As you may know, last Friday our neighborhood experienced a construction accident that ended up impacting three houses on Morgan Street NW. Because of construction being done to dig out the basement of 216 Morgan Street NW, the floors of 216 Morgan Street collapsed down on one another as well as causing severe damage to the common "party" wall with 218 Morgan Street NW. Luckily, the workers of 216 Morgan Street and the families living at 218 Morgan Street were able to escape the collapsing structures and no one was gravely injured. DCRA was on site through the weekend securing the properties and re-opening the street for the other residents.
Unfortunately now, DCRA wants to demolish both buildings and have them re-built and many of us believe that the facades of the two properties in our historic-designated neighborhood should be saved.
But they (DCRA) needs to hear from the residents of the area that the facades should be retained and not destroyed. And they need to hear from us the residents that we want them to take action to preserve them.
And we need to do it NOW because they are planning to demolish the buildings on this coming Monday.
If you think that they should be preserved, please send an email today to the following individuals telling them that the facades must be preserved for their historic nature and for the benefit of the community. Your emails needs to be sent to:
Linda Argo linda.argo@dc.gov
Tommy Wells twells@dccouncil.us
Don Masoero don.masoero@dc.gov
Thank you!
Rob
To Shaw and Mount Vernon Square neighbors:
We appreciate the interest and concern a number of you have expressed in the unfortunate situation affecting the properties at 216 and 218 Morgan Street, NW. We have been working closely with the Office of Planning’s Historic Preservation Office (HPO) since the collapse occurred. And after evaluating a structural engineer’s report and touring the properties with Chief Inspector Masoero, the HPO concurs with the DCRA’s determination that these partially-collapsed properties represent an imminent safety hazard requiring immediate stabilization. In monitoring the buildings over the past several days, it is apparent that the structures continue to show active movement and further deterioration that could result in conditions that threaten harm to surrounding properties and the public.
HPO and DCRA have agreed that the scope of work to be undertaken on the buildings will include stabilizing the properties to eliminate the imminent safety hazard that they represent, and that the contractor in charge will cease demolition efforts when he determines that the site has been stabilized. If the contractor determines that the facades of the buildings can be retained as part of this effort, the facades will be retained. However, given the extent of collapse and structural deterioration, both DCRA and HPO agree and understand that this may not be possible. We will keep you posted.
- Linda Argo
Posted By Cary Silverman / At 5/15/10 6:28 PM
Posted By RobA / At 5/28/10 8:18 AM
