ReHABit:
Claiming Endangered Structures in Washington DC to Rethink
Subsidized Housing
by
Catherine Kuhnle Fowlkes
Bachelor of Arts in Art History
Williams College, 1995
Williamstown, Massachusetts
Submitted to the Department of Architecture oniJanuary 18, 2006 in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Copyright 2006 Catherine Kuhnle Fowlkes. All Rights Reserved. The author
hereby grants to MIT permission to reproduce and distribute publicly paper and
electronic copies of this thesis document in whole or in part in any medium now
know or hereafter created.
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'_
Depfrt ent of chitecture
Janu ry 18, 2006
certified by
Shun Kanda
in
Architecture
Senior Lecturer
Thesis Supervisor
accepted
by _
~~~Yung Ho Chang
Professor of Architecture
Chairman, Department Committee on Graduate Studies
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ReHABit:
in Washington DC to Rethink Subsidized
Structures
Endangered
Claiming
Housing
by
Catherine Kuhnle Fowlkes
Bachelor of Arts in Art History
Williams College, 1995
Williamstown, Massachusetts
Submitted to the Department of Architecture on January 18, 2006 in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
ABSTRACT
There isan affordable housing crisis today in Washington D.C. that isthe result of
a uniquely complicated history of a capital city and a current economic boom.
This thesis responds to that crisis by proposing a new program of subsidized housing that differs from the historically large scale, myopic solutions of the last century by attempting to claim under-used buildings in Washington that have the
potential to re-invigorate the city.
Endangered structures throughout Washington sit dormant while inherently imbued with power. Rehabilitation of these structures for use as affordable housing
allows them to persist without engendering their current limited possibilities. It
enables historical discourse and interpretation while allowing possibilities for the
disenfranchised to be connected to their legacy in the city.
Washington has the unique ability to be a national stage. By looking beyond its
own field, the embarassment of inadequate housing can be turned into a power ful model of urban creativity and holistic city vision.
Thesis Supervisor: Shun Kanda
Title: Senior Lecturer in Architecture
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
WASHINGTON HISTORY
ANALYSIS
ReHABit
PROPOSAL
SOURCES
My warmest appreciation to my thesis committee and to the fall thesis class of
2006. My deepest thanks to VW for his advice, support and model making skillIs.
INTRODUCTION
The histories of public housing and historic
of war production for WWII to the reduction of
preservation in the United States reveal two
big government." (varady 14, 23)
distinct organizations of complex structure
The manifestation of these overreaching ideas
and rules. Though characterized by their
- the designs themselves, consistently fell short
continual evolution, bo th fields continue
of the mark resulting in overcrowded spaces
to be self-referential in addressing their crisis
and isolated environments that contributed
of sustainability and relevance. Rather than
to the stigma of the projects. "Whatever
remaining myopic however, what are the
the quality and type of design, the idealistic
potentials in an overlapping of the two systems
planning principles used in all early public
when applied at a city scale? Can the voids
housing developments also helped endow
and intersections of preservation and low-
them with the 'project' identity that public
income housing reveal possible and mutual
housing would wear for decades afterward.
benefits?
(Varady 6-7)
Public housing in the United States is
The trajectory of public housing is
characterized by cycles of action and
comprehensively expressed by Michael Bell,
reaction, with a slow learning curve of what is
Despite the facts of its existence, public housing
successful and what isdamaging to people
has never been what many imagined and
believed public housing should be. Attacked at
and communities. Today under the Hope VI
its outset as quasi-Socialist - public housing in the
program, the government isin the midst of
United States has never found easy traction except
tearing down what was the housing solution
of the last fifty years: projects and towers,
as an anti market zone, a last resort. Instead of
serving as transitional housing, it has instead often
been fabricated as a generation's long separate
and replacing them with new designs. In the
society that isolates its constituents - racially and
past, housing policies were often dictated by
demographically - in precincts embedded within,
but separate from the urban site that hosts these
overreaching ideas that tried to act as a single
federal works. Critics of public housing point to the
panacea to many diverse problems. "The
stigmatization that public housing created, when
failure of public housing, although few seemed
it is understood as a concession, granted by the
to realize it, was simply that the program by
itself could not solve social problems, integrate
mighty on behalf of the weak. Or when it is indeed
enacted and planned as a site of isolation - made
visible even as it is isolated.
society, or usher in a new high-rise urbanism."
Other critics believe that housing was never
The National Association of Homebuilders
even at the heart of policy, rather, just "the tail
"estimates that America will require 18 million
of some other dog," ranging from "the needs
6 additional housing units during the next
ten years. The need isparticularly great for
levels. The HOPE VI, (Homeownership and
Americans who are not wealthy: the federal
Opportunity for People Everywhere) federal
Millennial Housing Commission Report recently
program, designed to "revitalize and replace
found that a record 28 million households
distressed public housing with mixed-income
arealready struggling to afford quality
developments," (Schmitz 22) oversees the tearing
housing."' The impact to the land isgreat
down of unsuccessful housing with the intent
as well, "when affordable housing can be
to build anew. These programs demonstrate
built, it's often in locations that exacerbate
the current climate of less direct subsidization,
other problems. As the Urban Land Institute's
more private involvement, and increased
housing expert notes, 'It's not how much we
physical integration with diverse communities.
produce, it's where it's produced.' In market
after market, affordable housing isbeing built,
Current suggestions for improving public
but it's in the fringes. Workers are being forced
housing under The Urban Revitalization
to move way out, [compounding] the cycle of
Demonstration (URD) division of HUD include
sprawl." (Rypkema 4)
"integrating the public housing development
into the surrounding neighborhood, income
In 1986 Congress passed the Low Income
mixing, promoting family self-sufficiency
Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) which has since
through comprehensive support services,
become the "principle mechanism for
and leveraging federal funds to stimulate
preserving and producing affordable housing."
neighborhood redevelopment." (varady 121)
(Schmitz
18) This program awards tax credits to
private housing providers through individual
These new approaches reflect thoughtful
states. This incentive greatly encourages
reactions to the needs of families and
involvement from the private sector.
communities but must be broader in scope to
reflect the quantifiable need for affordable
Today public housing isprovided by both
housing in the United States today. Hope VI
public and private endeavors. Nonprofit
replaces a fraction of what they demolish
organizations such as The Enterprise
and cannot keep up with the current housing
Foundation and for -profit organizations such
demand. "Household growth isprojected
as Corcoran Jennison Companies work to
to continue at a rapid pace over the next
provide affordable housing. Government
decade, and household growth translates
programs exist on both state and federal
directly to demand for housing. At the same
time, many regions are seeing a dwindling
supply of buildable land, increasing restrictions
Many of the initial grassroots organizations that
on land development, resistance to high
engendered the Trust still exist today. Their
density development, and exclusionary zoning
interests tend to be more regional in nature
practices, all of which make it difficult for the
but often intersect with those at the federal
market to produce any kind of housing, let
level. Together, these organizations cite
alone affordable housing. Further, the supply
"endangered" structures in every city, town,
of existing low-cost housing continues to shrink
and county in the United States.
because of physical deterioration on the one
hand and gentrification on the other." (Schmidtz
As a whole, the preservation movement
26) As a result, not enough affordable housing
has focused on galvanizing sympathetic
isbeing built to handle the existing and
groups and individuals to simply "save" these
projected need.
structures, but could they be more successful
if they broadened the potential for these
At the same time, historical structures are
buildings? Too often, preservation isused
being torn down at an increasingly swift rate,
to harness the past for today's agendas of
"for the last thirty years, America lost 577
tourism, gentrification and social standing. Is
older and historic homes every single day."
it possible for the field to be further sustained
The National Trust for Historic Preservation
by reflecting a truer representation of our
was established in 1949 to connect the
changing values and identity rather than a
preservation efforts of the private sector with
constructed one created for current agendas?
those of the National Park Service. In 1965
Can room be provided for complexity and
the Trust submitted to Congress the proposal
temporality in the continuation of a culture,
With Heritage So Rich, recommending further
allowing for a more authentic persistence
involvement of the federal government in
rather than an artificial and static snapshot?
support of more comprehensive historical
documentation, financial incentives for
As the birthplace of public housing and as
preservation and the establishment of a
a city uniquely concerned with preserving
National Register. Congress passed the
national history, Washington DC isan ideal
National Historic Preservation Act in 1966,
place to examine the possible superimposition
creating the most significant piece of
of these two systems. Washington has
preservation legislation in the United States
witnessed not only the beginnings of both
and instituting the National Register of Historic
fields, but their evolution as well, both in policy
Places as well as Historic Districts.
and in practice.
WASHINGTON HISTORY
ALLEY DWELLINGS
36USM NSUUM~M
MEAPOWED
AM
auxn wo IAmomet
..
During the first half of the twentieth century,
Washington's population grew enormously with
the arrival of immigrants and the descendents
of freed slaves from the south. The consequential housing shortage led to shanty-towns, many
of which were hidden in the alley's between
existing buildings. The overcrowding and substandard conditions of these dwellings led to the
creation of the Alley Dwelling Authority which
demolished these structures and pledged to
build new, affordable homes. The Authority in
Washington established the first example of public housing, a model adopted by other cities,
and eventually led to the creation of the Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD).
c.
a.
DOWNTOWN WASHINGTON
federal agencies and the urban planning
profession. Due to the lack of home rule in
With the advent of public housing, the federal
Washington - a privilege lost in the1870s only
government saw an opportunity to further
to be regained in the 1970s, issues of local and
their own real estate agendas in the city. In
national importance were often confused, a
the name of slum clearance, they were able
"trend that did much to ensure that the public
to displace the residents of the infamous
works and services continued to improve even
Swamppoodle and Murder Bay communities
as the local government stagnated." (Mauch
in the heart of the city in order to build the
258)
Federal Triangle. Removing these residential
areas enabled the development of a real
The following images illustrate the
monumental core by grouping many heroic
transformation of downtown Washington from
government buildings and allowed further
a residential community to one of government
progress under the City Beautiful framework
buildings and monuments.
envisioned by Daniel Burnham and others,
outlined in the 1901 McMillan Plan. As the
government continued to grow, Washington's
building height restrictions encouraged
governmental sprawl, further squeezing out
habitable areas while focusing attention on
the image of the city.
The National Capital Park and Planning
Commission (NCPPC), later to become the
National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC),
was formed in 1926, prompted by "the
broadening ambition of the urban planning
profession to manage the entire metropolitan
environment..." (Mauch 258) Out of the eleven
members of the original commission, only one
represented the district as a community, while
the remaining ten represented Congress,
1900
1940
1970
2000
McMillan Commission Plan for the
Mall, Federal Triangle an park
b1 WIWINI
SV
9system
2
54 ~
1
1900
a
MIMI
1910
Commission of Fine Arts
Building Height Limitation Act
1911-22
Lincoln Memorial
1920
Zoning Commission established
National Capital Park and
ow1926
Planning Commission establishes
Public Builings Act
1943
Jefferson Memorial
1945
DC Redevelopment Act
National Housing Act
a i1949
National Trust for Historic
Preservation established
1940
___
1950-74
Urban Renewal Project Plans
1961
23rd Ammendment to the
Constitution giving DC residents
aPresidential vote
1966
National Historic Preservation Act
1974-5
DC awarded Home Rule
1982
Vietnam Veterans Memorial
1970
Uc
ma
og-
III
e,I
reai
21-..
Q=
1
E
0P
'"U
2000
e.
SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON
WOCTOR&
Washington's housing shortage was further
exacerbated during World War IIwith workers flooding
the city. Immigrants and African Americans were
priced out of neighborhoods such as Foggy Bottom
and Georgetown by whites attracted to the historical
housing stock. While new temporary housing was
built for workers, contractors followed segregated
and unequal practices, building only a small fraction
of dwellings for African Americans. This put further
pressure on the overcrowded neighborhoods in the
SW quadrant of the city. The following image shows
SW Washington before and after urban renewal.
WASHINGTON'S MONUMENTAL CORE
The renderings below show an idealized monumental
core and demonstrate how occupied Washington
has been with its own image. The photographs on
the right show how, in many ways, this ideal has been
successful - allowing Washington to act as a national
stage which I believe isnecessary as well as symbolic.
However, it isimportant to acknowledge that
creating this image has had a cost associated with it;
squeezing out the working community and displacing
many affordable neighborhoods from the city core
while placing them in less visible areas.
ELLEN WILSON DWELLINGS
.~.
I
/'
N
\
The erection of the Ellen Wilson Dwellings
and the Carrollsburg Housing Project in 1941
on the previous site of Washington's most
>9,
notorious alley slum marked the district's first
public housing projects under HUD. Fifty years
later, both have been torn down. The inward
facing, anonymous super blocks were cited as
isolating and stigmatizing, exacerbating the
cycle of poverty. Today, new townhouse-style,
single family residences stand in their place as
a result of HOPE VI grants.
While the enlightened development isan
improvement, it can house only a fraction
of the area's original residents. A more
fundamental issue however isthe continued
practice of concentrating large numbers
of low income residents in the same
economically challenged areas again and
again. Described by HUD Secretary Henry
Cisneros as the "second worst in the United
States," DC public housing isthe racialized
ghetto legacy of federal and local housing
policies.
Due to a lack of creative solutions, HOPE VI
often contributes to the cycle of poverty in
distressed nieghborhoods.
m.
1.. alley dwelling 2. Ellen Wilson Dwellings circa 1945
3.. Ellen Wilson Dwelling today
WASHINGTON TODAY
Today's economic and housing boom is
threatening the existing low-income housing
that does exist in Washington. Map A demonstrates what is currently being built in the
city. While market rate housing is being built
primarily in transitioning and stable neighborhoods, affordable housing is being built
in emerging and distressed neighborhoods.
Map B illustrates how the affordable housing that does exist throughout the city's four
quadrants, in the form of Section 8 vouchers,
is being threatened by expiring contracts.
The section 8 program provides vouchers for
low-income renters to live in privately owned
rental housing by providing the difference in
rent. This allows them to live in many different
areas previously unavailable to them. However, now that Washington isthriving, many
new neighborhoods are quickly gentrifying
and landlards tempted by escalating rents
are eager to let their Section 8 contracts expire in order to riase rents for new market-rate
rentors.
F!n
MAP A
Map 5.1:
2000-2006 Housing Development by Neighborhood Typology soow6
MAP B
Map 3. Section 8 Expiring Contracts by Yew
and by Number of Assisted Units
'N
NWu
of Ail"
* (15
o 15-40
0 40-60
UMb
0 80-125
0 :125
* 2000
* 2003
2004
* 2005
2006-220
Swo HMUoaksiyme.aMetdSK
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The situation is critical now. The affordable
housing crisis in DC will not be ameliorated by a
single solution. It is the consequence of segregation and the tensions of a capital city. It has
to and will continue to be addressed in multiple
ways, including Section 8 vouchers and HOPE VI
developments. However, these programs are
not enough to handle the burden. Washington
has the unique ability to be a national stage.
By looking beyond its own field, the embarrassment of inadequate housing can be turned
into a powerful model of urban creativity and
holistic city vision.
ANALYSIS
WASHINGTON LANDSCAPE
After mapping these structures it was clear that these
To better understand the situation I mapped
buildings occur all over the city, in all four quadrants,
several systems, districts and buildings through-
and that they are dispersed from each other. These
out the city, beginning with historical districts
structures are also varied typologically and in size,
and landmark buildings. Looking at the follow-
avoiding the common stigma of housing projects.
ing maps, it is clear that historical districts and
They defy classification and boundaries.
landmark buildings occur primarily in the NW
Washington, the most affluent quadrant in the
Currently the potential for these endangered struc-
city.
tures is limited. They can be razed for development,
left to deteriorate, or preserved. Preservation, how-
I then mapped the existing housing projects
ever often results in buildings that are "museums" of
throughout Washington and was able to see
what they once were. In the worst case scenario,
that the SE quadrant, which is the most eco-
facadism isemployed, creating a Disneyfication of a
nomically challenged part of the city, received
structure that isfalse and misleading.
an inordinate amount of subsidized housing
projects as the city redeveloped.
I see these buildings as artifacts, or "persistences" in
the words of Aldo Rossi, and believe that they are
The result is a ghettoization of the poor and
monuments in their own right. Because they have
one which transformed SE Washington and
persisted, they have the power to reflect the city's
Anacostia into an area with few economic
history, culture and memory. These buildings differ
prospects. Furthermore, it removed the resi-
from others that have merely reamined in that they
dents from view, rendering them essentially
have advocates. This infuses them with power that
invisible to the rest of the city.
can contribute to the life of the city. In Washington,
a city uniquely concerned with preserving memory
I began looking for possibilities that address a
through monuments, these urban artifacts should be
larger community and city, and became in-
allowed to perform - rather than become obsolete or
terested in "Endangered Structures," buildings
stagnate.
deemed historically and architecturally significant by preservation organizations such as the
National Trust for Historic Preservation and the
DC Preservation League.
Historic preservation can offer a framework
to re-imagine the city's landscape as one of
To truly foster memory - if memory as defined
potentials. "Endangered" structures in the
by Pierre Nora "is life, always embodied in
district cut across neighborhood lines, they are
living societies and as such in permanent
integral parts of the surrounding urban fabric,
evolution, subject to the dialectic of
stylistically and typologically varied - avoiding
remembering and forgetting..." preservation
stigmatization, and are culturally resonant
should be allowed to adapt and grow.
for the city. The current options for these
structures are to decay, to be converted into
I believe preservation can be most useful
high-end condominiums, or to be preserved as
when allowed to highlight difference.
monuments. Rehabilitation of these structures
"Although historic preservation is often
for use as affordable housing allows them
confused with the juridical model of power
to persist without engendering the same
as repression, it isin fact a productive
consequences. It enables historical discourse
force, relentlessly generative of new and
and interpretation while allowing possibilities
ever-expanding categories dedicated to
for the disenfranchised to be connected to
reordering the fundamental codes of culture in
their legacy in the city.
terms of history." As a framework for change,
preservation allows an interrogation of the built
Preservation is often stagnated in its efforts of
environment, inherently imbued with meaning
restoration, "one danger in the preservation
and a connection to place while "keeping the
of the environment lies in its very power to
old 'open' for interpretation." (Otero-Pailos iii)
encapsulate some image of the past, an
image that may in time prove to be mythical
or irrelevant. For preservation is not simply the
saving of old things, but the maintaining of a
response to those things..." (Lynch, 53) What
we choose to preserve necessarily reflects
the current values of when the preservation
occurred. Thus, preservation emerges
as a twofold act, both as an intentional
gesture of re-membering the past and as an
unintentional marker of its time. Both results
are confining.
See Images in back folder
0
I
ENDANGERED STRUCTURES
25
I
SUBSIDIZED HOUSING
I
27
LANDMARK BUILDINGS
I
HISTORIC DISTRICTS
ReHABit
ReHABit
This thesis proposes to claim and reuse Washington's endangered structures for a subsidized housing program which rehabilitates
buildings for use as housing and social services
for the city.
The defining characteristics of the program
are that:-the buildings host mixed-rate units - a
percentage of which are subsidized while others are market rate
-the buildings include social services beyond
housing
-each building ispart of a larger network, so
that the residents are connected to the larger
city.
The following isa catalogue on endangered
structures throughout Washington that areappropriate for use as housing and additional
services.
ENDANGERED STRUCTURES KEY
a. OLD NAVAL HOSPITAL
b. ANNE ARCHIBOL HALL
c. ST. ELIZABETH'S
d. ULINE ARENA
e. WESTERN TELEGRAPH
f. McMILLAN RESERVOIR SAND
FILTRATION SITE
g. HOWARD THEATER
h. ATLAS THEATER
i. CARTER WOODSON HOUSE
j. HOLT HOUSE
k. WARDER TOTTEN HOUSE
1. LANGSTON TERRACE DWELLINGS
m. MARY CHURCH TERRELL HOUSE
n. MARTIN LUTHER KING
MEMORIAL LIBRARY
o. NATIONAL GUARD ARMORY
p. MUNICIPAL CENTER
q. STEVENS SCHOOL
r. WEBSTER SCHOOL
s. OLD ENGINE COMPANY 6
t. 19th C. COMMERCIAL ROW
u. RUTHERFOR B.HAYES SCHOOL
HISTORIC D.C. PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Stevens School 1050 21 st Street, NW
Webster School 11th and HStreet, NW
Fifty one of one hundred and fifty
three schools built between 1864
and 1959 are historically significant
and eligable for landmark status. The
Stevens School, built in 1868 isthe
oldest elementary school built to
provide equal facilities for AfricanAmerican children.
OLD ENGINE COMPANY 6
438 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Constructed c. 1885,
Washington's first volunteer
firehouse.
1J 42
I
19th CENTURY COMMERCIAL ROW
921-941 FStreet, NW
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of
D.C. owns the commercial strip
adjacent to the nationally
landmarked St. Patrick's Church. In
addition to retail business, the row's
tenants include artist int the only
remaining affordable studio space
in the Downtown Arts District.
RUTHERFORD B.HAYES SCHOOL
5th and KStreets, NW
One of the earliest documented
schools designed by an architect
of private practice. Built for
white students, the school was
transferred to the black division
in 1947.
OLD NAVAL HOSPITAL
9th Street and Pensylvania Avenue, SE
The Old Naval Hospital was built in 1865
to serve Civil War forces on the Potomac.
Used as a naval hospital until 1911, it
then became the Temporary Home for
Veterans of All Wars. Owned by the
Federal government and leased to the
District since 1966, this local and national
landmark isslowly deteriorating.
D.C. NATIONAL GUARD ARMORY
2001 East Capitol Street, SE
Designed by Nathan Wyeth in the
Art Moderne style in the 1940s.
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. MEMORIAL LIBRARY
901 GStreet, NW
Completed in 1976, the building isthe
only library designed by Mies van der
Rohe.
ANNE ARCHIBOLD HALL
Reservatin 13, SE
Completed in 1932 as the Gallinger Hospital
Nurses Residence, Anne Archbold Hall isone
of the oldest remaining structures on the D.C
General Hospital campus where health care
services have been provided to residents of
the District for over 150 years.
ST. ELIZABETH'S HOSPITAL
2700 Martin Luther King Jr., Avenue, SE
The over 300 acre government
hospital for the insane was established
in 1855. It has treated such famous
patients as John Hinkley and Ezra
Pound.
MUNICIPAL CENTER
1300 ndian Avenue, SE
An example of Washington Art Deco /
Art Moderne style of the 1940s, the
Center forms an architectural ensemble
with the Recorder of Deeds and the
Moultri and Prettyman Courthouses.
LANGSTON TERRACE DWELLINGS
21st Street and Benning Road, SE
Designed by Hilyard Robinson as
one of Washington's first public
housing projects. Completed in
1938.
I
MARY CHURCH TERRELL HOUSE
326 T Street, NW
Distinguished educator, suffrage
and civil rights activist Terrell was
the first African American woman
to be appointed to the D.C. board
of Education. In 1895 she headed a
successful drive to end segregation
of public facilities in Washington.
HOLT HOUSE
2700 Adams Nill Road, NW
6i
'~
Built before 1827, Holt House isthe most
important example of early Classical Revival
style in D.C. Listed on the National Register in
1973, it is linked to the history of 19th-century
industry along Rock Creek as well as slavery in
the nation's capital.
WARDER-TOTTEN HOUSE
2633 14th Street, NW
Washington architect George Oakley
Totten reconstructed the Benjamin
Warder House, originally built by H.H.
Richardson in 1865 at 1515 FStreet
on its present Meridian Hill site.
MCMILLAN RESERVOIR SAND FILTRATION SITE
Bounded by Michigan Avnue, North Capital, Channing
and First Streets, NW
Completed in1905, aWashington
public health milestone and
engineering wonder until its
decommision in 1986.
WESTERN TELEGRAPH COMPANY
4632 41st Street, NW
Built in 1947 as an experimental
microwave relay system between
New York and Philadelphia.
HISTORIC D.C.THEATERS
Howard Theater 620 T Street, NW
Atlas Theater 1331 H Street, SE
Examples of the world's largest
theaters managed by African
Americans. Stages graced by
performers such as Duke Ellington,
Ella Fitzgerald and James Brown.
U LINE ARENA
2nd, 3rd and Land M Streets, NE
Adjacent to the railroad tracks, this
arena built in 1941 has housed
anti-war protests of the 1940s,
speeches by Elijah Muhommend,
and contemporary music
concerts.
RALPH BUNCHE HOUSE
115-124 Grosvenor Street, NW
Designed by African American
architect Hilyard Robinson for
African American scholar and
diplomat Bunche, recipient of
the 1949 Nobel Peaces Prize.
CARTER WOODSON HOUSE
1538 9th Street, NW
The home of Woodson; founder
of Black History Month, historian,
author,journalist.
ANACOSTIA HISTORIC DISTRICT
Anacostia Neighborhood, SE
Listed on the D.C. Inventory of Historic
Sites in 1973 and on the National
Register of Historic Places in 1978,
Anacostia contains a number of
vacant and critically deteriorating
buildings.
HISTORIC WASHINGTON ROW HOUSES
Examples of the district's predominent
housing stock built in the 20th c.occur in
every neighborhood. Styles range from
Federal and Italianate to Victorian and
Moderne.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHART
The following matrix was created to better
understand the existing organization and heirarchy of the two fields of Housing and Preservation. I was interested in identifying redundancies and opportunities for overlap in order
to place my proposed program. ReHABit can
clearly draw from both t he Housing and the
Preservation communities at Federal and local
levels.
HOUSING
PRESERVATION
LOCAL / GRASSROOTS
SAVEAERCAPRESERVATON
AC7ON
DC RSRVTO
FOR7HUMANITY
DC HOUSING NETWORK
ORGANIZATIONAL CHART EXPLANATIONS
must also meet the following requirements: 20
percent or more of the residential units in the
Federal Rehabilitation Tax Credit
project are both rent restricted and occupied
Federal law provides a federal income
by individuals whose income is50 percent
tax credit equal to 20% of the cost of
or less of area median gross income or 40
rehabilitating a historic building for
percent or more of the residential units in the
commercial use. To qualify for the credit,
project are both rent restricted and occupied
the property must be a certified historic
by individuals whose income is60 percent or
structure-that is,on the National Register of
less of area median gross income.
Historic Places or contributing to a registered
historic district. (Non-historic buildings built
Community Development Block Grants
before 1936 qualify for a 10% tax credit.)
The annual CDBG appropriation isallocated
between States and local jurisdictions
Inner City Ventures Fund
called "non-entitlement" and "entitlement"
Administered by the National Trust for
communities respectively. Entitlement
Historic Preservation, the ICVF provides
communities are comprised of central cities
financial assistance to organizations that
of Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs);
serve low and moderate income households
metropolitan cities with populations of at least
or provide economic benefit in low and
50,000; and qualified urban counties with a
moderate income communities.
population of 200,000 or more (excluding
the populations of entitlement cities). States
Inclusionary Housing
distribute CDBG funds to non-entitlement
Administered by the DC Office of Planning
localities not qualified as entitlement
communities. HUD determines the amount
Low Income Housing Tax Credits
of each grant by using a formula comprised
The Low Income Housing Tax Credit
of several measures of community need,
program was created by the Tax Reform
including the extent of poverty, population,
Act of 1986 as an alternate method of
housing overcrowding, age of housing, and
funding housing for low- and moderate-
population growth lag in relationship to other
income households.Tax Credits must be
metropolitan areas.
used for new construction, rehabilitation, or
acquisition and rehabilitation. and projects
HOME Investment Partnerships Program
Home Again has two goals: 1) Encourage
HOME is the largest Federal block grant
property owners to rehabilitate and/or
to State and local governments designed
occupy their vacant and abandoned
exclusively to create affordable housing for
residential property; and 2) Acquire, dispose
low-income households. Each year it allocates
of, and rehabilitate properties when owners
approximately $2 billion among the States and
fail to maintain them. Currently, Home
hundreds of localities nationwide.
Again focuses on neighborhoods with high
concentrations of vacant and abandoned
DC Housing Production Trust Fund
residential property: Columbia Heights, Ivy
The Housing Production Trust Fund provides
City/Trinidad, Near Northeast, Shaw/Ledroit
financial assistance to nonprofit and
Park, and Rosedale. The residents in these
commercial developers to plan and build low
communities also identified rehabilitating
to moderate-income housing and related
vacant and abandoned properties as a
facilities. Housing assistance can be used
high priority in their Strategic Neighborhood
for rental or homeownership properties.
Action Plans (SNAPs).
The program has a wide range of housing
initiatives that focus on development and
preservation.
Distressed Properties Improvement Program
The Distress Properties Improvement Program
provides tax relief and other financial
incentives (e.g., deferral or forgiveness of
delinquent property tax liens) to property
owners with occupied or vacant rental
properties if they are willing to make repairs
and retain low-income residents.
Home Again
Administered under the DC Office of the
Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic
Development
58
ReHABit NETWORK
In order to connect to the larger city, and because
many buildings in the ReHABit program lend themsleves to larger programs, a network of social services are included in many structures. These social services include daycare, job counseling, recreational
facilities, community gardens, gallery space, social
work offices and performance spaces.
These services create a larger network for all residents and allows them to participate in acrivities
beyond each city quadrant. The provided ammenities are open to the public as well, allowing
the residents and their buildings to become visible
to the larger community.
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ATHLETICFACILITIES
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The Howard Theater
Within the ReHABit program, I chose the Howard Theater to develop based on the building's
architecture and the critical nature of Shaw, the
surrounding neighborhood. Due to the proximity of several nearby theaters, the once thriving
area was known as the Black Broadway. The
Howard Theater was an important stop on the
circuit for many performers including Ella Fitzgerlad, Duke Ellington and James Brown.
Built in 1910, the Howard was the nation's first
full sized theater managed by, and for, African
Americans. The theater finally closed after the
riots of 1968 and was eventually bought by the
city. It was listed on the National Register in 1975
and has remained vacant.
LOWERLEVEL
PLAN
BALCONY
PLAN
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Height 60feet
StageArea:1537sqfeet
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ReHABit is proposing a new way for subsidized
to address the need for light inside the deep
housing to be understood. This has implica-
building. Lightwells along the core pierce
tions on the city scale, which I have illustrated,
through units, bringing natural light to each
and implications on the building scale as well.
floor down to the lobby level.
For the Howard Theater intervention, I wanted
to encourage exposure and visibility both
While ReHABit rethinks public housing, it isalso
among the building's residents - through mixed
a critique of misguided preservation. In many
rate units, allowing for economic diversity, and
cases, historical preservation has been coopt-
with the outside community - by including ad-
ed by limited definitions of what it can be.
ditional programs that attract the public and
expose the building to the rest of the Washing-
In the case of the Howard, the facade is ir-
ton.
relevant, having been redesigned several
times in the past. By preserving the spirit of the
The housing portion of the building contains 34
building for its original constituents - in the form
units, comprised of 14 subsidized and 20 mar-
of a theater, and by infusing the building with
ket rate units. I have chosen to preserve the
residents, ReHABit is allowing the Howard to
original use of the building for the community
perform and reinvigorate Washington.
in the form of a small theater, seating roughly
450 people as opposed to the 1200 seat original theater.
The architectural challenge of combining the
two programs of housing and theater is primarily that housing want to be light while a theater
needs to be dark.
The theater literally interlocks with the housing
to create adjacencies that allow for transitions, for viewing and for interaction.
The structural core of the building is translucent to allow for programmatic transitions and
Level
O
I
L-L1
Sixth FloorJI
70
K]
1MEN
Cross Section
East - West
Section through Circulation Core
North - South
MR
Section through Lightwells
North - South
View of public stair to balcony looking
into private lobby for residents
74
View of unit with lightwell adjacent to
private viewing balconies for residents
ON
North - South Elevation
u
ILIt
- --
I
C
LU
O
wn
LU
w of Theater and Core through Sectional Model
78
East - West through Sectional Model
m
North - South through Sectional Model
SOURCES
82
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