Saint Elizabeths and the DHS
Thursday, January 8th, 2009
As you may or may not know, the Department of Homeland Security plans to take over the abandoned West Campus of Saint Elizabeths Hospital in Washington DC and consolidate it’s various agencies’ offices in that one location. There’s recently been a pretty substantial indication that it’ll be a while till that happens though: Coastguard Renews Lease in Buzzard’s Point.
Another eyebrow-raising piece of news is that Saint ELizabeths West Campus might lose its National Historic Landmark status when the DHS moves in: Saint Elizabeths Could Lose Historic Status. Apparently the DHS’s plan is so incompatible with the site’s historic character that the National Park Service expects to consider its “dedesignation as a National Historic Landmark.” That doesn’t sound too good…
By the way, I finally got to take some exterior photos of the Saint Elizabeths Kirkbride in December by participating in one of the DC Preservation League’s walking tours. I’ll be posting some of those soon along with some interior photos from a few years ago.
UPDATE: Somebody just directed me to this opinion piece about Saint Elizabeths’ status written by National Trust for Historic Preservation President Richard Moe: Disaster for St. Elizabeths.
