I wonder if new residents and younger people could appreciate what residents in the 00s and 2010s had to deal with concerning a row of dilapidated Shiloh properties on 9th Street.
There was great excitement when there was rumblings that the National Park Service would step in because this was the home of the father of Black History and Black History Month. And then there was nothing. Then it didn’t seem the NPS was going to do anything with this property or the adjoining properties it owned. I also vaguely remember the NPS was trying to take over a private home on the corner that is now a restaurant.
Now there is a museum. I haven’t been in it. The one day when I had off and during their normal hours, the place seemed closed.
Carter G. Woodson House. 1538 9th Ave NW. Taken February 20, 2018
I went on Google Street View to figure out which block this photo below came from.
Taken 7/2/2007. 1609 1st Street NW
The purple townhouse in the middle now has a popup extra floor and a rooftop deck.
Google Street View allows you to look at earlier dates, so I went back to 2011, when 1609 had the outdoor tent and showed several men socializing under it. The neighbors at the purple house were doing the same, under their own tent.
A couple of things passed through my social media on the topic of churches, or a particular church, getting into the affordable housing game. In one case, there is a church dealing with financial and membership woes throwing out the idea that maybe they could turn some of their prime urban acreage into housing. In another, some urban policy writer pointing out a plan by a progressive church to build affordable housing over their worship space and suggesting other churches do likewise.
My attitude, I’m not a member, so you do you, but be aware of the long term by learning from history. Who am I kidding? No one learns from history, because “this time, it’s different!”
If anyone is interested in learning from history, the Shaw neighborhood has several examples. Not a Shaw church but Greater Deliverance Christian Center Church of God in Christ formerly of SE DC owned Kelsey Gardens, an affordable housing complex, which was torn down for mixed use development between 2004-2006. Shiloh Baptist has owned and still owns property for well over 30 years and has done little in development. Immaculate Conception Church had used its Shaw properties to create the apartments at 1330 7th St NW in the 1970s? I believe Mt. Sinai has used its property as part of its mission work, if and when the properties have been used as housing, but not rentals. And lastly, the United House of Prayer for All Peoples (UHOP) is a major landlord and developer.
1330 7th St NW, formerly the Immaculate Conception Apartments.
Just thinking of the examples, it’s complicated. And the outcomes, when thinking 20-30 years out don’t always match the rosy fuzzy picture painted in the planning stages. No one says, ‘hey let’s build some housing that we won’t manage and will add to the neighborhood’s crime problem!’ Or ‘let’s keep planning to build housing, but for one reason or another never ever get around to it and be forced to sell because maintaining shells is hurting our church budget.’ They might quietly say, ‘let’s build housing and have it as an extra revenue stream,’ which doesn’t work out for everyone.
So the above house no longer exists. It was replaced by a modern home. And that was a miracle when you realize how flippin’ skinny this place is comes when you look at the Redfin site and see room dimensions. It’s 903 sq. ft.
I occasionally listen to a podcast by an ADHD pastor of a dying California church. Recently on his podcast, he noted how dire the situation was (aging congregation, costs of operation, etc), went into some detail and said that some hard decisions had to be made. I thought of that when my aunt, a member of Shiloh Baptist, mentioned how things were there.
Shiloh’s 9th Street properties have been an albatross around their necks. Looking at some of my old photos, I came across one from 2018 advertising a concept Victory Village.
Taken Oct 13, 2018.
Well that didn’t work out. Going back to that podcast, in that situation the CA church had property that they ‘could’ develop themselves, but he pointed out they wouldn’t necessarily make good landlords. As a former landlady, landlording is a service that requires certain skills. Not everyone has those sets of skills. UHOP has those skills. Shiloh does not and has proven incapable over the past 30 years that I’ve been in the DC area.
Taken October 13, 2018
Instead of leaning into what is going on in the neighborhood, Shiloh, for their own reasons, have pushed back. As a result, when the taxes become too much or too the property too burdensome scattered properties get sold. It was great when they sold properties to the National Park Service for the Carter G. Woodson house.
Shaw Rez pointed out that having the whole row of vacant properties would make a good development deal. The reasons why the church holds on to these vacant and crumbling properties would make such a deal unlikely.
Shiloh Baptist Church. Taken Dec 26, 2012
Shiloh has to make some hard decisions as their congregation gets older and lives further away. Nobody likes hard decisions.
I’m going through photos that I had on Flickr. Truxton Circle has a wonderful diversity of townhomes. It has modest two story townhomes and large grand town homes.
Taken August 28, 2004 at the corner of New York Av and N St NW.
There was great excitement when there was rumblings that the National Park Service would step in because this was the home of the father of Black History and Black History Month. And then there was nothing. Then it didn’t seem the NPS was going to do anything with this property or the adjoining properties it owned. I also vaguely remember the NPS was trying to take over a private home on the corner that is now a restaurant.
