Posts about Public Art

A new, 29,000-square-foot church, containing a sanctuary, classrooms and a day care center, would be built next door. Between them would be a mid-block pedestrian passage with landscaping and public art.

Redevelopment causes debate between congregations, preservationists

The Church at Clarendon with apartments above. Photo by Ron Cogswell on Flickr.

Whether due to declining attendance or growing ambitions, other area churches are doing the same thing, notably the Third Church of Christ, Scientist in downtown DC, which partnered with a developer to raze their architecturally significant sanctuary and replace it with a new church and office building.

In Arlington, the Church at Clarendon sold the air rights above their church so an apartment building could be built on top. Meanwhile, the First Baptist Church of Wheaton sold their property to an apartment developer to relocate to Olney.

These projects often pit congregations against preservationists, who argue that the churches are historically or architecturally significant and should be saved. The Silver Spring Historical Society fought to have the First Baptist Church designated as a historic landmark; in response, the church hired a historian to argue that the building was nothing special.

It's a "dime-a-dozen church," Pastor Duncan McIntosh told the Gazette in 2011.

The Montgomery County Planning Board chose not to designate the building, opening it up for redevelopment. However, stained glass windows from the old church may be used in the new one, according to Jerry McCoy, president of the historical society.

Proposed design provides transition between downtown and neighborhoods

Site plan of the proposed First Baptist Church redevelopment. All images from the Montgomery County Planning Board.

Whether or not the First Baptist Church of Silver Spring is historically significant, it plays an important role in the community. Ironically, tearing it down will allow the church to remain in the community by giving it much-needed income and a new sanctuary that better fits their needs. Not only that, but the proposed design will encourage the further revitalization of downtown Silver Spring while creating a nice transition to surrounding neighborhoods.

The apartment building, designed by SK+I Architects of Bethesda, will have ground-floor retail along Fenton Street between Wayne and Bonifant Street, filling a large gap between the core of downtown Silver Spring and Fenton Village. Along Wayne and Fenton, the building will be 6 stories tall and have a modern façade with metal and concrete panels and large expanses of glass.

Rendering of proposed First Baptist Church redevelopment from Wayne and Fenton.

View of the building from Bonifant and Fenton.

In 2011, neighbors agreed to allow the building additional height along Fenton; in exchange, the developers have reduced its height to 4 stories along Bonifant, where it's adjacent to single-family houses. The exterior on that street is more traditional, with divided-light windows and brick cladding; instead of shops, there are ground-floor apartments with "real doors."

In response to concerns about through traffic, a chicane will be placed on Bonifant Street. It'll slow drivers down, but still allow them to pass through, making it a much better alternative than the "fake cul-de-sacs" placed in many areas around downtown Silver Spring that just dump more traffic on the main streets.

Public space mixes church and community

Rendering of "Wingspire" sculpture and passage.

However, the most interesting part of the project might be its public open spaces, which take up two-fifths of an acre. It's here that apartment residents, shoppers and diners, and church parishioners will cross paths and mingle, creating an interesting mix.

The church's entrance on Wayne Avenue will face a small plaza, which also has tables and chairs for outdoor dining. On Bonifant Street is a playground for the church's day care center, which will be open to the public at set times. Connecting them is a mid-block passage between the apartments and the church, with benches and bioretention planters that hold and filter rainwater.

There will also be a 30-foot-tall public art piece dubbed "Wingspire." Frederick-based artist William Cochran designed a sculpture made of dichroic glass, which is embedded with thin layers of metal and can display a variety of colors. The glass will also be embedded in the passage's stone pavers, creating what Cochran calls a "river of light."

After years of debate, a design has emerged for the new First Baptist Church of Silver Spring that might make everyone happy. Not only does it allow a nearly century-old congregation to remain in place, but it allows downtown Silver Spring to continue growing while respecting adjacent neighborhoods. A church is often the heart of a community, but in a project like this, it's literal.

Check out this slideshow with additional images of the First Baptist Church proposal.

The 29-year-old Parisian is known around the world for his unique style, a mixture of photography and graffiti that involves blowing up photographs and pasting them on street corners and buildings.

The mural uses Ernest Wither's photo of the 1968 Memphis strike. The black-and-white image depicts dozens of striking workers and civil rights activists holding up signs that read "I Am a Man."

"This says it all: 'I am a man,'" JR told the Washington Post on Wednesday. "They created such a strong and powerful image that still resonates today, but in another context. Still, people say, 'I am a man,' but they care less about the color [of their skin]. It's 'we are humans, we are here, we want to exist.' And I like that, I think that's pretty powerful."

JR installing the mural.

JR and 3 assistants began work on the mural early Tuesday morning using globs of white paste and rolling out strips of the massive photo. In the past, the semi-anonymous artist has worked both legally and illegally.

This time, he stayed within legal boundaries, with the help of Lauren Gentile, who founded the 14th Street art gallery Contemporary Wing. Gentile facilitated JR's work, with the permission of the unoccupied building's owner, Lori Graham.

"In the right context, street art can start a dialogue about important issues; this one to me is dignity," Gentile said. "The image is installed on a building just two doors down from the historic Post Office for African-Americans and on a street corner just below the center of the 1968 Washington, D.C. riots."

The context has more than historical meaning, as Gentile noted: "You could even go beyond the history and see the image in its new life, now currently in the center of many major developments on 14th street with all of the hundreds of real-time labors working hard nearby. The image, in its new context, has the power to reshape public experience, but how it is reshaped can only be personally decided by its audience."

The mural has already drawn rave reviews from local residents. Its black-and-white faces have turned heads and brought life to a normally dingy and run-down façade. Regular passersby may appreciate having a beautiful piece of art to look at, but a handful of dedicated JR followers have made pilgrimages to U Street just to see the piece.

When one fan arrived at the building on Wednesday and introduced herself to JR, the artist told her to pick up a brush and start painting, according to the Post.

"When you're in New York, people don't say, 'we're happy you came to New York.' In DC, people thank you for coming here and bringing art here," JR told a reporter.

JR's art has graced streets from China and Kenya to Europe and New York City. He has even worked on the wall that separates Israel and Palestine.

JR has long called city streets "the largest art gallery in the world." Notably, the new installation is one of only a handful JR has ever done in the United States.

Because his murals are held together with paste and subject to the wear and tear of weather, there's no telling how long JR's mural at 14th and T will last. It could begin peeling tomorrow or stay in pristine condition for months.

No matter how long the mural survives, it has already done its job: making passersby stop and think, and reminding them how lucky we all are to live in such a vibrant city.

For bonus points, do you know where this is or can you recognize the location?

Here's a part of the instructional sign on the rack. The full sign gives away the location, as do these two other signs.

The sign says this is more compact than other bike racks. That's largely true, though in this configuration, the rack also requires a lot of empty space around in every direction. In an institutional setting with big open spaces (and where it can also function as art), that makes sense. In many tighter urban spaces, arranging these curved, vertical racks side by side instead of in a circle would allow storing bikes even more compactly, though less artistically.

Still a streaming barrage of flashes, dashes, and splashes of colors and messages, the state of the Red Line's graffiti in 2012 is a shadow of its former self. The line has been a railroad, originally the Baltimore and Ohio, since the mid-19th century, and thus has long been an industrial corridor.

Graffiti-strewn buildings neighbor the Rhode Island Avenue Metro station. Photo by the author.

In recent years, the Metropolitan Branch Trail and development between Fort Totten and New York Avenue have brought new attention to the corridor's aesthetic appeal. Large-scale service projects have painted murals, as part of Murals DC, within sight of the Red Line. With Rhode Island Row's opening imminent, it is only a matter of time before the graffiti-strewn warehouses on the opposite side of Rhode Island Avenue NE are cleaned up.

Ownership of public spaces that enclose the Red Line is scattered between CSX (which owns the outer tracks used by MARC, Amtrak, and freight trains), WMATA, and mostly private businesses. The DC Department of Public Works' jurisdiction is limited to graffiti visible from the street.

"In FY 11 we spent approximately $500,000 on graffiti abatement, which is consistent with what we have spent in the past," said Nancee Lyons, spokesperson for DPW. "Last year, we completed 6,155 abatements on public and private space. Just to give you some perspective, we have five dedicated folks dealing with graffiti, one fewer than in the past."

Barnard, who has owned the business for 23 years, doesn't expect the wall's bareness to endure. "The building is so popular that the police have done midnight surveillance." However, the inevitability that another name will the grab the imagination of Red Line riders doesn't interest Barnard. "It's nothing but vandalism. They might as well come here and smash our windows. It costs us money all the time. It ruins the community. What's the message?"

The incandescent home is located at 513 Newcomb Street in Southeast Washington, a quiet residential street.

Thomas' yard, which lights up from 5:15 pm to 6:45 am, houses many decorations. There's Santa riding in a NASCAR, Santa flying in a hot air balloon, Santa leaning back in a recliner reading a book, a six foot inflated Tigger wearing Santa's ubiquitous red stocking cap. Thomas estimates more than 30 pieces of Christmas-themed ornaments adorn her front lawn.

"I would love to keep it up all year," Thomas says, laughing. "But I haven't got my electric bill yet."

Appreciation has come from both neighbors and local police, who have recognized Thomas with an award. "The police say they like it because it lights up the block," said Thomas, retired from the DC government.

Thomas says people in the neighborhood begin asking her, "Is it time for the yard to go up?" as early as September.

The display that includes a five foot inflatable snow globe, a fleet of reindeer, multiple Frosty the Snowmans, and Disney characters takes about three days to put up according to Thomas' daughter, Terry.

Throughout the years hundreds of children and their families have asked to take pictures posing by the decorations. Thomas always welcomes them. Anytime you're in the neighborhood, you'll be welcomed, too.

A version of this story appeared in the December East of the River.

In its earliest days, the theatre hosted vaudeville, musicals, road shows, stock company productions, and even a circus or two. For a short time during the Great Depression the building hosted a church, but by 1931 the theatre was restored to a lively performance space. Over the decades the theatre hosted stars of jazz, rock-n-roll, rhythm and blues, and some early front-runners of go-go.

Unable to survive the economic troubles of the era, the Howard Theatre closed shortly after the 1968 riots that decimated so much of central Washington. It re-opened in the mid-1970s, but closed again by the early 1980s. It has been shuttered for the past 3 decades.

Immortalized in song and verse by Duke Ellington, Langston Hughes, Jean Toomer and others, the theatre's pending reopening, along with the adjacent development of Progression Place on 7th Street, is already triggering memories of Washington's "Black Broadway."

"The Howard was the first major theatre built for and by black folks," said Timothy A. Jones, ANC 4C08, as he gripped a binder filled with photocopies of old photos, show programs, and newspaper clippings.

"The Howard seems to have been a place where local kids who thought they might be able to be musicians could come hang out back stage. Several discovered that they did want to be musicians," says Blair A. Rube, author of Washington's U Street.

The ground breaking for the renovations was held in early September, 2010, just weeks after the theatre's centennial anniversary.

Unfortunately, not much from the building's interior could be saved. According to construction project manager Ryan Colombo, water damage caused by leaks in the roof had destroyed most of the interior.

The renovated interior will have a standing room capacity of around 1,000, and seating capacity of between 400 and 500. There will be fewer than 100 permanent seats, all of which will be located on the 2nd floor balcony. The first floor will be flexible for either standing or banquet seating. The renovated stage will include DJ booths set to either side.

A new basement has been built which will have bathrooms, dressing rooms, a green room, and a large kitchen.

On the exterior, the façade's original 17 windows have been restored. Additionally, a new free standing statue will be added to the building's front. The statue will consist of stainless steel rods in the shape of a trumpet player, and will be called "Jazz Man".

In 2002, the DC Preservation League named the Howard one of its Most Endangered Places. According to Executive Director Rebecca Mller, "The Howard is a cultural as well as an architectural landmark." It is gratifying to see it restored and put to good use.

With the re-opening of the Howard Theatre, the revitalization of the U Street district continues to creep eastward, bringing neighborhoods back to life and returning a piece of the city's past glory.

A version of this story appeared in The Washington Informer.

Top of the McMillan Fountain today (left) and in 1912 (right).

Though the top of the McMillan Fountain had been restored to the reservoir grounds, a Bloomingdale ANC commissioner told me the base of the fountain was in the woods in Fort Washington along with the remains of the fountain that stood at the center of the now-razed Truxton Circle.

I went to Fort Washington in search of these discarded works of art. I asked a park ranger where the fountain was and she drew me a map, saying that it stood in the park's "dump" and partly behind a fence.

I went to the picnic area nearest the site and walked into the woods a short distance where I found a fence. Behind it stood piles of bricks and other discarded building materials.

Beside the site is a dugout that serves as the back court to Battery Emory, a concrete gun battery built in 1898 to protect the capital city from enemy ships.

As I passed through the unfenced dugout, I immediately spotted few granite blocks that served as the cornerstones of the base bowl. Though they are strewn about the ground, a 1912 photograph can help us identify what pieces went where.

A cornerstone sitting on the ground (left) formed part of the fountain's bottom basin (right).

The elements of the fountain were stacked like totem pole. The bottom element features carved classical allegorical heads from whose mouths water gushed into the carved bowls below.

Fence material and tree debris cover the carved granite (left) that stood as the fountain base (right).

The next element of the stack is the fluted base to the top bowl.

Upside down on the ground (left) is the fluted base for the top bowl (right).

Several other large granite stones are stacked and marked with numbers, presumably to help in reassembly.

The site also contains the rusting remains of the fountain that stood at Truxton Circle, which formed the intersection of North Capitol Street, Florida Avenue, Lincoln Road, and Q Street. The circle was built around 1901 and the fountain installed there originally stood at the triangle park at Pennsylvania Avenue and M Street in Georgetown.

Truxton Circle stood at Florida Avenue, North Capitol Street, Q Street, and Lincoln Road from 1901 to 1940, when it was demolished to aid commuter traffic.

A newspaper at the time described it as one of the largest fountains in the city. The circle was removed in 1940 to ease the flow of commuter traffic. At that time, the fountain, which may date to as early as the 1880s, made its way to Fort Washington to rust in the woods.

The metal pedestal (left) held up the fountain bowl whose rim rusts in pieces on the ground (right). Notice the classical egg-and-dart pattern.

The fountain was also noted for the metal grates that stood near its base. Now these grates sit rusting in the woods.

If you want to see the fountain remains for yourself at Fort Washington National Park, go to picnic area C. Beyond the end of the parking lot is a restroom building and behind that is the fountain "graveyard." A fence encloses part of the site, but you can enter through the large gap down the hillside.

Rather than tossing aside our city's artistic patrimony, we should aim to restore these treasures to the neighborhoods from which they came. Public art is part of what differentiates cherished neighborhoods from unmemorable places.

These works remind us of the accomplishments and civic-mindedness of generations past and urge us to carry on the tradition of civic improvement for generations to come.

Cross-posted at Left for LeDroit.