RSS FeedDC Historic Preservation Review Board Update *Updated*
There is an interesting item on the HPRB’s April 27 agenda: Washington Hebrew Congregation (Greater New Hope Baptist Church), 816 8th Street, NW, HPA #06-xxx, review of proposed scope of preservation work for transfer of development rights.
We’re not totally sure what transfer of development rights means, but it would seem that Washington Hebrew Congregation may be settling back into its old abode at 816 8th. The Goethe Institut notes that 816 8th St bears a similar resemblance to the Berlin Synagogue on Oranienburger Strasse.
The churches & synagogues of downtown DC have an interesting history because of the ownership changes that have occurred over the years. The building exteriors have remained mostly the same, but the congregations have cycled throughout the years. An example from this Washington Post article:
- Corinthian Baptist Church at 5th and I Sts., Bill Lebovich notes, actually began as a 19th century Presbyterian church. Then from 1906 to 1956 it was Ohev Sholom congregation. Finally, reflecting the growing African-American population of the neighborhood, Corinthian Baptist purchased the building in 1957.
GPLiving can now continue where the WaPo article left off because Corinthian Baptist Church was sold less than 3 months ago to the Chinese Community Church of Washington:
- TRUSTEES OF CHINESE COMMUNITY CHURCH OF WASHINGTON
Mailing Address: 500 I ST NW; WASHINGTON DC20001-2656
Sale Price: $4,600,000
Sale Date: 01/23/2006
Note: Article pictures are courtesy of the Goethe Institut.
Update:
Thanks to Anon for pointing us in the right direction of what Transfer Development Rights means (view the comments for anon’s write-up). This is, indeed, what is going on with the 816 8th St filing.
GPLiving contacted the (very helpful) Historic Preservation Office and got some more details:
- The transfer of air rights
—to construct higher than the current structure to the height limit
imposed by District law is a possibility available for a limited number of
properties within the downtown area, this property is one of those.
The congregation seeks permission to sell their development rights to
another entity and finance preservation/renovation work to the existing
structure with the proceeds.
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Comments
Anon: You may want to check out Wymer Collection of the Historical Society of Washington, DC.
The Wymer Collection is located at the Kiplinger Research Library in City Museum library (at K Street, NW between 7th and 9th streets, NW)
Search for photographs here.
Also, here is a comment from another blog about a person who was able to pay to get digital scans of the pictures.
Hope this helps – Please invite GPLiving to see your collection sometime! 
Edit: I just linkified my links..
Glad to see you are blogging more. I live in the Mount Vernon Square area and am happy to see all these updates.
“Transfer Development Rights” might mean Air Development Rights? In a nutshell, the church probably sits on land zoned to allow 10-story buildings. If the church wants to stay put, they forego the value of building up to 10 floors. So instead of forego that value, they can sell it, i.e. tranfer the Air Development Rights.
A developer buys the air rights, transfers it to his property and can then build a taller building than what the zoning would otherwise have allowed him. The church and any future owner would be capped at its current current height.
A well known Air Transfer Right case in DC is the Arts Club at 21st and Pennsylvania. The tiny little rowhouse sold its air rights to the developer of the office building at 20th and I. The Arts Club will always be a tiny little rowhouse, and the office building at 20th and I is bigger than what would have been allowed otherwise.
I think I got the basics right.
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Somewhat unrelated to this post but I was hoping someone could help out. I am looking to buy old pictures of the neighborhood similar to those outside CVS on 8th and E. Any ideas where I might find them?
Sorry gpliving for posting this but I figured if your readers love this neighborhood as much as I do, they might know where to find such pictures.