Landmark-Filled Judiciary Square Gets Historic District Application

• February 20th 2019

by Nena Perry-Brown

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Another historic district could be afoot for the District of Columbia.

Last week, the DC Preservation League applied to the Historic Preservation Office to designate an 18-acre swatch of the Judiciary Square neighborhood as an historic district. Roughly bound by Constitution and Pennsylvania Avenues NW, C Street NW to the south, 6th Street to the west, G Street to the north, and 3rd and 4th Streets NW to the east, the chainsaw-shaped area encompasses 49 buildings, 37 of which are contributing structures.

"The Judiciary Square Historic District offers an extraordinary, layered cross-section of Washington’s cityscape, with its dynamic and shifting balances between landscape, municipal, and federal buildings, and an identity as a city of inhabitants rather than one of governmental functions," the application explains. 

With a period of significance stretching from 1791 to 1968, the district is primarily comprised of government buildings with some commercial, religious and multi- and single-family housing sprinkled in, signifying the area's gradual development and shifting identity over the decades. The district also boasts a wide range of architectural styles, including Art Moderne, Brutalism, Classical Revival and Gothic Victorian.

"Collectively, the assemblage illustrates the unique nexus between public spaces and urban development in the nation’s capital," the application states. A Historic Preservation Review Board hearing on this district has not yet been scheduled.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/landmark-filled-judiciary-square-gets-historic-district-application/15026.