Monday, May 5, 2008

putting out the richard layman signal: north capital street demolitions

(note: the richard layman signal is similar to the bat-signal, except instead of the caped crusader coming to your aid, you'll get a planning advocate who rides a bicycle, not the batmobile.)






look at all these rowhouses on hanover street and north capitol street. thanks to a note passed along in the daily bloomingdalian, we learn this:


1322 - 1330 North Capitol Street NW and 7 & 9 Hanover Place NW to be Razed

See this 5/1/2008 message from the DC Historic Preservation Office:


The Historic Preservation Office is one of a group of agencies and private utilities that provide a clearance on raze applications before permits are issued. The HPO clearance of a raze application indicates either that the property is not subject to the historic preservation law, or that the demolition has been approved through the process provided in the preservation law.

HPO recognizes the frequent neighborhood interest in raze applications. We also endeavor to maintain fair, efficient, and prompt processing of these applications. HPO will routinely clear raze applications that do not involve historic preservation issues. If a raze application may involve a matter of significance to neighborhood planning and development, HPO may hold the application until the expiration of the official notice period that DCRA is required to give to the affected Advisory Neighborhood Commission.

David Maloney
State Historic Preservation Officer
D.C. Office of Planning
801 North Capitol Street NE, Room 3000
Washington, D.C. 20002
(202) 442-8850 fax (202) 741-5247


One of the sets of non-historically designated properties that the DC HPO just released from hold is 1322, 1324, 1326, 1328, 1330 North Capitol Street NW, 7 Hanover Place NW & 9 Hanover Place NW.

So it looks like these properties will be razed, which is unfortunate.

This is part of the residential development project by Dr. Charles Murphy of Meridian North Capitol LLC.


this is terrible. these buildings don't appear to be in any worse shape than a lot of other vacant rowhouses in the city. it's worse than a shame that we'll likely lose these beautiful old buildings...it should be a crime. is there nothing that can be done at this point?

here are some pictures of the back of the buildings:




8 comments:

Mari said...

Seriously, if you want Richard's email, just email me.

IMGoph said...

's cool, i already have it :)

Sean Hennessey said...

yeah. its a shame these are going to get dozed.

Anonymous said...

It is a shame and I hate to see them go. I don't think many people would choose to live in them given that you're front door is just feet away from busy North Capitol Street. Businesses may not want to locate them because of the lack of parking.

Sean Hennessey said...

http://dcmud.blogspot.com/2008/05/dunbar-place-on-north-capitol.html

Sean Hennessey said...

sorry, that may be clipped.

this is what it will become

Anonymous said...

It is a shame that the beautiful houses, which need investment to be cleaned up, are going to go.

There is nothing the Historic Preservation Office can do if the property is not a landmark, or the residences are not in a historic district.

IMGoph said...

anon: unfortunately, as these properties are not in any historical district, there's nothing that can be done by the historic preservation office to protect them.