A First Look at the 150 Apartments Planned for Scottish Rite Site on 16th Street

October 9, 2018

by Nena Perry-Brown

A First Look at the 150 Apartments Planned for Scottish Rite Site on 16th Street: Figure 1 — Rendering of the courtyard between the Masonic Temple and residential building. Click to enlarge.

This spring, UrbanTurf reported on plans in the works for a residential building on the Masonic Temple-owned lot at 15th Street and S Street NW (map). Now, we're getting our first look at the by-right project.

A First Look at the 150 Apartments Planned for Scottish Rite Site on 16th Street: Figure 2 — Rendering of the proposed building, looking north on 15th Street. Click to enlarge.

Perseus TDC has filed an application for Historic Preservation review of the design concept for the 46,121 square-foot site. The building will have 125-150 apartments atop 109 below-grade parking spaces; 40 of the spaces will be for staff of the Scottish Rite and the remainder will be residential.

A First Look at the 150 Apartments Planned for Scottish Rite Site on 16th Street: Figure 3 — Rendering of 15th Street elevation. Click to enlarge.

Once appended to the one- to two-story carriage house on-site, the new apartment building will create a U shape open to the rear of the temple at 1733 16th Street NW (map). The developers want to level off the roofline of the carriage house, which will also contain apartments; they will also punch out new openings, alter the building's existing openings, and re-open windows which were bricked over.

A First Look at the 150 Apartments Planned for Scottish Rite Site on 16th Street: Figure 4 — Rendering of the proposed building, at 15th and S intersection. Click to enlarge.

"The project has been designed to look like an assemblage of townhouses to fit within the Dupont Circle community," Adam Peters of Perseus explained to UrbanTurf.

A First Look at the 150 Apartments Planned for Scottish Rite Site on 16th Street: Figure 5 — Rendering of the courtyard of proposed building. Click to enlarge.

Penthouse residential units will have terraces, while a penthouse clubroom will open out to an outdoor pool deck. Two levels of apartments will be on below-grade "English basement" floors. Hickok Cole Architects is the project designer.

The development is scheduled for HPRB review next month; a community presentation will be held on October 18th. Additional renderings are below.