Park View, D.C.

The Park View School has been serving the community since 1916

In addition to the Irving Street sign (see below), the other item that was on the September ANC 1A agenda that will be of interest to Park View residents is the nomination of the Park View School as a historic landmark. This was introduced by ANC 1A08 Commissioner Kent Boese and approved by the ANC (vote 7-1).

The nomination was about as straight forward and uncontroversial as landmark nominations get. The school is one of the lucky few that is loved by both neighborhood residents and greater Washington’s keepers of the city’s architectural heritage. One of the more significant aspects of the building is that it was designed by municipal architect Snowden Ashford in 1916 — the same architect and year as the original Dunbar High School (razed 1977). For additional details, you can read the entire landmark application.

What is important to keep in mind is that landmark status does not hamper modernization of school building or even dictate use. While it will protect the architectural integrity of the building, the modernization planned to begin in 2012 for the school will still go forward. Moderniation, and even contemporary additions, can and do happen to DCPS landmarked schools. An excellent example of a recently modernized school with landmark status is Janney Elementary School (4130 Albemarle Street NW). Those interested can check out some of the documentation about Janney here.

The nomination will be sent to the DC Historic Preservation Office where will it be scheduled for a public hearing by the Historic Preservation Review Board as their calendar permits. The applications are considered under the authority of the Historic Landmark and Historic District Protection Act of 1978. Landmark applications are considered and either approved or rejected by the Historic Preservation Review Board.

This entry was posted on September 16, 2011 at 9:31 am and is filed under History, Schools. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

Tags: historic landmarks, Park View, Park View School, Schools