Height of Buildings in DC – NCPC – Coalition 071213
Comments on behalf of the National Coalition to Save Our Mall by Judy Scott Feldman, Chair and President
July 12, 2013
The National Coalition to Save Our Mall would like to associate our organization with the comments by the Association of the Oldest Inhabitants of the District of Columbia. The AOI comments are copied below. Our nonprofit is dedicated to upholding the principles envisioned in the L’Enfant Plan and McMillan Plan for Washington that give Washington, DC, its special quality as a low urban landscape punctuated by monuments to America’s democracy.
On a personal note, I recall moving to Austin, Texas in 1978 and relishing the view to the pink granite dome of the Capitol Building there, only to return some years later and find it hidden and dwarfed by graceless skyscrapers nearby. No doubt the economic development arguments were strong. But the aesthetic effects were devastating. Economic expediency and private interests were given precedence over a respect for the longer view that would protect the urban landscape and the symbol of government. In Washington, the wisdom of the Founders who in the 18th century created our country and devised a plan for the Nation’s Capital based on founding ideals should be foremost as we consider any change that would put those ideas aside.
I attach a view from the Capitol showing Rosslyn development dwarfing the Lincoln Memorial and destroying the simplicity of the Mall's iconic axis.
Comments provided on behalf of the Association of the Oldest Inhabitants of the District Columbia by William N. Brown, President:
The 1910 Height Act has guaranteed the low-profile cityscape of the District of Columbia for over 100 years and has made the District of Columbia unique among the major cities of the world with its distinctive skyline.
The 1910 Height Act has been called the Third Dimension of the L’Enfant Plan. President George Washington issued the first building height regulations for the city on Oct 17, 1791, concerned as much about structural and fire safety as about urban design. While Washington’s regulations were suspended from June 25, 1796 until 1800, Thomas Jefferson extended the suspension until 1904 but personally hoped the new capital would emulate Paris with buildings “low & convenient, and the streets light and airy.”
There is a sense that development pressures are fostering modifications to the Act; however, the District has just recently achieved its short-term goal of a resident population of 600,000 but it is nowhere near the all-time high of 899,000 in 1946. Let us encourage reasonable development within the current limits of the Height Act in blighted, underutilized areas of the city before we tamper with something that will forever change the character of the District of Columbia.
As Vancouver, B.C. Planner Larry Beasley warned in his presentation to the NCPC in 2010: “Take care not to open things up too casually. I dare say, those height limits may be the single most powerful thing that has made this city so amazingly fulfilling.”
As Washington’s oldest civic organization, the Association of the Oldest Inhabitants is dedicated to preserving the District’s heritage through member reminiscences as well as preserving and promoting both the L’Enfant and McMillan Plans.