoning issues ahead of the historic review would give HPRB the ability to review the project in total in making their decision.”
Commissioner Alberti agreed that it makes sense to reverse the order. “How can HPRB rule on design issues when BZA hasn’t ruled on how much space you can occupy and for what uses, and how can BZA decided how much space you can use without talking to Public Space?” he wondered. “DC is anomalous.”
The commission agreed to send a letter to the mayor and DC Council, per the committee’s recommendation, suggesting that the city restructure its permitting process.
Shorpy.com is a photoblog featuring high-definition images from the first half of the 20th century. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a boy who worked in an Alabama coal mine and ironworks in the 1910s. It's a wonderful site for high quality photographs documenting a wide range of elements of Washington D.C.’s history as well as other parts of the nation. One becomes mesmerized and transported in time as you peruse this huge and well constructed gallery! I highly recommend spending a little time here if you have any interest at all in history. (ed)
According to a reliable and well placed source within Washington’s architectural preservation community, this stable (the white one on the left) was nearly destroyed several years ago. Outrage from the Georgetown citizens resulted in “a bonanza of stop work orders,” the demolition ceased after half of the building had been destroyed and the contractor was forced to restore the building to its original configuration. Parenthetically, it was unusual for a WashingtonD.C. stable to be built facing a main street rather than within an alley.
At a community function several months ago, the editor asked Jack Evans about the July 2008 destruction of the 1863 Historic Landmark protected Civil War stable in Naylor court (1316 rear 9th Street). He said he couldn’t understand why it was allowed to be torn down and that if something like that had ever happened in Georgetown the outcry would be overwhelming. He’s right!
In 1954 when developers threatened to destroy the historic stables and warehouses along the canal in Georgetown, the residents of Foggy Bottom and Georgetown created a coalition to save the properties and succeeded. Today, 54 years later, this area has become a destination landmark. Small businesses – such as Blues Alley - are thriving.
“It may be a jazz world, but it looks like it’s going to be a BluesAlley universe-BluesAlley clubs everywhere, BluesAlley CDs and videos, a BluesAlley clothing collection, and even a BluesAlley crystal decanter.
Washington’s well-known jazz club-which attracts legendary jazz performers such as Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan, Charlie Byrd and Wynton Marsalis-has signed a $57 million licensing agreement with a group of Japanese investors to open three clubs next year in Japan, according to BluesAlley owner John T. Bunyan.
And other deals with investors in the United States, Germany and Spain are in the works to capitalize on the popular supper club’s name and knack for booking jazz …”
1316 rear 9th Street (originally a Civil War stable) was a home and furniture repair
shop up until a year before its destruction by a developer/investment company.
Few can see clearly into the future, but it shouldn’t be difficult for all of us to recognize and respect the past. WashingtonD.C. is blessed with many small alley structures that have earned the right of preservation. The history of Georgetown and Foggy Bottom preservation activism should serve to educate the rest of the city. There is no reason why these lessons cannot be used to guide other sections of the city as development continues to threaten our history one brick at a time.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation - Latrobe Chapter
On Tuesday September 23rd 2008, Sally Berk* gave a moving lecture of personal reflections on her life over the past 25 years as an historic preservation activist. She shared her personal principles of architectural preservation. At the end of her lecture Ms. Berk issued a challenge for others to continue her work in historic architectural preservation (for she is retiring) and a plea to support efforts to preserve St. Martin’s Convent and St. Elizabeth’s Hospital.
1. Preservation is good business.
Preservation building work constitutes 50% of the building efforts in Washington D.C. and accounts for a financial contribution that is equal to that of new construction ($9.5 billion dollars for preservation and $9.5 billion dollars for new construction).
2. Preservation is about managing change and not about preventing it.
Change is inevitable. It is wiser to learn how to manage change and have an active and guiding hand in that process than to attempt to thwart it and lose the opportunity for melding preservation and change.
3. Preservation is about continuing the historic context.
The background of an area in terms of its legacy (such as music, the arts, and commercial buildings) lends a hand in contextual historic architectural preservation of that area.
4. Preservation is about respecting the historic context.
The juxtaposition of new construction that does not respect the historic context of the building or the area diminishes the historic legacy of the properties.
5. Preservation is not about copying history.
Some areas of the city that are generally thought of as “historic” have sanctioned new construction that mimics 19th Century architecture, thereby becoming a caricature of their past. Historic replication is not a substitute for historic preservation.
6. One should be able to read the layers of the city.
As one walks through any city, one should be able to read the layers of the past as each new era’s unique style of architecture is graciously interdigitated with that of the past. Each layer should be recognizable and appreciated for its era’s contribution to the overall gestalt of the building or collection of structures.
“Demolition isn't the only threat to historic sites. Equally threatening can be alterations, additions and new construction that comprise the iconography and/or integrity of the site. The preservationist, therefore, has the responsibility of managing change to the historic artifact. Writing a landmark nomination and obtaining historic designation are only the first steps in an ongoing process that can be controversial and contentious -- and sometimes with luck -- enormously rewarding.”
F Street Lament, Michael Berman, 2000
* After twenty-five years of preservation activism, Sally Berk has a long list of rewarding, vexing, and in some cases, unresolved preservation efforts to her name. Ms. Berk, who holds an undergraduate degree in architecture from the University of Maryland and a master’s degree in preservation from The George Washington University, also served as president of the DC Preservation League from 1995-1998.
"Alley housing in Washingtonis not very well documented. For example, because no city building permits were required before 1877, there is little documentary information on the buildings themselves. Census and city directories did not record alleys until 1858, when the City Directly listed 49 alleys with 348 heads of household. Earlier alleys and those too small to be recorded in directories as well as the conditions of alley life, require archaeological documentation." (page 58)
"A grant from the Department of the Interior funded a survey for potential nomination of the Blagden Alley Neighborhood as an historic district. This survey included researching the historic and archaeological resources within the project area. The historic resources survey involved the investigation of the architectural, social and cultural history of the area encompassing Blagden and Naylor Alleys. Archival research included reviewing tax books, primary and secondary sources, city directories, newspaper accounts, biographical sources, historic photographs and oral histories.
Squares 367 and 368 in which Blagden and Naylor Alleys are located retain a mixture of residential and commercial buildings that illustrate the historic evolution of land use in the City of Washington, particularly the independent development of property facing the public streets versus property facing the alleys."
"Only since the early 1980’s has there been any systematic archaeological work on the development of the city. …. As should be evident, archaeology of alley life in the city has barely begun, but it should have a powerful future. We are particularly hopeful that archaeology be done in the Blagden Alley and Naylor Court neighborhood with the interest and participation of the local community. As Theresa Singleton writes, “African-American archaeology should be seen primarily as a way of framing questions pertinent fo the African experience in the Americas. It is not necessary to restrict such questions to sites with an identifiable or discrete black provenience, but to any site that can illuminate aspects of African-American history and culture.” We believe that historical archaeology can help us uncover the silences of both documents and artifacts and offer a vehicle in which to examine our history and preconceptions of that history. (page 65)"
"In 1880, only 8 percent of the adult males in Borchert’s sample of alley dwellers were skilled. Most of these men were carpenters, barbers, shoemakers, blacksmiths, plasterers or brick masons. Fewer than 7 percent were white collar, proprietors or professional and of these 17 percent were “rag picker”, “rag gatherer”, “rag dealer”, “junk dealer” and 33 percent were “peddler”, jobber”, huckster and horse trader” (page 62)
"Blagden alley was one of the earliest alleys to be developed and was occupied until the 1940’s."
(Opportunities to explore DC Alley history and preserve 1860's buildings are being bulldozed by developers - e.g. 1316 rear 9th Street where two historic buildings have been razed this summer- ed)
