Truxton Is In Shaw

When is creating an historic district right? Well in my opinion, it is right when the motives are pure, it has community support, and all the potential consequences have been addressed. And in those potential consequences address any effect, if at all on the economic, racial and age diversity of the neighborhood.
The motivation, one would hope that the suggestion of an historic district would come strictly from the desire to preserve examples of a notable architect’s work, unique architecture, or an unique cluster of properties clearly representing a notable time period or movement or event. There are those who would push for a historic district designation for other reasons apart from the desire to preserve anything. They may seek the prestige of being in an historic district, related tax credits, economic development, tourism, or other such things associated with historic districts. They would prostitute History for their own impure lustful desires instead of letting a simple uncorrupt love of History itself dictate the actions.
Note that I used the word ‘unique’ not ‘old’. In many parts of the country a property or community that is at least 50 years old can be called historic. If using that criteria, then possibly ½ of the District could be considered ‘historic’ leaving no room for current and future generations to leave their mark on the city. No, ‘unique’ separates one 100 year old DC townhome from another 100 year old DC townhome, and DC is a city filled with a lot of 50-100+ year old housing stock. There is no need to keep ALL of it, just some of it, preferably the unique ones.
Also, hopefully, by having a more stringent criteria for what qualifies as ‘historic’ will preserve the quality and integrity of the term and not inflate it’s value with inconsequential properties that erode away at the things that help the truly ‘historic’ and unique. Erosions such as abuse of tax credits or gutting of government incentives because the system is overloaded with applicants. Or when faced with a plethora, ‘historic’ options tourists, shoppers, whomever will dismiss the term and it loses its value (remember when the term gourmet, actually meant ‘gourmet’?).
Those other community desires (cache, tourism, economic development) not relating to history need to be addressed on their own, as for many there are other routes, other paths, to those ends. Maybe, even find alternatives to an historic district designation by educating homeowners and developers to value the current housing stock, or choosing specific buildings for landmark status, or focus on other neighborhood attributes for cache or economic development.
Community support, in addition to a district’s uniqueness, also makes a historic district the right thing. For one, these things should not be imposed on a neighborhood as a whole without its consent. As it is the community that monitors and polices the standards. An unsupportive community may undermine the rules, eroding at the whole purpose and the integrity of the historic district designation. Or even if remaining within the rules, violating the spirit, allowing properties to fall into decay and require their destruction, possibly losing something unique.
Another kind of community support that is needed is the one outside of a (proposed) historic district, and that is the local and federal governments and non-profits. These bodies provide support in the way of grants, loans, technical assistance programs, tax incentives, laws, zoning, enforcement, regulations, and at times acting as a gate keeper. These bodies must remain committed to the district by not gutting, abandoning or weakening the programs to the point that they undercut the support system for those living in an historic district.
Lastly, preservationists need to address what effect, if any, their actions may have on the more at risk residents, over the long term. If not acknowledged, a neighborhood could in time lose it’s economic, racial and chronological diversity, creating a homogenous community, lacking in any real diversity. Hopefully in tackling this issue, grants, programs, projects and partnerships can be developed to keep the balance and mitigate possible displacement.
When there is a clear motivation to preserve (not just prevent the non-historic) something unique, and there is support ranging from the ground up to the top, and the community has taken action to deal with the social consequences of engaging in such a venture, then this type of historic preservation is right.

Previous Gentrification and Historic Preservation Posts:
Gentrification and Historic Preservation, pt 1
Gentrification and Historic Preservation, pt 2a: This Old House vs Old House Journal
Gentrification and Historic Preservation pt 2b: This Old House (TOH) vs Old House Journal (OHJ) pt 2b
Gentrification and Historic Preservation, pt 3: When it is right

I know your expecting pt 3 of Gentrification and Historic Preservation, but it needs a bit more thought in putting it together and editing things out. Saturday, it will be up sometime Saturday.
Anyway a few things. This morning woke up bright an early to haul some stuff off to Home Depot. I had been collecting the things I bought at Home Depot and never used and provided it isn’t plumbing or opened or obviously used you can return it for store credit without a receipt. So I returned a pile of various miss matched things and turned it into enough store credit to buy myself a snazzy cordless drill.
So after getting my store credit I wandered around a bit and noticed that the store has it’s garden center filled with all sorts of things. There are roots for strawberries and blueberries and daylilies, grapes, there are timers for watering systems, lotsa dirt and soil, peat moss, tons of pansies and other springy flowers.
Speaking of stores and Spring stock, IKEA has its spring stuff in too. There are patio sets cheap enough that they can get stolen from your back yard and it not be a great financial loss. It’s great. I know I’m gonna blow at least $100 bucks there this weekend.

Gentrification and Historic Preservation: This Old House vs Old House Journal
If you’ve ever subscribed to the two magazines you might notice a difference in the two. They do have a similarity in that they have a certain appreciation for older homes, classic architecture but where they differ is in that This Old House (TOH) goes more for appearance, whereas Old House Journal (OHJ) goes for authenticity. Personally, I’m a TOH kinda gal, I like old houses and such but there is no need to turn my home into a cultural artifact. TOH, the magazine and the television show, is open to new materials, materials that give the classic look of older material like wood or slate or what have you but not the maintenance or installation problems of classic materials. OHJ, promotes keeping and maintaining original objects (windows and cornices, chimneys, etc) almost demanding a museum quality of maintenance down to the mortar between the bricks. Also TOH is more forgiving allowing builders, designers and homeowners to work with the original design or theme of the home, sort of like taking a jazz standard and adding a hip hop dance beat(I’m thinking an updated Dinah Washington Is you is or is you ain’t my baby) in the back. OHJ is straight jazz, original recording, no mixing, or redubbing.
Okay now what do these magazines have to do with gentrification and historic preservation? Well working on my earlier post about the demands of historic preservation I wanted to illustrate two levels of appreciation for older homes, one that favored and demanded by the restrictions placed by historic districts and the other that comes from a general level of appreciation that also balances the needs of day to day living and personal budgets. Can you see my bias in that sentence? The restrictive rules and regulations just make living in an historic district burdensome for those with a general level of appreciation and limited funds, pushing those folks out in favor of people with the funding and desire for authenticity.
The case is worse for low/fixed income residents who lack the money for the authentic restoration demanded, making historic preservation an elitist excerise. A Sohmer and Lang (see links below) point out, preservation “still reflects a middle class ethos that obsesses over authenticity,” an authenticity that is so focused on the material minuae that it runs ramshod over the social structures and diversity that may have made place so valuable in the first place. Truxton Circle was in the late 19th and early 20th century had a mix of professionals, government civil servants, shopkeepers, tradesmen, servants and laborers and the housing reflected that diversity of social and income levels, a diversity that exists in early 21st century Truxton would be destroyed by preservation regulations.
In this I wonder what kind of history is being preserved? Surely not any social history as historic preservation is clearly at odds with affordable homeownership. History is complex. Real history is not the disneyfied version that is usually prepackaged for tourist groups for a manufactured experience. It’s got oppression, injustice, bigotry, guilt, ugliness, inhumane poverty and many of the same problems of human vice that currently exists today in 2005. It ain’t all beautiful. But it’s the pretty shiny bits that get pulled out or a redeeming ending is slapped on so that it can be marketed to the general public turning history into a lie of omission, a skewed version. I’m sure in my old age I’ll see theme parks where kids can have their picture taken with a Crip, Blood, or MS-13 gang member, made toothless like our current view of pirates and 1940s gangsters. Is that the kind of history that is being preserved in historic districts, the clean up, super edited, the materially authenic but spirtually empty kind? The Monticello without the slaves?
Lack of room for economic diversity, and a narrow museum biased interpretation of history are just a few reasons why I hold some hostility towards some aspects of historic preservation in residental settings. Another reason? It just pisses off my inner Libertarian. I can tolerate some government regulations and restrictions but I’m not looking to add more top down restrictions to my life. I moved to this house because I wanted to avoid condos and co-ops because of their boards, and planned communities (well they are too far out but..) for their HOA restrictions, and any other body that squashes individuality. I did look at one house that I believed was in an historic district but it’s being in an historic district was one of serval reasons I didn’t want to buy it. The house in Truxton appealed to me because it was an affordable older home but with no restrictive historic district rules. I got a TOH kinda love for older homes, not a OHJ kind of love. I take issue with having the kind of windows, fencing, security bars, doors, tree box, light fixtures, steps, what I can put on those steps and roofing materials dictated to me on a basis other than standard building codes and being denied suitable building materials because they don’t fit museum-centric standards.
Okay this is getting long so I’ll do part 2, section b, later and go on about maintenance and question aspects of the benifits of taking on the historic district burden.

LINKS
Beyond This Old House: Historic Preservation in Comunity Development by Rebecca Sohmer and Robert E. Lang

Models for Neighborhood Revitalization in Historic Districts by, Michael Sacks,Trinity College, Hartford, CT

Oh where was I? Oh, I had my inner Libertarian all out. Well before I stuff her back into the basement there are a few other issues relating to property rights and restrictions on personal freedoms of expression.
There are rules the city imposes on all property owners, such as zoning restrictions, building codes, restrictions on farm or other animals, and such that most homebuyers know about before they purchase. If they have issue with those rules and regulations then they need to seek housing elsewhere. If they, like myself, bought in an area, where certain onerous restrictions do not apply to property, and how I currently use that property, then it is alarming when one suggests imposing rules and restrictions that I (and possibly others) took such pains to avoid. Being able to put my stamp on my property and express myself through home repair, by what exterior doors, windows, paint colors, additions, etc I put on the house, is a property right I currently enjoy. I bristle at the thought that someone wants to take it away, especially without just compensation. I don’t get any free money by simply being in an historic district. Oh, and before you mention tax credits read the New York Time’s Tax Breaks on Historic Houses Face Restrictions by Josh Barbanel (December 26, 2004) I’ll talk about that Friday.

A subject I have been touching and dancing around has been maintenance, one of the biggest problems with living in an historic district. Usually maintenance issues are poo-pooed by those with OHJ values towards people with TOH or Better Homes & Gardens/ Metropolitan Home values. And the most touchy topic within maintenance is the issue of windows and window replacement. First off, I know that when an area becomes an historic district there are no requirements to retroactively modify buildings in an historic district, nor is there anything to force property owners to maintain properties or make improvements, other than the general city ordinances for all properties in the city. That’s not my problem. My problem is when the vinyl windows that a homeowner in a newly designated historic district has, needs replacing because the window broke or as part of general upkeep. That homeowner typically cannot replace his vinyl window with another vinyl window. His options are limited to wood windows or other historic windows, typically not the more easy to care for, cheaper, energy efficient vinyl options. You cannot run to Home Depot or Lowes to pick up a replacement if some kid/ robber breaks your window if you live in a restrictive historic district. It is a similar story with doors. But you’re more likely to break your window (or have it broken for you) than your door. Then there are gutters, repointing brick, and such. Once you are no longer able to use materials that are easily available or cheaper because of the retailer’s volume discount, your home maintenance costs go up. Oh and then there is the extra red tape. I believe, and this is not something I’ve done any amount of research on (my research for this is also write the paper the day before it’s due quality) but as far as I know, paint and paint colors, luckily are not an maintenance issue in DC historic districts. So that’s not an issue, ‘cause if it were I’d have a whole ‘nother paragraph railing against that and trying to find which of the limited 20 historically correct paint colors I could work with. And if I read it correctly, (once again proof of my slap dash research) the view of the house from the alley can be subject to these restrictions as well.

Okay, tomorrow big wrap up, of Gentrification and Historic Preservation pt 3: When is it right.

Links
The Philadelphia Historic District Debacle (a libertarian view of HD)
Libertarian vs. Boston’s “historic” bureaucrats (window replacement fight)
Hysteric Preservation?

Capitol Hill Historic District publications – Doors
Replacement Windows

Why I vetoed the historic district ordinance by William Welch (Pennsylvania )

I have sort of written about history and affordable housing, but the topic of historic preservation and our little corner of Shaw has been popping up. In that I have been trying to examine why I have a certain outlook towards historic preservation, historic districts and history in general. Oh, and then seeing how it applies to gentrification.
Let’s start with history. I like history. Ok, if you know my background you know that’s an understatement. Let’s just say history, the study of, its preservation, interpretation, and related industries, have been very, very good to me. So I think I have a fair background in it to talk about it and know when I’m above my head. Gentrification, I have no background in except my own narrow day to day experience here in Shaw, in the NW section of Washington, DC. I am no expert in urban renewal/gentrification, but I have opinions galore. When it comes to gentrification, I can definitely say I am an amateur.
The DC Preservation League and the DC Planning’s Historic Preservation Office are both useful in getting information about historic districts and preservation as it relates to DC. Now what the DC Preservation League has to say about gentrification is that “changes in the residential make up of a community are part of the constant evolution of a city. They are caused by a complex set of forces–including new development, ease of transportation, and changing urban lifestyles–not specifically by historic district designation.” In other words becoming an historic district does not bring gentrification. In some ways they are right, as Anacostia has an historic district and it isn’t experiencing gentrification pains. LeDroit Park, to my north, is currently an historic district, and the gentrification it is experiencing doesn’t seem to bear any relation to it’s status. Apparently in the early 1970s LeDroit Park became an historic district (see Architectural Style Unique in 2 Areas; Houses In 2 Areas Are Unique By Megan Rosenfeld Washington Post Staff Writer. The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973). Washington, D.C.: Nov 29, 1973. p. B1), but that didn’t save the neighborhood from crackheads, abandonment, and poor maintenance in the 80s and 90s.
Historic preservation can be a tool in the gentrification toolbox. It can result in gentrification and speed up the process by imposing “burdens on low-and-fixed income residents, such as requiring certain types of windows, sidings or paint.” By adding higher maintenance costs, along with higher property taxes in gentrifing neighborhoods there is greater financial pressure for low, fixed, and moderate income families to leave destroying the economic and age diversity in a neighborhood. Also adding to the costs of regular maintenance is the requirement to seek specialized skills and products not available in the neighborhood, bypassing the neighborhood handymen.
However, there is a possible silver lining for income sensitive people if, and that is a big “if”, the community and non-profits fight for federal and local grants, loans, and other assistance to ease some of the financial pressures that historical preservation brings. Developers can mix Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) with federal Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits (HRTC) to mitigate the costs of building or rehabilitating properties in an historic district. Results of using both tax credits is the creation of mixed use and mixed income properties that help maintain the diversity that attracted many middle class and upper class residents to the Shaw area in the first place. As these tax credits are more aimed at “income producing” properties, the community and non-profits will have to push for local and federal grants, low to no interest loans, freezes on property taxes, as well as technical assistance and guidance regarding maintenance and upgrades for regular homeowners.
There are other aspects of this I’d like to work out and so this is part of a three part series (unless I change my mind and that could always happen or get bored).
Thursday– Gentrification and Historic Preservation, pt 2: This Old House vs Old House Journal (what history is, isn’t, maintenance, restrictions and libertarianism)
Friday– Gentrification and Historic Preservation, pt 3: When it is right (clear vision, community support, flexibility, and diversity)

LINKS
Historic Preservation and Affordable Housing: Leveraging Old Resources for New Opportunities By David Listokin and Barbara Listokin

Combining Historic Preservation and Income Class Integration: A Case Study of the Butchers Hill Neighborhood of Baltimore By James R. Cohen (University of Maryland)

Latinos in Historic Districts:Whose History? Whose Neighborhood?

Lavaca case study,Community Partners BY The National Trust for Historic Preservation

Just want to warn walkers. Yesterday night, some neighbors and their dogs were attacked by a loose pit bull near/on the 400 block of R St. One of the neighbors dogs was bitten so badly by the pit that the puncture wound could not be stiched up.
But that wasn’t the worst part of it. When the neighbors sought help from the city reporting the attack, they were met with useless unresponsiveness. One of the dog walkers who was able to grab her dog off the street called 311, while the other dog walker, bleeding, raced his wounded dog to the 24 hour vet. The 311 operator told the female dog walker that she couldn’t report it because she wasn’t the victim of the attack. Then she called animal control and apparently they were unresponsive as well.
She called the mayor’s office and apparently the 311 operator was wrong. You know it’s crap like that, that makes you disrespect the whole 311 non-emergency system. My own experience with 311 is hit and miss. Sometimes they will come right out other times the operator will be dismissive and seem to ignore you right off. I’ve been hung up on as well. And they blurt out their operator number off so fast sometimes you never get it.
Anywho, the police are called today to take a report. When the officer arrives and is told about the incident, upon hearing it happened last night says, “why are you just reporting this today?” Gawd. She called the police yesterday and apparently it wasn’t worth your time to come then and the guy who was attacked was busy taking care of his dog.
Don’t know which is worse the dog attack or the city.

I just like looking at their catalog. Renovator’s Old Mill sends me their catalog on a regular basis and I can fantasize about buying antique looking hardware, or wallpaper, or shower heads. But really, am I?
I don’t have anything from the 19th century showing in the house. Zip. Nothing. No cute historical details. All got ripped out, way before I showed up. So there is no pressure to keep a historical theme to any home improvements. I could go completely modern and it would look fine. But part of me wants to bring a little of the 19th century back into the house. I dream of Renovator’s slipper bathtubs.
The other old house supplier I love going to and just looking around at is The Brass Knob and their Back Door’s Warehouse up in Adams Morgan. I spend more time in their warehouse, looking at the tubs and the sinks, doors, radiators and what have you. It is just cool to wander around and dream.

Well some of my baby plants, have been placed in pots outside. I hope at least 1/2 of them live.
It is getting very crowded in the kitchen where they all have been sitting. I have had to transfer the tomato plants to bigger pots with bigger footprints. I will plant them outside on Tax Day (4/15/2004) which is supposed to be and I hope IS the last frost date for this area. And when we have 50F degree nights the picky citrus will be banished to the backyard.

I’ll post the grande weekend house tour later, but I have to talk about 1636 New Jersey Ave, which had it’s open house yesterday. Quick statement about the place, it would be an excellent opportunity for an investor with a lot of time, money, and vision. Or someone with a lot of time and money. What it could be is wonderful, what it is now is crap. The best thing about the place is the ‘ruins’ or the carriage house out back. Wandering inside I could envision a dance space, an artist’s studio, or two huge Hummers (the official car of SATAN). The other neat thing about the carriage house was that it had a loft area and there was this wonderful little bridge that joined the upper part of the carriage house to the 2nd floor of the main house (pictured above, thanks IT). So if you have $429,000 plus the extra $200-300K for renovations these beautiful ruins could be yours.