Your Next Place

This semi-detached Georgetown federal is a masterpiece of sophistication, sort of like a Paris Hilton DJ set, but the complete opposite.  Tall and clean-lined, it's also southfacing, so, unlike me as a child, it'll get plenty of warmth.

There's a huge, bright living room and a subdued study perfect for having a late night cigar with your pals while plotting a coup d'etat, or at least discussing fantasy football.  The formal dining room is elegant and spacious, and the kitchen sports high-end appliances and subtly sophisticated cabinets. The very fine washroom is wallpapered with ornate ink-drawn birds, and it's so nice that you'll basically have to drive to 7-11 every time you need to go to the bathroom, it's just far too disgusting of a thing to do in a room this nice.  Upstairs, the bedrooms have personality plus, and there's a fourth bedroom en suite that could also be used as a library, depending on if you own any books and/or are literate.

And then there's the breathtaking custom-built flagstone garden.  A wide flagstone-lined terrace with a sunbathing area and stairs leading down to an intimate firepit area with stone benches, I'm pretty sure this is the nicest backyard I've ever seen.  It's probably nicer than ninety percent of the actual houses I've been in.  You could have a nice sideline renting the yard out so guys could propose to their girlfriends there.  There's even a fireplace, so if she says no, he can fling the ring directly into the flames.  Even if he kept the receipt, the store probably wouldn't take it back anyway, because of the clinging reject stench.

3053 Q Street NW
4 Beds, 3.5 Baths
$1,735,000

2011 Year in Review

Looking back on 2011, the year may be known in the real estate world as a year of binge-buying and construction of apartment buildings, or the year Walmart came to town, at least on paper. But with Washington DC's population growing and construction financing available, the city added many new restaurants, apartments (though condos still lagged) and even some office buildings. Here's a look at some of the many developments that shaped the year:

14th Street Rules
14th Street saw developers lining up in swarms as JBG broke ground on District Condos (Jan 10) and quickly leased up retail in the future building (pictured below), showing the commercial strength of 14th Street, though the building later converted to rentals, showing the relative strength of the apartment financing market. Nearby, Georgetown Strategic Capital readied to build Utopia at 14th & U, though JBG took that up too. Level2 Development got support for 144 units across the street on the 1900 block of 14th, UDR got underway on its 255-unit apartment building replacing the Nehemiah Center, Douglas Development got approval for 30 units on the 2200 block, Habte Sequar started work on his 30 unit project at 14th & R, while PN Hoffman began converting the Verizon building across the street into 40 condos. The Irwin neared final approval for 60 units on lower 14th Street, and Furioso put up a design for a 42,000 s.f. office in the 1500 block.

Virginia, Towering Above Others
Virginia went big this year: Dittmar submitted plans for 500 apartments in Virginia Square (Jan 11), though construction has not yet begun. The beltway's tallest building - at nearly 400 feet - got underway in Alexandria, another just a hare shorter got closer in Tysons Corner, both barely eclipsing the Rosslyn tower that poked above ground (pictured, left) just a few days ago. JBG contributed with its 474-unit Rosslyn Commons groundbreaking (Jan 6).

There was finally a kick start for Buzzard Point (Jan 17), thanks to Duane Deason, who is planning the first residential project in the largely forgotten area, with zoning approval secured in August. Not too far away, Camden Properties began their residential project on South Capitol (June 13) giving the area some momentum. A new bridge and streetscape on the way for South Capitol gave the area even more buzz.

Columbia Heights saw nothing like the boom that hit it in previous years, but Chris Donatelli began adding another building next to his two centerpieces at 14th & Irving.

Getting Malled
It was a busy, if controversial year for the Mall: Eisenhower drew the most attention as Frank Gehry, the chosen architect, put forward 3 plans for a tribute. One was selected, but public discontent with the starchitect's vision was strong, and one arts group put forward its own competition. The winning vision was displayed, briefly. Three areas of the fading Mall were designated for a redesign (Oct 26). Rogers Marvel Architects was chosen as the designer for President's Park South (July 7), while DC residents begged for the reopening of E Street, and The Disabled Veterans' Memorial got nearly ready for construction near the U.S. Capitol (Oct 5). The Martin Luther King Memorial progressed from dirt piles to completion, opening this summer (Aug 12), and the African American Museum of History and Culture got nearly off the ground. Not to be outdone, Latinos pursued sites nearby for another museum on ethnicity and race (July 2).

NoMa boomed, again. Its second hotel, a Hilton, opened in April, Mill Creek Residential broke ground (March 18) on 603 rental units, Skanska purchased a lot in January and planned its largest office building in the DC area (Aug 10). Camden started off 320 units of housing in September, and MRP let slip that they intended to kick off Washington Gateway at NoMa's northern edge (Aug 29) after years of waiting. StonebridgeCarras started digging for phase II of Two Constitution Square (May 12) for 203 residential units and then broke ground on Three Constitution Square (Oct 18) on spec, like its predecessors. NoMa East, however, continued to idle.

Shaw had its day, again and again, as Four Points (officially, anyway) got to work on Progression Place (Feb 5), while the CityMarket at O got underway (pictured, below) two months after the Giant closed. New designs were released for the Wonder Bread buildings (Aug 30) Jefferson Apartment Group bought Kelsey Gardens (Oct 27), promising a quick start of removing the eyesores. Finally, Two more Marriotts were planned next to the Convention Center (June 22).

Take Me to the River
Construction was everywhere in the Capitol Riverfront neighborhood in southeast with the construction of Canal Park (Feb 15), and a new bridge (Nov 21). Foundry Lofts opened to the public, reconstruction of the boilermaker building got underway for the area's first retail component, work on the Harris Teeter and apartment building commenced and Florida Rock demolition finally began. Other waterfronts made progress too as plans in Old Town and southwest DC inched along.

Elsewhere around the city, the CityCenter mega-project got underway in April, still without a tenant; GW faced a public outcry over its plan to demolish historic rowhouses on Pennsylvania Avenue, the Wisconsin Ave. Giant finally got the financing to go forward with the residential and retail project, then beat off the NIMBYs, and Dakota Crossing was purchased, facilitating a big-box retail development where a forest now stands. Tenleytown got an unsightly library, finally (Jan 19) and new school, Eastbanc unveiled its designs for the West End (Apr 8), and the Bozzuto/Abdo team broke ground for the 2nd big project in Brookland.

Bethesda, and its Northern Neighbor
In Bethesda, Bainbridge got to work on its 17-story apartment building, while the Trillium site was sold to StonebridgeCarras and Walton Street Capital (Mar 9), injecting the moribund project with hoped-for new life. Way up north in the neighborhood that no one can agree what to name, White Flint (aka North Bethesda, aka Rockville) got ready for a building boom as JBG and LCOR beefed up residences (1275 by LCOR) planned for the ongoing construction sites and Federal Realty planned 1725 residences. JBG already has the tallest residential building in Montgomery County, which it plans to surpass with its next phase (pictured, at right).

Projects that wanted to be on the 2011 list but will now have to dream of the 2012 list: anything in Fort Totten, Skyland redevelopment, Arlington's first LEED Gold apartment building, reconstruction of Babe's Billiards, the Florida Avenue / Capital City Market, the Adams Morgan hotel, the Akridge and Monument Half Street projects in southeast, and Howard Town Center, to name just a few.

Your Next Place

By Franklin Schneider


Arguably the Georgetowniest house in Georgetown. This classic townhouse is located in the prestigious East Village and has been spectacularly renovated by prestigious architect Outerbridge Horsey, a name you already know if you appreciate peerless design or if you're just into vaguely amusing names.

I almost don't know where to start with this place. It's a brilliant mix of classic charm and modern amenities, from the open floor plan to the burnished hardwood floors. There's an elegant dining room (with fireplace), a palatial sitting room, and my personal favorite, a beautiful library. I always keep books around, not just to read but also for the intellectual cachet. There's nothing like a few dozen leatherbound volumes to make your date forget about how you kept saying “mer-LOTT” at dinner.



The gem of the house, though, is maybe the brightest, biggest (Pedini gourmet) kitchen I've ever seen. Just look at it. I'm pretty sure just the island is bigger than my entire kitchen. Several French doors give out onto a huge double-lot deep garden that's probably big enough for an emergency airplane landing, or at least a spirited game of lawn bowling.

The house also features the wonderfully spartan all-white elegance of Waterworks bathrooms, which is basically the Maybach of water closets. I recently read an interview with the cofounder of Waterworks and she said one of the main reasons she started the company was because she hated seeing so many pink toilets. And in these increasingly troubled times, isn't hating pink toilets something we can all unite around?

1628 32nd Street NW
5 Bedrooms, 3.5 Baths
$3,395,000

EastBanc Prepping for 2012 Start in West End

Hoping to begin construction by this time next year, the joint venture EastBanc-W.D.C. Partners LLC - led by EastBanc and joined by The Warrenton Group, Dantes Partners, and LS Caldwell & Associates - will seek Zoning Commission approval on December 19th for its West End development site.

Though hope springs eternal for the development team, Joe Sternlieb, head of real estate acquisitions at EastBanc, knows that the potentially elusive 2012 start date depends on how long it takes to trudge though and pocket approvals from D.C.'s various commissions and committees, in this case Zoning, the Commission of Fine Arts, and DDOT's public space committee, among others - yet, the team is making strides, and although the design seems to change daily at this point in the process, Sternlieb remains optimistic.

With the CFA process begun, and DDOT in the future, the focus now is on Zoning's approval of the Planned Unit Development for Square 37, one of two West End sites being developed in conjunction by EastBanc. The other, Square 50, will be matter of right. The Square 37 property - fronting L Street between 23rd and 24th Street, NW - consists of three lots now holding the West End Library, a Police Operations facility and a surface parking lot. The site needs to be rezoned as Commercial Residential (CR) in order for developers to construct a mixed-use, 11-story building designed by architect Enrique Norten of TEN Arquitectos that will house a new West End Library, 7,617 s.f. of additional retail space which includes a corner cafe, and approximately 180 residences.

Zoning Commission approval of the plan (the PUD) and rezone request should be the easy part. Capitalizing on the West End site was the goal of the District, which issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for redevelopment (of both Square 37 and 50) in October of 2009. The city selected EastBanc in March of 2010; the winning developer beat out one other competitor thanks to asserting it would build both a new library and a new fire station without District subsidy. And in advance of EastBanc's PUD application filing, Victor Hoskins, Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, sent the Commission a letter in support, highlighting that fact.

The entire project includes four District-owned sites at Square 37 and 50. The Square 50 portion (the other component not included in the Commission's review this month) includes the new West End fire station which will be topped with below-market rate residences, located at 2225 M Street, NW. Although both buildings at Square 37 and 50 are the vision of Enrique Norten, the project's architect of record is WDG Architecture.

District backing can only get the project so far, however. The development team will have to revisit the Commission of Fine Arts, after the CFA determined in its October 20th review that the library exterior needs a little "refinement," and suggested a "de–emphasis of supergraphics on the windows to support the clear architectural expression of the entrance."

The CFA also expressed concern about "building performance, such as the maintenance of the glass and metal skin of the building," and will have the chance to review another submission for the project in the near future. However, in a letter to Victor Hoskins, the "Commission commended the developer, DMPED, and the D.C. Public Library for their collaboration in supporting this distinctive design."

The entire Square 37 and 50 redevelopment project is part of Georgetown-based EastBanc's purported goal "to transform the once sleepy West End from a 'transitional zone' between Georgetown and Dupont Circle into a vibrant urban neighborhood with its own unique identity."

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Northwest of Heaven

By Beth Herman

It's off of Foxhall in NW D.C., but for preeminent interior designer Thomas Pheasant, the property is about as close to heaven as he can get.

Purchased three years ago, the designer's 6,000 s.f. residence - including a formidable Greek Revival-style pool house he built — took 18 months to renovate, becoming “almost unconsciously a kind of retrospective of years of (his) designs,” Pheasant said. Recognized worldwide for his noble furniture collections that span two decades, the fourth generation Washingtonian has filled his residence with an amalgam of his own furniture and collected artifacts ranging from antique mirrored consoles, tables and chairs, to a restored 1930s French Baccarat chandelier discovered in a Paris shop, and small bronze accent tables in the bedroom.

“There were certain pieces I designed for the house—sort of the centerpieces of each room, but most are from designs I did 15 years ago through my studio, or for my Baker collection, or my McGuire collection,” the designer said. Items culled from storage, due to size constraints of a prior home in Georgetown, also include art acquired over years of travel that gild the Foxhall-adjacent residence. “It was amazing to me how everything just went into that house,” Pheasant said.

Jettisoning the former 1,800 s.f. Georgetown dwelling in which he and his partner had lived for a considerable amount of time, the designer had undertaken a challenging, two-year search for real estate that moved him.

“When I saw that first house in Georgetown,” Pheasant reflected about the previous space, “I thought I could just turn it around in a year and move out. But because of my work, I’m the last one on my list of things to do.” He was there for 21 years.

With regard to his current residence, maintaining that he could have gone into a modern house or a Georgetown townhouse, Pheasant said that because he travels so much he’d specified absolutely no pool and no big garden to maintain as priorities. When the agent called to describe a house that was clearly in the wrong neighborhood, with a pool and behemoth gardens to boot, something about its immense privacy superseded everything else and Pheasant bought it. “The backyard has the potential to transport me far away from the city,” he recalled of his decision, adding that visitors are quick to embrace the property’s serene, pastoral qualities.

Character reference

Referencing an eclectic national clientele with enormously varied tastes, Pheasant’s transformational philosophy involves making a home a better version of what someone bought—because homeowners usually have a significant, “romantic” connection to it, the designer said. “It’s important to do this without changing the home or making it a different style, so I try to listen to what people are saying about the way they want to live,” he explained. Applying those principles to his own residence, Pheasant said he was initially chagrined that the property was only 10 or 12 years old.

“If I was going to move into a new house, I’d have wanted to be part of the design of it with the architect,” he said, reiterating that the property’s privacy factor is what trumped everything else and ultimately sold him. That said, making it a better version of what it was included infusing it with “strong character”—or the kind of soul found in an older home.

Gutting the interior to produce results in a modern classical vein, Pheasant proceeded to open up the interior to the outside.

A center hallway designed to flow from the front straight through to the back of the house allows one to see all the way through to the garden upon entry. The kitchen, dining room and living room all empty into the center hallway (the former can be isolated when the urge strikes), with mahogany doors and ivory paneling in each room, along with other shared finishes, providing an elegant common denominator.

With an eye to green building, Pheasant said all millwork, wood doors and furniture from his collections are recycled and/or sustainable materials. A NASA-developed invisible film called V-KOOL, blocking the majority of the sun’s heat and fading properties, was utilized on the multitude of south-facing windows and skylights. Radiant heat provides comfort from the ground up in winter. Expensive to install, it modifies heating costs.

Of Paris, Peace and Palettes

On a trip to Paris 10 years ago, the designer said he ran into a friend who had just purchased an apartment.

“I wasn’t looking for a place,” Pheasant said, “but it struck me that I was working all the time, and I’d never even had the time to look for a getaway house somewhere in Middleburg as I’d hoped. My life was going by so quickly.”

A meeting sans “seriousness” with a real estate agent nevertheless produced an apartment in deplorable condition off of Boulevard Saint-Germain, the property stripped of its moldings and character. Seduced by its light—banks of windows existed on both sides which most French quarters do not possess—as well as French doors that looked out across the Seine toward the Louvre and Basilique du Sacre-Couer, the designer jumped in with both feet, restoring the apartment to its former style. “I ended up fully renovating the apartment and designing a lot of furniture for it here in Washington, and shipping it to Paris,” Pheasant said, having nixed his original idea about peppering it with French flea market finds.

Noting that the palette for his Washington home is in sharp contrast to the Paris apartment, Pheasant said he looks out at green all the time from the former. In Paris, tones of grey and limestone on interior walls and furnishings reflect the surrounding cityscape, yet the same sense of balance and serenity permeates each residence.

Returning home to the lower level of the D.C. property, Pheasant created a lush library/office space that precludes what used to amount to marathon office visits on weekends. “I’d go for an hour on a Saturday and end up staying eight hours,” he conceded. The space is executed in a rich chocolate brown, which distinguishes its climate from that of the main floor.

“Sometimes I like coming home on Friday, closing the door and then forgetting everything until Monday,” Pheasant said of his D.C. residence overall, acknowledging he’s always evolving as a designer. “It’s a really nice place to relax.”

photos courtesy of Gordon Beall and Durston Saylor

Fanfare for the Uncommon Man

By Beth Herman

One doesn’t have to love composer Aaron Copland (as I do) to appreciate award-winning interior designer Nestor Santa-Cruz’s equally exalted riffs in his bachelor client’s singular living space.

Designing what he calls a Washington loft (fundamentally open, though a little more divided than a NY loft) for an urbane returning ex-pat, in true loft fashion Santa-Cruz defined the space by continuity of a black, brown and neutral-toned palette (the riff!) throughout its 2,300 s.f., which included a rare 900 s.f. terrace. "Not a lot of people had looked at the unit because they thought maintaining a terrace of that size would be a big deal," Santa-Cruz said of the relatively new Union Row condominium at 2125 14^th St. NW. "But for many reasons it was actually the loft’s biggest asset."

Charged with reimagining a conventional, mid-level package which included standard cherry flooring that permeated the entire loft, in addition to oddly-hued brown/black/green marble countertops and plain maple cabinetry, the designer also needed to integrate exposed aluminum ductwork and sprinkler pipes in the 11-foot ceilings without evoking a cold, factory-look.

“The combination was not very attractive—or sophisticated,” Santa-Cruz said of the materials and finishes in general. “It had no character.” What’s more, though the space was contemporary in flavor, the homeowner, a real estate developer with 14 years abroad, had culled some personal, very traditional pieces from his London flat and had his own ideas about color, opting at first for neutrals.

In the bedroom

To that end, and to accommodate the homeowner but up the ante, Santa-Cruz elected to use a neutral tone on at least one wall in the more public spaces, and to continue this as the wall flowed into the master bedroom. In a NY loft, he explained, this kind of accent might be reflected in an exposed brick wall, but absent that element, continuity was established with color. Two other bedroom walls were painted a Benjamin Moore dark brown (“I call it Godiva chocolate,” the designer said). Strategic use of vinyl wallpaper resembling brown pony skin squares, from French company Elitis, provided a rich architectural accent on the remaining wall behind the bed. “He was a little hesitant about the brown color in the bedroom,” Santa-Cruz said of his client. “He did want a masculine apartment, but in the neutrals. I told him, ‘You know, it’s paint. Let’s test it and we’ll go from there.’” With a headboard in neutral flax linen from home décor mecca And Beige, color was again provided with the integration of a black faux-alligator dresser from the client’s London residence, and the addition of a rich grape Loro Piana cashmere throw that also belonged to the client.

In the guest bedroom, the designer retained the homeowner’s former bed adding a chocolate headboard that complemented strategic Mondrian-like paint squares on the wall. With a precise charge to the painter, Santa-Cruz said he drew every elevation and created the composition, selecting and manipulating colors that included gold leaf, brown, beige and ivory. “I essentially created my own wallpaper –my own mural,” he said of the custom design (ad)venture, having eschewed the idea of wallpapering the entire room in favor of the more creative painting process. Influenced by iconic 20^th Century French minimalist interior designer Jean-Michel Frank, who worked with artists using screens and fabric as their canvas, Santa-Cruz revealed his goal was to create a “…cocoon that would make the guest feel important and special in a very personal way.” It is a one-of-a-kind design.

The art deco diet

In the loft’s living room area, the homeowner had imported a sofa from his London residence that was reupholstered for a more cosmopolitan look, and sited to take in the extensive view out through the terrace. An antique Chinese black lacquer armoire from London conceals the TV. To feed his client’s voracious appetite for all things art deco, Santa-Cruz distinguished between what he called “Miami art deco” and a more elegant French art deco with softer materials and forms. Accordingly, reproduction French 1930s art deco pieces helped punctuate the loft (Santa-Cruz has many period sources in Argentina that were utilized), including a reupholstered chartreuse chair at a small bedroom desk that reflects the color of the draperies.

Acknowledging that often floor plans in Washington force a dining room and living room, even though the space is just square, Santa-Cruz said he decided a formal dining area was not required. To that end, a robust 19^th Century French steel table from Georgetown’s Marston Luce Antiques, of printing establishment provenance, was employed in the loft both as dining table and desk. “We made it sort of an English library feel,” the designer said, with the addition of a hardy leather chair.

In the kitchen, possibly the project’s biggest design challenge, Santa-Cruz said the nondescript maple cabinetry was spray painted a matte black, reminiscent of English pubs and club bars which are traditionally mahogany. An island – part of the loft’s original package—had been exposed underneath with four legs and a shelf. Electing to skirt it in the British style, the designer used outdoor “umbrella fabric” to resist incursions from daily use. A glass top was added, and a bit of Hemingway-esque drama created by the addition of a 3-by-4-foot black-and-white portrait of a Cuban campesino by his 1950s automobile, estimated to have been taken in the last decade. Photographed by British photographer Chris Simpson, the client had seen it in the home of a London friend and commissioned a print for himself. The print was subsequently flown to the U.S. via private jet to avoid any freight fatalities. “It was one of the last things we did and is like having an extra window,” Santa-Cruz said of the expansive portrait. “It makes that kitchen and gives it an edge.”

Fluent in duct

Also regarded among the loft’s edgier aspects, exposed aluminum ductwork and black sprinkler pipes meander through the space. A debate about enclosing what some may consider rogue components in drywall and creating soffits was ultimately settled by determining that to do so would make the apartment look smaller. With much of its character predicated on these anomalous elements, the pipes and ductwork crown the space much like a residential tiara and in fact become an integral part of the décor’s dialogue.

For the designer, addressing a 900 s.f. terrace was unprecedented though not as daunting as some might think. Extending the loft’s living room and essentially creating a continuous indoor/outdoor living space, Santa-Cruz pulled from a variety of Restoration Hardware collections to create an eclectic, comfortable and durable domain. These included an outdoor sisal rug, wicker furniture and metal chairs.

“The whole idea was to flow the design in/out,” Santa-Cruz said. “When you’re outside and look back into the apartment, it’s a great experience, especially at night, because you think you’re in one room.”

Noting that his work on the Union Row loft is about “proportion, texture and color as an accent,” Santa-Cruz maintained the space flows as though the homeowner, who incorporated his own cherished pieces, had put things together himself. “He’s well-traveled, very well-connected and has been in some beautiful homes,” the designer said of his client, the loft redolent of an uncommon life.

Washington DC real estate news

Eastbanc to Unveil West End Residences

At long last, Georgetown's Eastbanc will unveil its plans for West End library and fire station sites on the 25th of April at a meeting of the ANC. After months of meeting with local community groups to fine-tune plans, Eastbanc intends to roll out its plans more publicly for redevelopment of the two sites.

Eastbanc's proposal is for a 52-unit low-income (max 60% AMI), 90 foot residential building above a new fire station on M Street, and a 10-story residence of up to 180 units above a new library and retail filling the 2300 block of L Street. The developer was selected by the District of Columbia in March of 2010 to redevelop the 4 city-owned sites - 1 at the fire station and 3 contiguous sites between the West End Library and special operations facility at 23rd and L, each a 2 story, deteriorating building subsumed by development and recent population surge. Eastbanc is not releasing its designs until the ANC meeting, but early renderings (at left, above) indicate the projects will be in keeping with the designer's minimalist, contemporary style.

The project is being designed by New York and Mexico-based TEN Arquitectos, (for Taller de Enrique Norten) and will add 10,000 s.f. of ground floor retail to the street.

Enrique Norten, lead designer on the West End project, started TEN Arquitectos in Mexico City in 1986 designing small, modern single-family homes. The firm has now swelled to an international presence, though still with a predominantly Mexican portfolio, and seeks to "straddle the line between Mexican and New York sensibilities," says a spokesman, who says Norton creates for a "very minimalist aesthetic." The architect has received attention for his redesign of federal buildings throughout Mexico as well as several high profile projects in New York City.

Completed projects and proposals bear that out, with designs that encompass simple, angular and monument- style towers with expansive footprints as well as diminutive rectangular buildings in more clustered urban spaces, most of which reject the graph paper effect of even lines and flat facades in favor of broken, asymmetrical contours and surfaces. (see visuals: Harlem Park in NYC above left, James Hotel in Los Angeles, above right, Mercedes House in NYC below 1, Chopo Museum Mexico, below 2, New York library below 3, Reforma in Mexico, below 4)

Sean Stadler, Principal of WDG Architecture which was chosen as the architect of record to execute the designs, says Eastbanc's choice of Norten demonstrates Eastbanc's commitment to "trying to assert good architecture into the community." Says Stadler, "they approach development not just from a dollars and sense position. I think that TEN Arquitectos is thinking with a much more global eye on architecture than DC tends to, and I think that's part of the strategy that Eastbanc has had in the past." Citing Eastbanc's other accomplishments at 22 West and Ritz Carlton Georgetown (a former power plant), Stadler credits Eastbanc with the transformative effect of well executed project. "If you look at the old power plant in Georgetown, its really made it a much more personable place."
To accomplish the LEED - possibly gold - ranking that Stadler says the team is striving for, and which Eastbanc didn't apply for on prior projects, the architect says to expect efficient glass, solar shades, exterior louvers, a green roof, and the latest wastewater management strategies. Noting the "strategy in this project in reducing our carbon footprint," Stadler calls the mostly glass, louvered shell "a much more efficient vehicle to stop heat from entering the building. Its not an eyebrow, but a more European approach, an operable full louver, somewhat like a blind on the exterior." According to Stadler, the exterior blinds block heat before it enters the building, in contrast to interior blinds, but also "visually adds texture and depth to the facade."

Eastbanc's Joe Sternlieb says the April 25th unveiling will be just the end of a years-long roadshow, acclimating the public and seeking input that has honed the design. "We tend to do alot of community meetings before we file...we've had over 60 community meetings so far over last 4 years, and retooled project many times based on community feedback." Sternlieb says he hopes to file the PUD application with the zoning forces in the first week of May, in conformance with milestones dictated by the District government, though he declines to set a timeline for construction, saying only that construction could begin within a year of zoning approval, or late 2012, at best. Only the library-police site is subject to zoning review, with the fire station "within the zoning envelope." LeMay Erickson Willcox Architects, which has expertise in designing fire stations, is helping craft the M Street site.

While the library and fire station will be rebuilt on site, the special-operations unit will be moved elsewhere.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Who Lived Here? Researching the History of an Old Home in the District

When he went searching for a home to buy in 1992 in Washington DC, Paul Kelsey Williams was seduced by a building at 1800 Vermont Avenue. Never mind that the neighborhood had been crime ridden, he was attracted to the corner house shaped like a miniature castle. After move in, a neighbor illuminated its history, it turns out that Williams lives in what used to be the Frelinghuysen University, a co-op for black working class adults built by Diller Groff in 1879.

With a graduate degree in historic preservation, Williams has an inclination to find the history of a property. As blogger for WashingtonHistory.com and author of several books on local history from Arcadia Publishing, including Greater U Street, Cleveland Park, Capitol Hill and Woodley Park, he wanted a home with an eclectic past. As a result, he ended up looking at homes in Logan Circle region in particular.

It doesn't take a degree from Cornell (though Williams has one) to find out the history of a home. Williams says it's easy if you start with the Washingtoniana Room of the Martin Luther King Library.

The Washingtoniana Room houses residency records from 1822 that include occupation of each homeowner and place of employment; individuals and families associated with a property can also be researched from 1790 in the HeritageQuest database by Census year. The library also files information on permits to build homes and additions from 1877 through 1949 (permits to build after 1949 are at the D.C. Archives). If you're really interested in going as far back as before the home was built, there's information associated with the city block and parcel of land that can be found in the Assessment Directory kept at the reference desk.

Speaking on his own neighborhood, Williams noted the treasures of the past he has discovered. "What I think is fascinating is the transition of Logan Circle and U Street from white to black-owned." Williams searched census records to discover the transition of home ownership in the neighborhood started in 1900 and continued through the '20's, during which time rowhouses were snapped up by middle class African Americans when whites moved to Dupont Circle and along Massachusetts Avenue where new homes were being built.

"Who was the architect, the original owner, how thick the walls are, the original cost, what the foundation and roof is made of, it's all there," says Williams. "Aside from adding to the story of your home, this information can be valuable if you're considering renovations."

If you're looking for information on an old home on Capitol Hill, Georgetown, Logan or U Street, there's a good chance it was built between the 1870's through the 1890's, during the first wave of building in D.C. An expanding government after the Civil War brought an influx of laborers and and a development boom.

Many homes in the area had been designed by one of three architects: Diller Groff who had built Williams' home, and Thomas Franklin Schneider was also prolific, having designed nearly 2000 buildings in the area between 1880 and 1900, including The Cairo as well as the 1700 block of Q Street, NW. George Cooper is the third most noteworthy architect of the era, having designed the Bond Building at New York Ave. and much of 14th Street, among others.

And as for Georgetown? "The funny thing is, many people think that the houses in Georgetown were among the most coveted," says Williams. "But unless they were the big mansions, they housed the butchers and the bakers in the 1870's and 1880's."

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