Harbour Square Designated Historic

 

It was reported in April's The Southwester that Harbour Square, located at 500 N Street, received historic designation last month by the District's Historic Preservation Office for its mid-century modern design. From the article:

The Historic Preservation Office report found that Harbour Square is characterized by its plantings and hardscape, designed by the acclaimed landscape architect Dan Kiley, who had previously collaborated with [Cholethiel Woodard] Smith on Capitol Park. Kiley's ambitious landscape plan was divided by the buildings themselves into multiple themed gardens, the most impressive being the one-acre “Aquatic Garden,” which contains a pool with its own willow tree on a square island. The pool is the main element of a central courtyard onto which most apartments look, and is also seen through the glassy ground floor of the surrounding buildings. This inter-penetrability of interior and exterior spaces and the integration of nature into the urban fabric are hallmarks of modernism. In fact, the Historic Preservation Review Board found that Harbour Square's green spaces were of "extreme importance" and that "the work of Smith and Kiley together is not separable as part of the overall concept." The complex was praised as "a benchmark for good design" and "a model for new urban renewal." 

Harbour Square joins Potomac Place Tower, Syphax Village Condos, and Tiber Island as historic residential buildings in Southwest.

A Few Quick Items: South Capitol EIS Meeting, Streetcar Expansion, Constitution Center Sale, Humphrey's Former Home

  

- DDOT recently released its final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the South Capitol Street corridor. Among some of the highlights of the EIS, there are plans to boulevardize South Capitol Street with a median north of N Street, remove the tunnel under M Street, build a new Frederick Douglas Bridge, and create signalized intersections at K & L Street. A public meeting is scheduled this evening at Amidon-Bowen Elementary at 6:30pm to discuss the EIS.

- In Mayor Gray's proposed 2012 budget, The Examiner reports about $100 million is set aside for streetcars over the next six years. As a result, DDOT will start planning this summer for streetcar extensions, including along M Street SE/SW. Streetcars are proposed to run along the M Street corridor, Buzzard Point, Maine Avenue, and the soon-to-be created Wharf Street on the Southwest Waterfront.

- Since Constitution Center has been completed, is now nearly fully leased, and tenant build-out is underway, the owners have decided to put the 1.4 million square foot building on the market according to the Washington Business Journal (subscribers only).  As the largest privately-owned office building in the District, it is expected that Constitution Center will sell for a record-breaking amount.  The city has assessed the building at $648 million

- UrbanTurf reports that former Vice President Hubert Humphrey's former home at Harbour Square has been for sale since February and the price was recently cut by 7% to $925,000. The 2,332 square foot three bedroom, three bath co-op was originally priced at $995,000. Other political figures who have lived in the complex include former Supreme Court Justices David Souter and Lewis Powell and Admiral William Radford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under the Eisenhower administration