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Month: June 2013

National Trust’s Move to Watergate Highlights Arlington’s Watergate Connection

National Trust’s Move to Watergate Highlights Arlington’s Watergate Connection

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The National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) has just completed the sale of 1785 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., the historic Beaux-Arts building in Washington D.C.’s Dupont Circle neighborhood where it has held its headquarters for the past 34 years. To the surprise of some observers, the NTHP has announced plans to move its headquarters to the Watergate complex in Foggy Bottom. The 10-acre Watergate complex, constructed from 1963 to 1971 and famous for its role in the downfall of President Richard…

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The Washington Post on Historic Housing Styles

The Washington Post on Historic Housing Styles

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Today’s “Home and Garden” section of the Washington Post has a handy feature on identifying your home’s architectural style. The article references Arlington’s Ashton Heights neighborhood and describes the main character-defining features of the bungalow, Victorian, Colonial revival, Modern, ranch, and other types of houses in our area. NOTE: The Ashton Heights Style Guide, published in collaboration between the neighborhood’s Conservation Advisory Committee, the Historic Affairs and Landmark Review Board, and the Arlington Heritage Alliance (Preservation Arlington’s former incarnation), is…

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APS Board To Sell the Wilson School

APS Board To Sell the Wilson School

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Note: On June 18, the Arlington Public School Board unanimously approved a “letter of intent” to sell Wilson School and the surrounding playfield to Penzance Properties, an adjacent property owner. The Wilson School building was included on Preservation Arlington’s 2013 list of the county’s Most Endangered Historic Places. As Preservation Arlington continues to monitor the developing situation regarding the Wilson School, we invited this guest post on the situation by Mark Antell, a longtime community advocate for the school. In…

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Army Corps Green-Lights Cemetery Tree Removal

Army Corps Green-Lights Cemetery Tree Removal

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Over the objections of conservation and preservation groups, as well as private citizens, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has given Arlington National Cemetery the go-ahead to cut down nearly 800 native trees near Arlington House, the Robert E. Lee National Memorial. The Corps performed an environmental assessment that concluded that the proposal, designed to expand the cemetery to allow for more burials, would have “no significant adverse impact” on the environment of the site. The oldest trees in the…

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UPCOMING MEETING: Blue Goose Redevelopment

UPCOMING MEETING: Blue Goose Redevelopment

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The proposed redevelopment of the building at 1000 Glebe Road, better known as the Blue Goose, will be considered at an upcoming meeting of the Arlington Planning Commission’s Site Plan Review Committee (full agenda here). This meeting will be an informational presentation on the proposed redevelopment from the applicant and County staff, which will also include an overview of the site’s land use and zoning and how this and the proposed changes correlate to neighboring sites and the County’s General…

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The Last Days of the Navy Annex

The Last Days of the Navy Annex

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Built in 1941 during the booming war effort in Washington, D.C., the Navy Annex overlooking the Pentagon is now nearly gone. After more than a decade of negotiating and planning, the Department of Defense is close to completing its demolition of the building to make way for an expansion of nearby Arlington National Cemetery. Once the demolition is complete, the site will be converted to a grass field pending its incorporation into the cemetery. Once known simply as Federal Office…

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Sun Gazette Reports on Carlin Hall Reopening

Sun Gazette Reports on Carlin Hall Reopening

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The restoration and grand reopening of National Register-listed Carlin Hall was the subject of a feature in the Arlington Sun Gazette.  “Meeting place, church, dance hall, library, theater: it served a multitude of functions until, in 1962, the county government took over operations and began using it as a community center,” Scott McCaffrey writes in the piece.