Preservation League Guns for a Fight

The DC Preservation Leauge issued its 2007 list of Most Endangered Places in a press release. Here's a sampling:

• DCPL warns "the view from the west porch of the United States Capitol overlooking the “Grand Avenue” of the National Mall and beyond to the Potomac River and Arlington National Cemetery was once open to visitors. Today, extreme security measures cut off public access to this remarkable view . . . Centuries of careful urban planning that created a city symbolic of openness, freedom, and democracy have been overturned by spontaneous, ill planned measures."
  
  
  Is this a reference to the over zealous cops that put a few ropes on the Capitol, or a reference to the high-rises of Arlington? True the off-limit signs at the Capitol are off-putting, but the USA Today building and its ilk are worse, if you ask us DCPL. If the DCPL can wax about the lack of access, how about demanding that Arlington abide by the DC height limit?
  
• Three former DC public schools located between North Capitol and 3rd Sts.
  NW "represent an irreplaceable view of the developing architecture." Armstrong High School, Slater Elementary School and Langston Elementary School. Though plans are in the works all now "are completely empty and prey to squatters and thieves," DCPL said. "Attempts to contact the Board of Education . . . regarding these schools and their dilapidated condition went unanswered." Shame.


• The row houses of Columbia Heights, Eckington and Capitol Hill east are all under development pressure.


• Last year we wrote about the risk of turning Mt. Pleasant Street into a strip mall.

Ol' Easy Going Historic Preservation Board Gets Feisty

Another DC condo project has been stopped dead in its tracks at the last hour by the DC Historic Preservation Review Board, reports the Northwest Current. Castle Deveopment, which was planning to raze a Logan Circle building, to hoped to begin construction soon on condos. The Braxton Hotel, circa 1912, was set to become a 49-unit building.

Hold everything. A last-minute landmark application for the structure was approved late in April, though a demolition permit had been pending for 22 months. Quick action on one application, not so quick on the other. The unhappy developer claims the last minute change could cost him $2.5 million. Instead of building a 90 foot tower, the developer will have to save the structure and set back a smaller building on top.

Ok so what? Developer Joe Kisha loses a few of his top-shelf condos at the expense of the saving an historic structure. But, as our mom used to say, its not what the preservation board said, but how it said it. And when it said it.

Why the 11th hour dramatics? Reminds of what happened with Il Pallazo.

NOT EVERYONE CAN AFFORD TO LIVE WHERE THEY WANT TO, observes the WaPo. A beautiful little girl can't afford to live in Columbia Heights. Alas, we can't afford Kalorama. Life is so unfair.

Save Our Bodegas

Nominations for the list of Most Endangered Places in Washington for 2006 are being accepted by the DC Preservation League. Nomination forms must be submitted no later than March 1. The 2006 list will be announced in May.

This list, issued annually since 1996 has included historic resources such as St. Elizabeths Hospital, McMillan Reservoir,Woodlawn Cemetery and Washington's Symbolic Core. The Most Endangered Places in Washington are chosen by the Board of Trusteesof the DC Preservation League from nominations submitted by concerned individuals and organizations.

These sites are chosen based on the severity of the threat of destruction to the buildings and landscapes in question, whether through demolition, neglect, or inappropriate alteration. The list can include buildings, parks or other landscaped areas, or even vistas and other aspects of the city's unique planned history.

Hmmm...How about putting the latino markets, bars and markets along Mount Pleasant street on the list. Think of all the latino stores along 18th St. in Adams Morgan. You can't? Well they were displaced by suburban hipster bars about a decade ago. Thats what's gonna happen to Mount Pleasant street. Or maybe we should put Dupont Circle on the list. The park, which once was a relatively quiet setting, now is overrun, thus should be expanded.

Those trying to "save" the Heurich Mansion now have until March 15. Ahhh....the ides of March. This melodrama even more dramatic than we first thought. Before you donate remember this DC Landmark is protected, thus can't be outright demolished or altered, which no one is suggesting. So what are we "saving" it from?

And think of the tens of thousands of visitors that the Brewmaster's Mansion attracts annually. You've seens the lines up and down New Hampshire Ave. ... Well there actually aren't any lines because only 8,000 people visited the mansion last year. Rather than "save" it, how about turning it into a historically accurate brewpub?