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Rendering of west building,
at Florida Avenue and 8th Street, NW |
The Historic Preservation Review Board has given preliminary approval to the concept plans for JBG's Florida Avenue project. (You can view the HPRB's March 22, 2012, hearing
here.)
The JBG project is located on Florida Avenue, NW, between 7th and 9th Streeets. It consists of two planned buildings centered on 8th Street, NW, on lots comprised of approximately 30,000 square feet of land area. Each building would have ground-level retail space, five stories of residential units, and one floor of below-grade parking. (You can view the March 5, 2012, project renderings at this prior
post).
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JBG Florida Avenue project site
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The Board found the following aspects of the JBG concept plan "to be compatible with the character of the historic district and consistent with the purposes of the preservation act":
• Overall site organization
• Height and massing along Florida Avenue, NW
• General architectural direction, subject to further development and material selection
• Relocation of the front, original section of 1933-35 9th Street, NW, to the southern portion of the site
• Reconfiguration of the alley on the western parcel to exit on 9th Street
At the same time, the Board asked JBG to "study reductions in height and mass at the southern ends of the two buildings to improve the transition to the adjacent smaller scale rowhouses."
The Board also asked JBG to "continue working on the designs, materials and articulation of the proposal and return for further review when appropriate."
Excerpts from the staff report are after the jump, along with a copy of the full report.
Via Ghosts of DC, read a 1910 article from the Baltimore Afro-American describing the original opening night of the Howard Theatre. The article says that the building costs $100,000 (financed mostly by Baltimore capitalists) and that "All the colored shows that heretofore been compelled to play in third-rate theatres or stay away from this city, will be seen this winter at the Howard, and white actors of note will appear there." The article also describes the building interior, the opening night entertainment, and opening night speakers.
