Homeland Security Embracing Historic Preservation

Last week, I was fortunate to be able to visit the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) secured campus at the historic St. Elizabeths Hospital in the Anacostia area of Washington, D.C. DHS has committed to a consolidation of most of its offices into the restored buildings of this national historic landmark. One of the earliest projects completed was the rehabilitation of the oldest building on campus, the Gothic Revival Center Building, which was designed by Thomas Ustick Walter and built in the 1853. Sited at a high point on a bluff overlooking the Anacostia River, the Center Building was designed to take advantage of summer breezes and views to the city. Its surrounding landscape setting was developed in the Andrew Jackson Downing tradition and used as a therapeutic, scenic setting for the treatment of patients. Today, hundreds of grand old trees, both native and ornamental, many collected from around the world, provide a sense of history and a distinctive character to the campus.

View of the St. Elizabeths campus in 2019.

Rendering of the Center Building, looking southeast.

For the last five years, I have been fortunate to be able to lead a team of landscape architects in the development of construction documents for full implementation of the rehabilitated landscape. Most of the original historic landscape features were either preserved, restored, recreated, or rehabilitated according to our plans with an eye towards preserving the historic character of the area.

Jane Jacobs, Christina Osborn, and myself, 2019.

Historic wall and stair reconstructed in 2019.

Historic paving reconstructed with original bricks.

Fingers crossed for the survival of this historic tree.