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The District’s most endangered places of 2014

WTOP Staff | WTOP_website@wtop.com

October 9, 2014, 1:46 PM

Anacostia commercial corridor This area stretches along Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE from Good Hope Road to Howard Road. The neighborhood features 126 commercial buildings that date from 1854 to 1930 and many suffer from neglect and the threat of demolition.

One of D.C.'s earliest suburbs, Anacostia offered housing for the working class and many residents earned their paycheck at the nearby Navy Yard.

The league says that proposed redevelopment in the area would demolish or relocate historic buildings and is "inconsistent with the historic nature of the area."

(Photo courtesy Jason Hornick Photography + Motion/D.C. Preservation League)
911 and 913 L Street NW The two homes at 911 and 913 L Street NW are slated for the wrecking ball to make room for two hotels and an apartment building at the edge of the Shaw Historic District.

911 L Street is a three-story, brick rowhouse built in the 1850s. It is one of the oldest surviving buildings in the historic district. Next door, sits a three-story Romanesque-style brick and brownstone rowhouse built in 1892. Both feature raised entrances and English basements.

(Photo courtesy Jason Hornick Photography + Motion/D.C. Preservation League)
Carnegie Library Once home to the D.C. Central Library, the building now known as the Carnegie Library, 801 K St. NW, is still owned by D.C. government but suffers from a lack of purpose and the expense of needed repairs. (Photo courtesy Jason Hornick Photography + Motion/D.C. Preservation League)
St. Elizabeths East farm buildings Among the buildings available for redevelopment along the sprawling St. Elizabeths East property are farm buildings. The National Historic Landmark campus was a largely self-contained settlement originally built as a hospital for the "insane." Like many such facilities, it included a farm. The facility once had dairy barns, a horse barn, poultry house, and piggeries clustered in the northeast section of the campus.

Today just two buildings remain: the horse stable and dry barn. They are deteriorating and could face demolition because of years of neglect. The District is actively seeking to redevelop the aging campus and features the former agricultural complex on the site map for the redevelopment project's website. The buildings could serve as the site of a farmers market, according to the league.

(Photo courtesy Jason Hornick Photography + Motion/D.C. Preservation League)
Washington Canoe Club The colorful, shingle-style Washington Canoe Club, 3700 Water Street NW, dates to 1904 and includes a frieze inside by cartoonist and founder of the National Art School Felix Mahony. "The club represents the role of athletic clubs in twentieth century recreational life and has produced numerous national champions and Olympic medalists," according to the league. Despite upkeep by club members, the 110-year-old structure is deteriorating. The shingles are in poor conditions, the windows need repaired, the roof needs replaced and there are structural problems with the walls, floors and frame.

"Due to unclear ownership of the property, neither the Washington Canoe Club nor the National Park Service has been inclined to invest in restoration of the building," the league says. This summer however, the park service completed a report that will allow any plans to rehab the building to advance. However the NPS doesn't have the funding to make the repairs and the club is planning to launch a fundraising campaign.

(Photo courtesy Jason Hornick Photography + Motion/D.C. Preservation League)
West Heating Plant The mid-20th century industrial structure known as the West Heating Plant was built in 1948 as a Federal Works Agency project to provide steam heat to federal buildings. The building, perched above the Rock Creek Parkway at 1051 29th Street NW, was sold at auction and is slated to become condominiums. The league says the redevelopment proposal would demolish "more than 65 percent of the historic building" and that the plan doesn't comply with federal standards for rehabilitation - a condition of a covenant attached to the property.

The league describes the building as having "rhythmically recessed and projecting wall surfaces, curved walls, and abstract imagery." The six-story structure and its "streamlined facades" and "subtle architectural details" demonstrates an architectural shift away from Art Deco design.

(Photo courtesy Jason Hornick Photography + Motion/D.C. Preservation League)
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