A New Look is Planned for the Norwegian Embassy

• May 8, 2018

by Nena Perry-Brown

A slightly new look is on the boards for the Norwegian Embassy. 

The embassy has applied to the Foreign Missions Board of Zoning Adjustment to expand the chancery at 2720 34th Street NW (map), providing a more meaningful connection to the embassy and ensuring that the entrance is ADA-compliant. The two-story chancery fronts 34th Street, and the three-story ambassador's residence has a neo-renaissance style and sits at 3401 Massachusetts Avenue NW (map). The site, at the northwest end of Embassy Row, shares the block with the official Vice President's residence.

The chancery will undergo an extensive interior renovation to create more of an open office environment. The exterior renovation will include converting the walkway between the two buildings into a garden room with the addition of a curved copper mansard roof.

The northern end of the chancery will be clad in limestone, and vertical wooden fins will be added to the top of the building. Between the garden room and the newly ADA-compliant entrance, 2,500 square feet of interior space will be added to the property.

The applicant is requesting relief from maximum lot occupancy parameters and for an elevator override that will make the penthouse setback noncompliant. In a new twist for a BZA filing, the application requests that the Board "not disapprove" the plans.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/a-new-look-for-the-norwegian-embassy/13950