Park View, D.C.

(New 10-unit building planned for 3601 14th Street, NW, on the northeast corner of Perry)

In July, ANC1A was asked for a letter of support to raze the building at 3601 14th Street, NW, in order for the owners to build a new 10-unit building on the site. At the July ANC meeting, there was some confusion about the request as ANCs do not have authority to officially weigh in on raze applications and no Commissioner could think of a previous time when anyone had come to the Commission seeking support for a raze permit. We all agreed that we appreciated the opportunity to discuss the project as well as provide the community with details and that it would be great if other developers would do it.

(The structure currently at 3601 14th Street, NW.)

At the end of the discussion, ANC1A voted unanimously to support the raze application. The resulting building will have 10-units, meaning that it will have to provide one-unit as an Inclusionary Zoning unit. The building will be built entirely by-right, will conform with zoning, and is not seeking a parking variance. The architects for the project are Arcadia Design.

Initially, both Commissioners Valerie Baron and Kent Boese recognized the structure as once being the location of a mikvah and were concerned about any historic or cultural importance of the building, especially as there are few buildings that directly relate to the Jewish community that lived in the neighborhood during the 1920s-1960s.

In September 1940, a new community mikvah was dedicated on 14th Street, NW, within walking distance of the Beth Sholom Congregation, the Jewish Social Service Agency, and the Hebrew Home. (Above is the front and inside cover of the mikvah’s rules/regulations booklet.).

After consulting with the Historic Preservation Office and the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington it was determined that there was nothing architecturally significant about this property as it related to the mikvah. The structure was originally constructed as a residence and converted only later to a mikvah. With this understanding, it was agreed that razing the structure could be supported. The owners did agree to a request from the ANC to allow interested members from the historic societies access to tour and photograph anything that may remain of historic interest prior to razing.

Below are additional images of the planned new structure.

(Site plan showing the wedge shape of the lot.)

(Upper view looking northeast from 14th and Perry streets.)

This entry was posted on August 30, 2018 at 9:01 am and is filed under Development, Housing. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

Tags: Columbia Heights, Development, housing