The contemporary design by Martinez + Johnson for the adaptive reuse of the Meridian Hill Baptist Church is no more, and stone will now replace glass due to an architectural re-skin requested by the Historic Preservation Review Board in September.The 55-unit residential and historic preservation project is being developed through a partnership between the Church and developer Bozzuto. HPRB initially reviewed the project in July and the third review (of the new design seen here) will take place this month.
A light shade of stone is now being used (seen at top) to blend the front of the skinny side addition with the lighter limestone facade of the church, as opposed to the glass initially used to differentiate the addition (seen at left).
The new addition, an 8-story "L-shaped" residential building, will wrap around the back of the church and rise 80 feet, approximately 17 feet above the tip of the church's roof, in a shade of tan that is distinct from both the church and the facade of the side addition, but not dark enough to appear as a looming presence, as Bozzuto's Clark Wagner promised in advance of the development team's first trip to the HPRB.
This summer, Wagner expected the project to become a condominium with 55 to 60 units, all one- and two-bedrooms priced in the upper-$200,000 to low-$400,000 range, and up for sale next summer. The timeline is bound to be pushed back, however, with a trip to the Board of Zoning Adjustment necessary after HPRB approval.
The Meridian Hill Baptist Church at 3146 16th Street, NW, was one of a few structural victims of a five-alarm fire in March of 2008 that originated in the Deauville Apartments located across the church's back alley.
Redevelopment of the 14,700-s.f. property will include strict preservation of the Church's classical limestone edifice (constructed in 1927 by noted firm Porter & Lockie) - the desire to insert additional glass openings into the limestone facade was nixed by the HPRB in September.
Correction 12/2: New addition will be 80' tall (not 277')
Washington D.C. real estate development news
8 comments:
I ususally hate what HPRB does to architrecture in this city, but I actually kind of prefer this over the original design...
Me too. The original just looked odd.
Ditto to the above two commentators. The all glass wall looks like an office building. I'm sure the tenants will also rather have an open framed view rather than a drapped wall of glass. The idea of urban manners, like knowing when to differ to an elderly and elegant neighbor should be natural to architects, but in our egocentric architectural culture the HPRB needs to be the grown-up and tell the kids to behave. Bravo!
The article says it will rise 277 ft? Really?
Not 277 feet.
It will be 80 feet tall. I apologize for the outlandish typo, thanks for catching it.
I wonder who will be lining up for units on the back of the development, which will overlook the burned-out shell of the Mt. Pleasant street apartment building. I'm betting that project will not go anywhere for years.
One look at the renderings - and I thought How clever of Colbert! Zydeco Lofts and his brother. Turns out - wrong again. It's M&J's turn. Why celebrate mediocrity? Just because it's Washington DC?
It's nice that those of us who prefer a little masonry in our residential buildings get a new addition now and then. This building looks nice.
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