VIENNA,Va., November 26, 2011 — If Seaman Benjamin Drummond awoke today at the Old Naval Hospital in Washington, DC, he would think, like Rip Van Winkle, that he’d been asleep 100 years. And he would be correct.
Drummond was the first sailor taken to the facility in 1866 for treatment of wounds sustained during the Civil War, and along with six Marine privates, were the first patients seen there upon its opening.
On November 19 the Old Naval Hospital was repopened as The Hill Center with some 350 sponsors, donors, friends and potential users meeting at the site for the long awaited ceremony. It has taken 10 years to complete the restoration and renovation of the beautiful Italianate three-story building and its landmark wrought iron fence.
The sun was shining, the dignitaries were there including DC Mayor Vincent C. Gray, the Commandant of the U. S. Marine Corps, Gen. James F. Amos and his wife, DC Council Chairman Kwame Brown, DC Council Member Tony Wells, and Stephen Ayres, Acting Architect of the Capitol.
A flag, which had flown over the U.S. Capitol, was raised for the first time at the Hill Center, while a Marine Corps Brass Quintet played in the background, with a USMC Color Guard presenting the colors.
A light wind blew the numerous blue and gold balloons festooning the tent area where guests were welcomed as they arrived. A well-deserved atmosphere of pride was pervasive as the Old Naval Hospital Foundation Board members reveled in the sight of the new community center being open.
Going back a few years the old hospital which served through the post-Civil War era and Spanish American War vets, fell into disuse and disrepair, and for a while was being considered for demolition.
Gen. Amos, whose equally historic Commandant’s Residence is located almost next door, said whenever he walked by, he could not help but think that something ought to be done to save it, and made some phone calls gathering information. A local group of conservationists and fans of the grand old edifice got together, formed a foundation, and set about working on plans on how best to renovate it as well as finding a suitable use for the facility.
The entire Capitol Hill area has been the subject of gentrification for many years now as younger residents moved in to work on the Hill, and it occurred to the Board that all residents of the area – young and old – could benefit from a true community center; thus the Hill Center was born.
Tours of the building showed the entire interior has been replaced or renovated, even the bannisters of the beautiful old wooden staircases shine with a new luster, the floors gleam, and artwork adorns the walls. It has been redone in a “green” manner, with numerous steps taken to assure that everything possible has been done in an energy-efficient way. The names of the individual rooms carry historic significance such as the Abraham Lincoln Room and the John Philip Sousa Room.
The place is light and bright, with an atmosphere conducive both to work, study and pleasure. The building contains 16,000 square feet of space; the top floor will ultimately be leased to non-profit groups seeking affordable space.
The grounds are landscaped appropriately, and one of the highlights of the facility is the wrought iron fence, standing seven feet tall. Those of you who have followed this project will recall the details of the fence – that each section has thirteen vertical bars for the thirteen original states, and these rise from a base which has a row of seven cast-iron compass type circles, which in turn represents the number of seas patrolled by the Navy. Numerous stars adorn the fence; the large black star has become almost a logo of the Center.
The fence had been vandalized through the years, with sections meeting, spindles removed, many of the stars taken as well as the finials having disappeared. Though a plea was made for missing pieces to be returned with no questions asked, no one came forward to admit the thefts.
And so the group turned to the G. Krug and Son Foundry in Baltimore, MD for help. The oldest operating foundry in the country, the Krug firm has been in existence since 1810, and had the knowledge and expertise to repair or re-make the components of the fence working from the old sections, which remained intact. Each section was taken down and trucked to Baltimore where it was studied for condition and any work necessary, and missing pieces were fabricated using the existing ones as templates. The final result is a masterpiece of ironwork, and is one of the first things a visitor comments upon.
The unique hooded windows on the top floor have been reworked and repaired where necessary, and glass replaced. The balustrade still surrounds the widow’s walk, which now hides the newly installed state of the art elevator, which has no exterior mechanism showing.
The old carriage house still remains uncompleted. It will ultimately be a café of sorts, serving everything from snacks to catered meals for events, and a lessee is being searched to take over its supervision once the renovation is completed. That phase alone is estimated to cost around $10 million, with both the Federal Government and the District of Columbia providing initial funding. The Old Naval Hospital Foundation will continue to raise funds for this work.
High up on one wall in the carriage house remain the beautiful dark wooden feed bins for the horses once stabled there. The semi-circular bins could be accessed from outside on the upper level, and feed poured into them for the horses to munch on. The attention to detail in even this aspect is amazing.
There will be a Grand Opening Reception on Wednesday, November 30 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. for the general public to come and see the new facility, described as “a vibrant new home for cultural, educational and civic life on Capitol Hill." Several groups are already signing up for space – the Levine Music School is one, and a poets’ group is another. There will be ESOL courses taught, the kitchen will be there for culinary skills, and there is no end to what all the needs of the community will dictate.
In Mayor Gray’s opening remarks on the 19th, he looked out from the flagpole area, its newly raised flag waving softly in the breeze, and commented that he felt surrounded by the large group of people who have come to the opening, which “reminds me that the Center will be an unbroken circle of services to the community for the next hundred years!”
Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital
921 Pennsylvania Avenue SE
Washington, DC 20003
202.549.4172
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Also read:
Civil War hospital lives again
Hard hat tour of Old Naval Hospital
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