Dupont Circle Conservancy Annual Report

For those that may find it interesting:

Dupont Circle Conservancy
2008 Annual Report
(Submitted January 13, 2009)

The following items highlight the activities of the Dupont Circle Conservancy and its members during the year 2008.

General Affairs

· Dupont Circle Conservancy and Dupont Circle Citizens Association members were saddened by the sudden death of member Ron Leve in April. Ron was tireless in his community activities for both organizations and on behalf of others as well. As the Conservancy’s web site manager, he had been effective in finding a talented and affordable site designer who was nearing completion of a redesigned product when Ron died. The Conservancy’s new site is dedicated to Ron.

· Phil Polivchak died in May 2008. He had been a longtime Conservancy member and while not active in recent years, he and his partner Alden Kamikowa continued to open their home annually as the venue for the Conservancy’s December holiday meeting and social. Phil’s life and work were honored at a memorial service at the Cosmos Club.

· One of the Conservancy’s founding members, Charles Robertson, who also served as its first president from 1978 to 1992, was recognized as the 2008 recipient of the Mayor’s Award for Lifetime Achievement in Historic Preservation at a gala presentation and reception held November 8, at the Carnegie Institute for Peace at 16th and P Streets, NW. The award recognized Charles’s work over the years at neighborhood, citywide, and national levels.

· Longtime Conservancy member Kathryn (Kay) Eckles was recognized by DC Councilmember Jack Evans, Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2B commissioners, the Conservancy, the Dupont Circle Citizens Association, and neighbors and friends for her tireless work on behalf of the Dupont Circle neighborhood in the areas of historic preservation and residential zoning issues. A reception for Kay on her 90th birthday was hosted by another longtime Conservancy member, Charles Robertson, at his home on Sunday, September 21, 2008. (Kay had just previously received the DC Federation of Citizens Association’s Extraordinary Public Service Award.)

· Jim Mears, the Conservancy’s treasurer, battled pneumonia for 5 weeks at the Washington Hospital Center, before returning home in March to recuperate. He was warmly welcomed back by Conservancy members and neighbors.

· At the gala awards ceremony and reception on November 8, Conservancy member Susan Fulton shared in a joint Mayor’s Award for the Best Residential Renovation. Receiving recognition with her were Paul Williams for his House History of her house, architect Jeffrey Hains, and contractor Carlos Antenza.

· Conservancy members Charlie Gaynor, Charles Robertson, and Rick Busch, and neighbors Anne Sellin and Dan Gamber, were successful in their nearly 4-year effort to reduce residential zoning in the northeast corner of the Dupont neighborhood from inappropriately high levels to categories more in keeping with the row house stock and character of the neighborhood and with the guidelines outlined in the current DC Comprehensive Plan. The effort had the support of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2B and the Dupont Circle Citizens Association, both of which served as co-sponsors of the rezoning application and supported the all volunteer effort financially. The final rulemaking was issued in December 2008.

· David Alpert became the Conservancy’s new representative to Historic Dupont Circle Main Streets Project.

Specific Projects and Activities

S & T Parks

For several years, Conservancy member Iris Molotsky has served as the organization’s point person on a Department of Parks and Recreation(DPR) initiative to relandscape the existing S & T Streets parks in the Dupont Circle Historic District into separate entities, one for dogs (the S Street park) and one for people (the T Street park). This work finally came to a successful conclusion in mid-2008 with a landscaping plan agreed upon by all interested parties. A DPR sign announcing the project was installed in the S Street portion of the complex in late December. Many thanks, Iris.

Police and Fire Callbox Project

Conservancy member Marilyn Newton continued to monitor maintenance of these iconic neighborhood fixtures and during 2008 and arranged for necessary repairs. This work ensures the appearance and usefulness of the call boxes as guideposts to neighborhood history for both residents and visitors alike. Thank you Marilyn for continuing to track needed work.

17th Street Streetscape Project

Don Jones continued to represent the Conservancy on a DC Department of Transportation initiative to redo the streetscape of 17th Street, NW, between P Street and Riggs Place. Don’s reports back to the Conservancy have allowed the organization to make recommendations that it believes will enhance the overall design. Actual work on the streetscape renewal may begin in 2009. Our thanks are extended to Don for his work.

1841 16th Street, NW (at the corner of T Street)

During the last 6 months of 2008, the Conservancy continued to monitor the structural status of this former single family residence turned rooming house in the 16th Street Historic District after interior structural walls started to collapse during the weekend of June 7-8. At the suggestion of Joel Lawson, president of DCCA, the Conservancy, along with assistance from ANC2B, developed a list of approximately a dozen neighborhood residences that either have been vacant for extended periods of time or are showing deterioration in other ways. This list was provided to the designated representative of the Director of the Department of Consumer & Regulatory Affairs for action. Follow up took place on a continuing basis, and Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans personally got involved by asking Mayor Fenty directly for his attention to this matter. Additional follow up will take place during 2009.


14th and U Streets development project

After a year of work, including five separate Conservancy reviews, the proposed residential and commercial development project planned for the southwest corner of this intersection in the U Street Historic District came to a conclusion in terms of its massing and overall design. The Conservancy was unsuccessful in its initial request to reduce the height of the proposed development. Adjacent neighbors worked hard in a variety of ways to mitigate the impact of the zoning-allowable height on their residential neighborhood. Part of that effort included acceptance by the developer and his architect that the west elevation be given special design attention so that it would appear as a contributing one in the overall design and not just the rear wall of a tall commercial/residential structure.

Washington Hilton Hotel

We supported the landmark designation of this 1960s modernist building, but opposed the addition of an 11-story residential tower planned for the existing landscaped and pool area of the hotel’s eastern wing. The Historic Preservation Review Board approved the height and overall design concept for the proposed addition.

Vacant Embassy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

This building, located at 1800 New Hampshire Avenue, NW, has stood vacant for between 7 and 10 years. Working with then-DCCA president Rob Halligan and ANC Commissioner Curtis Farrar, the Conservancy brought the ever-deteriorating state of the structure to the attention of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Claude Nebal and his associate Richard Massey, both of the Department’s Office of Foreign Missions. Further, the Conservancy developed a successful rationale for why the building, which began its existence exactly 100 years ago as the Joseph Taylor Arms Mansion, should be included in the D.C. Preservation League’s Most Endangered Places for 2008. It appears that work will soon begin on the restoration of the building’s exterior because the Historic Preservation Office’s Weekly Permit Report for December 8, 2008, included three permits for the following work: window replacement, stucco repair, roof replacement (revising existing terra cotta tiles), and driveway replacement. (HPO has been queried on what “revising existing terra cotta tiles” means.)

Vacant Embassy of the Philippines

This long-vacant property at 1617 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, had been deaccessioned as a diplomatic property at some point after the diplomatic functions were moved across the avenue to a new building about 15 years ago. Prompted by Conservancy member Lex Rieffel, we kept in close contact with the DC Mayor’s Office for Diplomatic and International Affairs as a way to express Conservancy concerns about the state of the building and to keep up pressure for its restoration and rehabilitation. In November, the building suffered a serious fire. The latest word from the mayor’s representative is that the Government of the Philippines plans to rehabilitate the building one floor at a time starting with the ground floor while simultaneously seeking to reinstate its status as a diplomatic property which it will then use for its visa operations.

Third Church of Christ, Scientist (16th and I Streets, NW)

The Conservancy supported the Committee of 100 and D.C. Preservation League-sponsored landmark nomination of this modernist structure and opposed the church’s subsequent request to the Historic Preservation Review Board for a permit to demolish the building. The HPRB denied that demolition permit request. Subsequently, the Mayor’s Agent for Historic Preservation heard the church’s demolition request on November 28; the Conservancy spoke briefly at this hearing again opposing the demolition request. The Mayor’s Agent’s ruling should be available in early 2009.

1401 T Street, NW

The former Paradise Liquor Store building’s exterior is under restoration and moving along nicely with review by the Conservancy, active watching by nearby neighbors, and careful oversight by the Historic Preservation Office’s Michael Beidler, preservation architect. Inappropriate flashing on the conical roof of the corner tower, inappropriate roofing material, and awkward placement of the finial were all corrected, and new appropriate windows have been installed in this important contributing building at the corner of 14th and T Streets, NW, in the Greater U Street Historic District.

1405-07 T Street, NW

In September, the Conservancy reviewed a proposed design scheme that calls for a 1-story addition (set back 15 feet from the parapet) to the historic former T Street Post Office substation, and a new 2-story building in the adjacent vacant lot to the east. When built, the combined structures are envisioned to provide gallery and commercial space. The Conservancy supported this design proposal, the completion of which will contribute measureable to the redevelopment of this major intersection.

1605 S Street, NW

Long derelict, this former residence which is a contributing structure in the Dupont Circle Historic District, has had its rear façade completely rebuilt with new windows and doors installed, and its front façade cleaned and repointed. Work on the cornice and flashing, and replacement of front windows remains to be completed.

1754 Swann Street, NW

This residential row house property was condemned by the Board of Condemnation of Insanitary Buildings in early 2008. The owner has cleaned out the interior to the satisfaction of BCIB inspectors and has valid permits for additional work. The permits expire during the first quarter of 2009. Nearby neighbors and the Conservancy continue to watch progress or lack thereof.

Cheh/Bowser Bill B17-911, Public Participation in Historic Designation Amendments Act of 2008

Proposed by DC Councilmembers Mary Cheh and Muriel Bowser, this bill, if passed, would have required votes by all property owners in future proposed historic districts, with the outcome based on the majority of those returning votes. The bill was the subject of a hearing by the DC Council Committee of the Whole on Friday, November 21. The Conservancy along with other neighborhood and citywide preservation organizations testified against this bill because of already existing regulations that provide for citizen input and a forthcoming series of proposed new regulations that strengthen those already existing.

On December 3, the D.C. Preservation League received word from DC Council Chair Vincent Gray that the bill will would not be reported out of the committee and that neither Councilmember Cheh or Councilmember Bowser sought to pursue it for a vote during this legislation session. These actions mean that the bill is dead for this legislative session.