Monday, June 15, 2009

Protest to Save Historic Mansion From Demolition Tonight

I know it's short notice, but an ad-hoc group of DC area preservationists and Dupont residents are getting together this evening at 7PM in front of the mansion at 1841 16th Street to protest the pending demolition of the structure. The mansion has been declared structurally unsound by the city and could be torn down within weeks.

Borderstan has more details.

The current issue of the Dupont Current has the full story about the house, which is owned by a George Washington University professor. The building has been very poorly maintained, to the point that an inspection by DCRA found the building to be at imminent risk of collapse. The mansion, constructed during the late 19th century, is a stunning piece of architecture and would be a great loss for the neighborhood. Unfortunately, the building's condition is so dire that the cost to stabilize and renovate the structure could exceed half a million dollars.

3 comments:

Carly said...

I read that this place is not an eminent danger to the public afterall and that the owner doesn't want to tear it down. Of course, the public pressure seems to have made a difference.

Anonymous said...

Raw Story is somewhat behind the times on posting the notice of the protest to save the house.

The latest news, as of the end of this week, is that the house will not be allowed to be razed, thanks to a strong and successful argument that building owners must not be rewarded through "demolition by neglect." The fact that the Mazurs--he's a neurosurgeon, she's a professor at GW, these are not poor people--have owned this building for about thirty years and during that time have allowed the building to become badly run down at the same time that they have collected rents from it from tenants numbering ten, while all the while living in a mansion in Mount Pleasant worth millions of dollars, should be shocking enough as it is.

The Mazurs are not the sort of people we want to have as landlords--slumlords--in our city and I suggest that they go back to wherever it is that they came from.

Anonymous said...

More on DC government's decision not to let millionaires Mazur and Liberman get away with further enriching themselves at the city's expense:

http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/breaking_ground/2009/06/dc_department_of_consumer_and_regulatory_affairs_to_prop_up_neglected_row_house_at_16th_and_t_streets.html