One of the curious things about the Nationās Capital is that, unlike many older U. S. cities, Washington, D. C., never had any industry to speak ofāunless you count the manufacture of hot air as an industry. In the District of Columbia, you donāt see those wonderful 19th-century Italianate factories that dot the cityscapes of Boston, New York, Baltimore, Chicagoāstrong-boned, high-ceilinged brick edifices that convert into magnificent loft apartments, condominiums, and mixed-use centers.
What Washington does have aplenty is churches and other āreligious locationsā āby one count, 857, or one for every 758 residents. Until recently, the Way of the Cross Church, a Gothic Revival structure that dates to 1898, was among them. Today, it is the Sanctuary, a handsome 30-unit condominium complex at 819 D St., NE.
The Sanctuary may represent the vanguard of a new trend in Washington: the conversion of some of the cityās older churchesāmany of them located in emerging or already desirable neighborhoodsāto sorely needed residential use.
Ā
Exterior of the Sanctuary, at 816 D St., NE, Washington, D. C. The original Ninth Street Congregational Church dates from 1898. A three-story classroom annex built in 1916 now includes townhouses.
Ā
The church and its adjacent annex came on the market in 2014. The congregation had been migrating to the Maryland suburbs, and the sale of the church helped them finance construction of a larger building in Capitol Heights, Md. After some ownership changes, the quarter-acre property came under control of The Rubin Group, in partnership with real estate finance firm Regua. Andrew T. Rubin, Principal in the family-owned firm, brought in Bill Bonstra, FAIA, LEED AP, Founder of Washington design firm Bonstra | Haresign Architects, to lead the project.
In the course of the next two years, Rubin and Bonstra would learn more than they ever wanted to know about stained glass.
GETTING ALL THE NECESSARYĀ APPROVALS
The first item on Rubin and Bonstraās checklist was to obtain special zoning relief to change the buildingās use to residential. Parking was the neighborsā number one hot button. For years, local residents had been inconvenienced by church members taking up street parking on Sundays and weeknights. After meeting numerous times with the local Advisory Neighborhood Commission and other civic groups, Rubin and Bonstra were able to convince the locals that the parking problem would mostly go away once the church was shifted to residential useāespecially with local bus, train, and new H Street trolley service in the neighborhood.
The more vexing problem had to do with the historic nature of the neighborhood. Although the church was not a designated landmark, because it was in the Capitol Hill Historic District and of a certain age, it was deemed a āācontributing buildingā under the Districtās historic preservation guidelines. āThose buildings are what give the district its historical character,ā says Gretchen Pfaehler, AIA, a member of the Districtās Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB).
Pfaehler, an Associate Partner at design firm Beyer Blinder Belle, was Chair of the HPRB at the time the Sanctuary came under its purview. She was particularly concerned about the stained glass windows, a subject in which she is an acknowledged authority. Under the code, she says, the windows were considered āartistic elementsā that contributed āimportant character and effectā to the church.
Ā
The view from the bell tower (which never had bells)āānow the highest privately owned view in D. C.,ā according to developer Andrew T. Rubin.
Ā
That position clashed with Bonstra and Rubinās desire to make the building more appealing to prospective buyers by replacing translucent lites at eye level with transparent ones in some windows. āStained glass might be good for spirituality,ā Bonstra says, ābut when you live in a building, you want to be able to look out the windows.ā
The Review Board had denied two previous requests from developers who wanted to replace ornamental glass with clear glass; both decisions were upheld on appeal to the next higher authority. But they gave the Sanctuary team a chance to make the case for switching out the glass.
After conducting an extensive search, Bonstra and Rubin identified the glass restoration expert they believed could help themāCumberland Stained Glass, Mechanicsburg, Pa. The 25-year-old studio is accredited by the Stained Glass Association of America.
The design team organized a site visit with Pfaehler and representatives from the D. C. Historic Preservation Office, the Capitol Hill Restoration Society, and the Advisory Neighborhood Commission. Cumberlandās President, Bryan Lerew, demonstrated a mocked-up window that illustrated how the lead matrix and ornamental design could be preserved, even if some lites were replaced with specialty transparent glass.
It was a textbook case of the effectiveness of physical mockups in building design. āThe mockup did influence us,ā says Pfaehler. āIt allowed us to see the actual glazing in the appropriate lighting.ā Lerew had specified a German-made glass (āRestoverā) with a kind of distressed exterior side for the clear lites. The mockup helped overcome Pfaehlerās concerns about the sheen and reflectance of the clear glass as viewed from the street; at the same time, the glass provided the see-through visibility Bonstra and Rubin wereĀ looking for.
But the Review Board was not done. āWe examined each window in detail to determine how much glass could be replaced without compromising the overall artistry of the window,ā says Pfaehler. When Bonstra asked permission to punch holes in a street-facing wall for new windows, the board issued a categorical no. But they did allow new windows on the rear of the church and some operable windows for ventilation.
Following months of negotiation, the Review Board approved the revisions to the windows, although Pfaehler was emphatic that theĀ decision applied only to the Sanctuary and was not to viewed as precedent setting.
Refurbishing the 132 windows took six of Cumberlandās technicians nine months, Lerew says. āThe windows were badly out of repair, and the lead had outlived its life,ā he says. Cumberland craftsmen painstakingly preserved 75% of the original glass and restored all the original designs. The total cost of the glasswork, according to Rubin: about 10% of the total $15.1 million construction cost.
SHORING UP THE STRUCTURE
The 85-foot-tall bell tower needed major structural reinforcement. āWe removed about four feet of the original wall all the way to the basement, then poured a 28-by-42-inch concrete column and laid engineered structural beams,ā says Brian Lucey, Potomac Construction Groupās Vice President of Operations.
Inserting the shaft for the new three-story KONE elevator between the church and the old classroom annex proved vexing for Potomac and structural engineer Structura. Concrete in the annex had to be demolished, underpinning placed around the foundations, and new footings laid. āWe had to shore up each concrete floor as we moved up, putting in new cinder block shaft walls to the roof,ā says Lucey.
Ā
Potomac Construction Group crews carefully preserved light fixtures and original brick throughout the nearly 35,000-sf restoration. Note the special German-made transparent glass and the operable windows, two features the developer and design team worked hard to convince the District of Columbia Historic Preservation Review Board to approve.
Ā
āThe window lines throughout the building varied due to the differences in structure and purpose of the church and annex,ā says Colin Drumright, Project Architect, Bonstra | Haresign. āWe incorporated these differences into the living units by having double-height spaces and varied floor elevations on the third floor.ā Sloped seating in the choir loft was demolished to gain the proper alignment, he notes.
Potomac finished the 34,693-sf job last New Yearās Eve. By September, the 29 one- and two-bedroom units (440 to 1,900 sf) were sold out. The penthouse (two bedrooms/2.5 baths) went for $1,525,000, a condo sales figure the cityās Northeast quadrant had not seen since 2008.
The Sanctuary received an Award of Excellence in Historic Architecture from AIA Northern Virginia. Next month, it will be announced as a winner in Building Design+Constructionās Reconstruction Awards.
The conversion of the church had an almost Damascene effect on the participants. āWe felt more like stewards of the building than developers,ā says Rubin. āThe church started telling us what to do.ā
PROJECT TEAM | THE SANCTUARY
CLIENT The Rubin Group, in partnership with ReguaĀ Ā ARCHITECT Bonstra | Haresign ArchitectsĀ Ā STRUCTURAL ENGINEER StructuraĀ Ā CIVIL ENGINEER VIKA CapitolĀ MECHANICAL ENGINEER Capitol Engineering GroupĀ Ā GLASS CONSULTANT Cumberland Stained GlassĀ GC Potomac Construction Group
Ā
Plaster was removed from the walls in the main stairwell (and elsewhere) to reveal the original brick. The wooden balustrade was restored.
Related Stories
Multifamily Housing | Sep 26, 2023
Midwest metros see greatest rent increase in September 2023
While the median monthly price of rent has increased by 0.71% in August, the year-over-year estimates show a national change of -0.06 percent.
Affordable Housing | Sep 25, 2023
3 affordable housing projects that serve as social catalysts
Trish Donnally, Associate Principal, Perkins Eastman, shares insights from three transformative affordable housing projects.
Sponsored | Multifamily Housing | Sep 25, 2023
Six3Tile helps The Sherbert Group bring an abandoned Power House back to life
Cladding and Facade Systems | Sep 22, 2023
5 building faƧade products for your next multifamily project
A building's faƧade acts as a first impression of the contents within. For the multifamily sector, they have the potential to draw in tenants on aesthetics alone.
Sponsored | Multifamily Housing | Sep 21, 2023
5 Helpful Resources for Designing & Building with Engineered Wood
From in-depth, technical publications with detailed illustrations and examples to in-person consultations with engineered wood specialists, APA offers a host of helpful resources for commercial designers and installers working with engineered wood.
MFPRO+ Blog | Sep 21, 2023
The benefits of strategic multifamily housing repositioning
With the rapid increase in new multifamily housing developments, owners of existing assets face increasing competition. As their assets age and the number of new developments increases seemingly day-by-day, developers will inevitably have to find a way to stay relevant.
Mixed-Use | Sep 20, 2023
Tampa Bay Rays, Hines finalize deal for a stadium-anchored multiuse district in St. Petersburg, Fla.
The Tampa Bay Rays Major League Baseball team announced that it has reached an agreement with St. Petersburg and Pinellas County on a $6.5 billion, 86-acre mixed-use development that will include a new 30,000-seat ballpark and an array of office, housing, hotel, retail, and restaurant space totaling 8 million sf.
Engineers | Sep 15, 2023
NIST investigation of Champlain Towers South collapse indicates no sinkhole
Investigators from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) say they have found no evidence of underground voids on the site of the Champlain Towers South collapse, according to a new NIST report. The team of investigators have studied the siteās subsurface conditions to determine if sinkholes or excessive settling of the pile foundations might have caused the collapse.Ā
MFPRO+ Research | Sep 11, 2023
Conversions of multifamily dwellings to āmansionsā leading to dwindling affordable stock
Small multifamily homes have historically provided inexpensive housing for renters and buyers, but developers have converted many of them in recent decades into larger, single-family units. This has worsened the affordable housing crisis, say researchers.