We hope you are enjoying the day off and taking a moment to celebrate and remember those who proudly served our country. There are many monuments downtown that invoke emotion purely through their architectural presence, and today is their moment! Pictured is the memorial for World War II designed by Friedrich St. Florian.
[Photo: NearDC]
Southeast - The DC housing Authority tells the Marines to stop looking at Square 882 for new development, because they plan to use the site… maybe even by this Winter! [JDLand]
Silver Spring - The new restaurant FS1 is ready to open in the converted 90 year old Fire Station along Georgia Ave. [Silver Spring Singular]
Southwest - Architect Bing Thom has officially been chosen for the Randal School development (old rendering below by CORE Architects). [SWDC Blog]
They really didn’t waste any time since the little lawsuit against “The Views at Clarendon” development was dismissed last month. As you can see, demo is underway on the project to build 10 stories of residential space above the First Baptist Church of Clarendon.
They are tearing down everything except the churches front facade and tower in an interesting mix of County funded housing and the private church (which was the source of the lawsuit). Now that things are finally underway, they are targeting a very fast schedule with completion next year!
Another photo of the destruction after the jump…
Some big news on the new Southeast Yards Park project. We will be seeing that 60-foot light tower (pictured center) sooner than previously thought. We just received word that the James Carpenter designed Associates tower is complete and will be arriving to be installed in July as part of the first phase.
The massive light tower will be illuminated at night and reflective crystals will make the tower shine during the day. We are looking forward to seeing how the finished tower ends up looking, it has the potential to become a major landmark the neighborhood.
Few individuals have had a greater impact on the American city than architect and city planner Daniel Burnham. Come and discover the timely and intriguing story of the man who helped design the National Mall as we know it today. The documentary film screening is going to be on National Mall and we can’t imagine a more beautiful location.
The film screening is free and open to the public on the National Mall at 4th street (same place as Screen on the Green) on Wednesday June 9th at 8:30pm.
More Details: National Capital Planning Commission
[Photo: vlastula]
Score one up for the DC Council this week… the Examiner is reporting that the District’s CFO is now officially taking financial control of the city’s embattled Housing Authority. This was a long time coming considering all the controversy over how contracts have been awarded in the past.
Hopefully CFO Natwar Gandhi will be able to whip them into shape (We just love this picture by the way!). [Photo: Brendan Smialowski for The New York Times]
Check out this great shot of Pennsylvania Ave from 1881. The most predominant building of the time was the recently built Willard Hotel. You can see how Pennsylvania Ave was a straight shot back then from the White House before it was realigned around Freedom Plaza. The varied storefronts on right were all demolished for the JW Marriott.
[Credit: National Archive]
Another month, another rosy picture from the folks at the National Association of Realtors. Sales of existing homes in April were up another 7.6 %. Reasons cited included people getting in last minute on the end of the homebuyer tax credit and a better consumer confidence level than in previous months.
We all know how NAR’s numbers don’t always match up with the true picture of what is going on out there in the market, so what do you think? You buying it?
[Photo: Mr T in DC]
Is there any other single architectural structure more defining or predominate in our city? The 555 ft Washington Monument towers over DC and defines its skyline, but the version that stands today isn’t exactly what Architect Robert Mills’ had in mind when he fist designed it back in the 1840s.
Mills original conception was of a neoclassical rotunda topped by a towering obelisk. Everyone one knows how the outbreak of the Civil War caused several delays (and the change in materials) to the monument, but the delay also resulted in a major change in design because of new architectural tastes and styles. The original design was heavily altered and the unadorned, pointed Egyptian obelisk we all know today prevailed. So what do you think? Would the original design (pictured above) have been better?
One part of the larger new Ripley District project in downtown Silver Spring is space for a park and we got our hands on a rendering of the potential use of the triangular parcel along Georgia Avenue. It is certainly an interesting use of the space that tries to go a little outside the typical park design.
We know this is only a proposal, but in terms of creating space for people to sit and enjoy the space, we think this works. however we’re not so sure what is going on with the glass enclosed space in the back. Similar to the new canal park in SE it makes us wonder how the heck you would ever keep it looking clean?
The Neighborhoods of 2015
At UrbanTurf, we have found that DC homebuyers are almost as interested in finding a good-priced single-family home in a neighborhood that is on the up-and-up as they are in plunking down half a million dollars for a condo in the center of the city. With that in mind, we asked a selection of bloggers, journalists, real estate agents and developers to give us their thoughts on the unsung DC neighborhood that will be attracting homebuyers in 2015.
Editors Note: Contributing editor KB takes a weekly look at our city focusing on covering historic preservation / restoration, architecture, public space, beautification, and transportation issues. This week a little trip to the National Building Museum.
I was lucky enough to be invited by a friend to be his “plus one” at the National Building Museum gala last week. I usually don’t go to events like that – especially in such a beautiful building as the old Pension Building – but my friend works for the Department of Housing and Urban Development and he thought it would interest me.
But I mention it really because the event saluted three “civic innovators” who have improved the built environment:
- Perkins+Will, an architecture firm specializing in “green” architecture;
- The U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathalon;
- And the founders of the New Orleans Habitat Musicians’ Village.
Though these three organizations are not directly linked to the urban spaces of the Washington, DC area, the work they have done could, in fact, affect the way we live or think about the spaces around us…
More details are coming out on the new NPR Headquarters at 1111 N. Capitol St. National Public Radio has announced that Balfour Beatty Construction will be the developer in change of its new headquarters in DC, with construction expected to start in October.
We are still waiting to see the updated renderings from the architect Hickok Cole of how the new building will end up looking. We know they plan to incorporate some of the existing building on the site into the design as shown in the above initial rendering. Should be interesting! [Rendering: Hickok Cole]
The HGTV series “My First Sale” is coming to town to cast first time home sellers in the DC area for their second season! If you fit the bill and are interested in your very own 15 minutes of fame, check out their website for all the details. We guess reality TV is still going strong.
[Photo: KendraLR]
Despite some activity last summer, Abdo Development’s Arbor Place is officially dead in the water! The proposed 16-acre development on New York Ave, NE would have consisted of over 1.7 million sq-ft of mixed-use. Apparently the main issue was getting the financing for such a large project lined up and after trying for almost a full year, the developer is moving on to other projects.
So what is in the future for the large site in Northeast? Abdo is being a little guarded and when asked, all we got was that they will be looking into other options for the site that are in the best interest of the community. Interestingly Abdo still will control the site, so really not much has changed, and there is always the possibility that in a year or two things will fall into place to make a project of Arbor Places scale possible again.
