Historic Takoma -- Historic Preservation

HTI Receives Grant to Study Properties in Takoma DC

Historic Takoma received a grant of more than $9000 from the DC Office of Historic Preservation to conduct a survey of properties within what is generally accepted as Takoma DC that are not already included in the Takoma historic district. The funding will be matched by nearly $12,000 of "in-kind" services, supplies and equipment, along with a $1000 contribution from HTI.

"This is an extremely important project," said HTI Vice President Loretta Neumann, who co-chairs HTI's Takoma DC Historic Preservation Committee who will serve, on a voluntary basis, as the managing director of the project. She noted that the original study and application for the historic district were also done by residents of Takoma DC.

"Takoma DC hasn't been formally studied since the historic district was created in 1980," Neumann said. "The boundary that was approved at the time was much smaller than the community requested, and it ignored much of the rich history of the area."

Noted architectural historian Pam Scott, a resident of Takoma DC, will be the project historian and will direct the survey team, which will include historic preservation students from George Washington University. Franz Jantzen, architectural photographer for the Supreme Court, will document the final selection of houses to be submitted to the Historic Preservation Office.

"One specific goal," Pam said, "is to find not just interesting connections between Takoma Park's houses and those who designed and built them, but also to explore who was attracted to this neighborhood and why. Artists and civic activists have chosen to live here in the late twentieth century; we wish to document Takoma's venerable heritage as a place that has historically been conducive to creative work and community involvement."

Following are the general areas to be included:

The "housing stock" in these areas varies from entire blocks of middle-class dwellings, to blocks of more modest one to one-and-a-half-story houses, to several apartment buildings. Research on the historical, architectural and cultural history of the area will be conducted to determine the common denominators that created this diversity.