What's Hot: Renderings Revealed for 337-Unit Brookland Bowling Alley Conversion | Dan Snyder's Potomac Home Hits the Market for $49 Million
West Heating Plant in Georgetown Denied Extra Historic Designation

Rendering of the Heating Plant, courtesy of the Georgetown Companies.
The West Heating Plant in Georgetown is not a historic landmark, the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) decided in a split vote Thursday.
The building at 1051/1055 29th Street NW (map) is slated for redevelopment into 80 luxury condos by developer Richard Levy’s The Levy Group, The Georgetown Co. and the Four Seasons. The board’s decision not to designate the building as a historic landmark was unusual given that its staff report recommended the plant receive landmark status. The building is already subject to historical protections and extra review because it is part of the Georgetown Historic District, but landmark status may have had implications for the redevelopment — or sunken it altogether, if you believe the developer’s argument made before the board on Thursday.
The DC Preservation League filed the nomination for the building. Rebecca Miller, the group’s executive director, told UrbanTurf on Wednesday that the building deserved to be recognized separate from the historic district to give the agencies reviewing the redevelopment a “better understanding of the individual landmark.” Miller told UrbanTurf after the meeting that she was surprised by the board’s decision. The local ANC didn’t support the Preservation League’s bid, but didn’t oppose it, either.
Historic Preservation Office staff agreed with the League, saying in its report that the building architecture merited special attention and preservation.
“For a city with relatively little industrial architecture, the West Heating Plant is a standout industrial building, significant to the appearance and development of the District, and should be recognized alongside infrastructure landmarks such the Central Heating Plant and the Main Sewerage Pumping Station,” staffer Tim Dennee wrote in his report on the project.
Levy and the developers plan to demolish nearly two-thirds of the building in the course of its redevelopment. They suggested that while many buildings within a historic district might merit landmark status, singling out buildings for extra designation in a historic district set a bad precedent for the board. Finally, the developers said the building wasn’t stable and that further restrictions on what they could do with the exterior of the building might sink the project.
“If it was heightened to a landmark, then it would remain a power plant,” a member of the development team told the HPRB.
This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/west_heating_plant_denied_extra_historic_designation_from_hprb/9804.
Most Popular... This Week • Last 30 Days • Ever

When Johnsie Walsh rented a unit in her Stanton Park apartment building, she had no i... read »

The 30,000 square-foot home has been privately offered for sale since 2018.... read »

DC's Office of Planning recently looked at DC's migration patterns in 2022. Today, Ur... read »

The residential conversion at a former bowling alley in DC is moving forward, and new... read »

When interest rates doubled in the second half of 2022, activity in the regional hous... read »
- Obama, The Tenant: A Chat With The President's DC Landlord
- Dan Snyder's Potomac Home to Publicly Hit the Market for $49 Million
- In and Out: DC's Migration Patterns in 2022, By the Numbers
- Renderings Revealed for 337-Unit Brookland Bowling Alley Conversion
- 200 People At An Open House? As Interest Rates Drop, Homebuyers Return
DC Real Estate Guides
Short guides to navigating the DC-area real estate market
We've collected all our helpful guides for buying, selling and renting in and around Washington, DC in one place. Visit guides.urbanturf.com or start browsing below!
First-Timer Primers
Intro guides for first-time home buyers
Unique Spaces
Awesome and unusual real estate from across the DC Metro