This version of Preservation Notes introduces some of the people for whom rooms at the Hill Center are named. Frederick Douglass was born enslaved on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. He escaped from bondage to become an influential writer and speaker, and had…
This version of Preservation Notes takes a look at how a 150-year-old building goes green. The Old Naval Hospital was built just as scientists were beginning to connect human activity to its effect on the environment. Around the time of the hospital’s 1866 opening…
This version of Preservation Notes takes us to Hill Center’s grounds, restored to their original glory."I have been waiting long for this spring song." -Langston Hughes* The last two years have seemed like a long winter, and there’s no better place…
This version of Preservation Notes begins at the beginning. Why was the country’s first permanent naval hospital built at 921 Pennsylvania Avenue S.E.? Location, location, location. Square 948, the ¾-acre site between E Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, and 9th and…
When we set out to restore and refurbish the Old Naval Hospital site ten years ago to create Hill Center, our principal focus, of course, was on the handsome main building, which had fallen into serious disrepair. The little carriage…
Preserving a historic building like the Old Naval Hospital is full of surprises, like the lawn that wouldn’t drain. But just as often it’ll be a key part of the physical plant whose lifespan is limited and whose need for…