Uline Arena landmark nomination (presentation tonight)

From the collection of E.B. Henderson II. Dr. E.B. Henderson and others led a year-long campaign of picketing every event held at the Uline Arena in order to have fully integrated events. An integrated events policy became the rule in 1949. This was an important step forward in civil rights advocacy.

This is on the agenda to be heard this month by the Historic Preservation Review Board. We put forth the nomination in the summer of 2003 because at that time, the then owner of the property wanted to demolish the building. (The zoning for the land allows for a 600,000 square foot office building.) But the Uline Arena has important architectural and social historic reasons for being saved. Hence the nomination.
The Washington Coliseum is known for being the site of the first North American concert by the Beatles. But it played an important role in local civil rights battles, and the development of professional sports as well, not to mention its role as a venue for concerts, the Ice Capades, and the Ringling Brothers-Barnum & Bailey Circus, and other events.

Eventually, the building owner withdrew the demolition application, so the nomination was tabled indefinitely, and the building was sold. The new owner, Doug Jemal, has a history of being able to work with and rehabilitate historic buildings.

(Myself, I think that this building, across from the New York Avenue station, could become the "XM Coliseum," a concert venue programmed in association with the XM Satellite Radio Network, which is located about two blocks away.)
XM Satellite Building, 1500 Eckington Place NE, Washington, DC. Photo by BeyondDC.

Justine Christianson, a historian for the Historic American Engineering Record, became interested in the building, and conducted additional research on the architectural history of the building, digging up an article about it's construction from a 1941 issue of Engineering News-Record. She continued to hone the presentation over the next year. And while she is unable to give the presentation tonight, I will be doing so (I was the leader of the effort to prepare and file the nomination).

ANC6C Planning and Zoning Committee meeting:

Date: October 4, 2006
Time: 7:00 PM
Place: Care First, 840 First St. NE, Washington, DC

(For me, after two other meetings today.)
Preservation isn't always pretty, but it is important.

Index Keywords: historic-preservation