by Diana Kohn

Photos by Julie Wiatt

March 2009

When the scaffolding on the Takoma Park DC library comes down this month, the newly renovated interior will match the elegance of the exterior. State-of-the-art technology has been married to the elegant style that recaptures the library's 1911 heritage as a Carnegie library. The grand re-opening will be held on March 21.

On rare occasions, a renovation project turns into a work of art. The Takoma Park DC library, reopening this month, is one such case.

Built in 1911 it was the first branch library in the metropolitan Washington system. Andrew Carnegie himself donated $40,000 for its construction, along with a basic blueprint that was replicated across the country.

The library became a popular gathering spot. Few changes were made to the outside of the building over the decades. Inside, however, much was altered. The interior suffered  from several makeovers that obscured the oak woodwork and elegant lines. The front entryway was turned into a barricade.

Workmen put the finishing touches on the interior - hanging lamps and clearing away the last of the debris. The open entranceway is a marked contrast to the old.

As the building aged, the roof leaked, parts of the ceiling collapsed, and the systems failed to keep pace with the technological advances necessary to library services.

Even so it was surprising that the Takoma Park branch would be the first one chosen to undergo a complete renovation. (Georgetown with its devastated Peabody Room is next.),

Last fall, Takoma's books were packed up and placed in storage and a bookmobile was parked on Fourth Street to serve the neighborhod for the duration of the renovation. 

The restored woodwork emphasizes the elegant lines notable in a Carnegie library.

Chris Wright stepped in as Project Manager. His passion is history--he dug into the records in an effort to respect the architecture while modernizing the system. He found the original drawings, hired master woodcarver Robert O. Greene to create woodwork and furniture that matches the originals, uncovered a skylight hidden by a painted ceiling, and oversaw the work of Forrester Construction to bring the project in a month ahead of schedule. 

The staff is thrilled. Rachel Meit, the children's libarian,  said, "we're even more exicted than the neighbors to be back in such a gorgeous space. Chris couldn't have picked better people - they had the vision and the work ethic to get the job done early."

Working in the library pre-renovation was difficult. Meit described trying to focus on programs while being diverted by a leak in the ceiling. 

Project Manager Chris Wright was responsible for recreating the appearance of the original Carnegie library.

After months spent in the tight quarters of the basement and bookmobile, they look forward to moving back in. But it has created a camaraderie among the staff. Lindsay Halkola joins Rachel as children's librarian and Heather Petsche is the newly appointed young-adult librarian under the supervision of head librarian Helen Hiltz. 

Aside from the elegant new interior, the first thing patrons will notice is the prominance given to new technologies. Every table has computer hookups and the entire building has wi-fi. 

The DVD and audiobook collections are front and center. Self-contained audiobooks called Playaways come with their own batteries and earphones that don't require an MP3 player.

One example of the merging of the past and future is the computer tables. According to Wright, the Mission-style tables (and chairs) are based on drawings of the original furniture, but the tables sprout plugs for computer hookups. "We had all the original furniture plans so we were able to mimic the style of the original furniture, even though we didn't have any of the pieces left. It's one of the neat things about being a library. We keep all the drawings."

When Wright chose cork for the floor it was partly based on its value as a "green" material, but also because it was the traditional flooring used in the early 1900s. 

Ultimately it is the woodworking that captures the eye. The key is the white oak, explains Greene, who was charged with recreating all the additional woodwork. "It is quartered to show off the beautiful figures in the wood." Once the dark finish had been stripped off the original moldings, the wood grain is shown in all its splendor.

BEFORE: Upon entering the library, you faced a glass box and maze-like path around the information desk. The renovation has stripped it all away. (Photo Courtesy of DC Public Library)

Most impressive is the vestibule replacing the "fortress" that has been removed from the entrance. As Wright tells the story, "The original plans show this amazing vestibule, so we put it back and Greene did a spectacular job building it." The central desk is a replica of the original.

When it came to choosing the color of the wall paint, Wright acknowledges a little help from the Voice. He figured out which of the paint chips were the original color "based on the reference to green paint in your Voice article (April 2008). "

"When asked about the enduring nature of Carnegie library style, Wright remembered a recent visit to California: "I went to the Carnegie library in Noe Valley in San Francisco last year and it's amazing how smiliar it is to this one. Same floor plan, door in the same place, wider adult area, with children's area in back and a fireplace.'

AFTER: The front entrance is now graced with a wooden vestibule and an information desk based on the original drawings uncovered by Chris Wright and faithfully recreated by Robert Greene in quarter-cut oak. The re-discovered skylight has been opened up.

It is worth remembering that the Takoma library was nearly lost in 1965. The powers that be were insisting on the need to tear down the building and replace it with a modern structure several blocks away.

The neighborhood resisted and succeeded in saving the building. Luckily this time around, the library system appreciates the treasure it has.

With the renovation completed, the library will be in great shape to celebrate its centennial in 2011.

Grand Re-opening Celebration

Saturday, March 21: 10a.m. to 3p.m.

The Takoma Park DC staff welcomes the neighborhood to the Grand Re-opening on March 21, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Highlights include storytelling at 10:30 a.m. with Ginnie Cooper, the Chief Librarian, and a second storytime with Rachel Meit at 11:30 a.m. In the afternoon, Chris Wright will discuss the history behind the renovation.

Diana Kohn is Education Chair of Historic Takoma, Inc., which is dedicated to preserving and celebrating the heritage of both Takoma Park MD and DC. More can be found at www.historictakoma.org.

The collection of Takoma Archives columns is available online at www.takoma.com/takoma_archives. For tales of Silver Spring history, check out Jerry McCoy's columns in the Silver Spring Voice, available online at www.silverspringvoice.com/ssthenagain. 

by Diana Kohn

November 2008

Places, like people, have an official moment when they come into existence. For Takoma Park that moment was November 24, 1883. 

On that day a deed was drawn up between B.F. Gilbert and Joseph & Sarah Burr. In exchange for $6,500, Gilbert pur-chased 93 acress of abandoned farmland from the estate of Gottleib Grammar.

Gilbert had no interest in farming. He was a real estate developer who envisioned houses nestled among the close-set trees, offering middle class families an alternative to the unhealthy living conditions that were their only choice in the District. 

These 93 acres were the first of 14 parcels of land that would be stitched together to form Takoma Park.

The world has changed so profoundly in the last 125 years that it is hard for us to imagine life in 1883. Queen Victoria, who gave her name to the whole era, still had more than 20 years left as monarch of the British Empire.

Gilbert's first purchase was the Grammar parcel, land once owned by Charles Carroll of Bellevue, brother of Daniel Carroll of Duddington who provided most of the land in Federal City, including the National mall and Capital Hill. Writing in 1890, the Washington Post extolled the "purely rural, untamed chatter of the forest there, in the depths of which the town has been laid out."

Along with no cars, airplanes, air conditioning or television, we would have to get along without yet-to-be-invented Lifesavers, cornflakes, Hershey chocolate bars, and Coca-Cola.

Telephone lines were just now stretching between New York and Chicago. Edison was still investigating tungsten as the secret to creating an electric light bulb.The newly-opened Brooklyn Bridge and the first 10-story skyscraper in Chicago gave glimpses of the future, while Remington was revolutionizing business with its new-fangled typewriter.

Treasure Island, Huck Finn and Sherlock Holmes were delighting readers everywhere while the National League resumed baseball games suspended since 1876. And the railroads agreed to create four time zones.

The American nation was barely 20 years beyond the wrenching turmoil of the Civil War. Chester Arthur had assumed the Presidency in the wake of Garfield's death from a crazed madman's bullet.

The Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the Civil Rights Act of 1875 which attempted to guarantee all persons equal treatment in "public accomodations" and then declared that American Indians were not citizens.

The Washington Monument was finally nearing completion. It stood alone on the marshy fields that would one day be the Mall. The Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials were decades away. The city proper ended at K Street for all intents and purposes, though Boundary Street (Florida Avenue) marked the furthest reaches of development. It took most of a day to travel from Georgetown to Baltimore by horseback.

The Capital itself was flooded with post-war workers, eager to join the ranks of the government. Clerical jobs were now possible thanks to the Civil Service Reform Bill of 1883. Examinations and a merit system made it fairer. The presence of these workers who deserved healthy living prompted the 42-year-old Gilbert to undertake his radical scheme.

This was not Gilbert's first development project. Born in upstate New York in 1841, he gravitated to the Capital as a young man. Over the previous decades he had tried his hand building rowhouses on K Street, and in a visionary attempt to develop the area now known as Dupont Circle (which failed when his fellow investors got cold feet).

But "suburb" was still a relatively new concept. People lived either crowded together in cities or isolated in the vast rural stretches. Gilbert envisioned a combination - men working in the city while their families grew up in the healthy air of the countryside. He realized that the new Baltimore & Ohio railroad provided a way to link the city job and country home.

Moreover, this would free families from the crowded tenaments and dangers of malaria and unsafe drinking water which plagued the marshy District.

The Grammar tract ran from the intersection of Piney Branch & Blair Rds., NW southeast on Blair to Willow Street, NW, then NE along Willow to Valley Hill in Maryland and west to Chestnut.

He jumped on the train to see what he could find. Six miles north of the Mall, he found the Grammar estate. The parcel included one of the 1791 boundary stones marking the District-Maryland border which divided the parcel in half. It was a distinction that he disregarded, an attitude which continues to this day among some residents.

Gilbert, a stickler for healthy living was attracted by other amenities: a multitude of underground springs not to mention Sligo Creek a mile north promised pure drinking water. A ridge of land (following today's Cedar, Carroll and Ethan Allen) stood 300 feet above the District's marshes and guided him laying out the streets. The tract, though densely wooded, was crisscrossed by Indian and tobacco trails that provided access.

The only thing he didn't like was the name given to the train stop: Brightwood. But that was solved when one of his fellow guests at the DC hotel he called home, made a suggestion. Ida Summy offered "Takoma" - as an Indian word meaning "high up" or "near heaven." He immediately adopted it, adding "Park" to complete the image. Fittingly enough, Ida and her husband soon joined Gilbert in the new community.

His first sale, however, was made on November 24, the same day he took title. Amanda Thomas purchased four lots (within a year she and her husband Isaac would occupy the first completed house in the suburb).

Gilbert offered lots at 5 cents a square foot (versus 50 cents in town), making home ownership a reality of dozens of families. Despite his real estate experience expansion was slow. By the end of the first year 70 souls (counting children) called Takoma Park home. By the end of 1886, there was a population of 100 in a total of 16 houses.

Each year brought more residents, who began to turn their attention to amenities like churches, schools, paved roads, a public water system. By 1890 the town incorporated as a Maryland municipality, with Gilbert elected as first mayor.

His last years were less successful. Buying additional parcels of land, com-bined with unwisely undertaking the construction of a 160-room hotel in North Takoma, left him overextended when nationwide financial panic hit in 1893.

Gilbert never recovered and spent his declining years as an invalid, dying in 1907. But the community he founded was ready to stand on its own.

The independent nature that Takoma Park residents consider their hallmark, was nurtured in the wilderness of early Takoma Park and is Gilbert's most enduring legacy.

Diana Kohn is the Education Chair of Historic Takoma. To commemorate the 125 anniversary of Gilbert's first purchase, Historic Takoma has asked the City Council to declare November 24, 2008, as B.F. Gilbert Day.

Catch more history: Jerry McCoy's "Then and Now" column in the Silver Spring Voice relates the tale of Montgomery Blair's mansion at Falklands. Pass columns of both "Takoma Archives" and "Then and Now" and are available online at takoma.com and silverspringvoice.com.  

Part three of a series

For more than 25 years Takoma Junction has eluded all efforts at revitalization.  Despite a never-ending round of committees who enthusiastically gather to tackle the problem, little has changed.

Much of the challenge is location. Originally part of General Samuel Sprigg Carroll's family estate, the intersection of Carroll and Ethan Allen only slowly developed commerce in the 1930s.

The fire station as seen in 1929. The construction of a new fire station on site, just getting underway, will prompt renewed discussion of revitalization at the Junction. 

The small storefronts that appeared in conjunction with the trolley line passing through on its way to Sligo Creek, remain the primary economic activity. But several blocks of residential houses separate them from the Takoma Old Town commercial center at Carroll and Laurel.

Although city debate over development was sparked by the freeway fight of late 1960s, little thought was given to this intersection until 1981. Then the city decided to take advantage of newly-available federal block grant money to improve its commercial districts. 

Takoma Old Town was the first recipient. Finally in March 1983, the city convened a Takoma Junction Revitalization Committee to figure out the best model for the newly-named area along Carroll Avenue between Sherman and Philadelphia. 

Eight contractors made proposals, which ended up filed in city hall and the library, but brought only some minimal streetscape improvements. The most tangible result was the Victorian mural on the corner wall of High's Market (now TJs). This was the brainchild of Ed McMahon, who promoted public art as a key to revitalization. 

A new go-around in 1995 resulted in the creation of B.Y. Morrison Park with Jim Colwell's "Guardians of theNeighborhood" mural adorning the abandoned gas station (once Sister City Thrift Shop) on the corner. Trees and shrubs were planted, turning the corner into a gorgeous, glorified bus stop.

Then developer Mike Zarpas began entertaining offers from People's Drug and later Rite Aid to build on the open lot at 7100 Carroll Avenue. This 67,000 square foot vacant lot had been identified from the beginning as the spot that "would define the identity of the Junction" in the words of one of the committee reports.  (See account on next page of a similar fight over 8 Grant Ave.) 

Zarkas' action galvanized neighborhood opposition and the Last Takoma Junction Committee was born. A coalition of neighbors, city officials and businessmen, the committee conducted a public charette and floated the concept of a "village center," with a pedestrian-friendly plaza..

They also envisioned a Community Development Corporation, as a non-profit entity that would support the financial development. The effort faded away, although the committee did help push the city into purchasing the property from Zarpas.

Dan Robinson, the Councilmember currently representing the Junction, still echoes the idea of a non-profit mechanism as the best hope for revitalizing the area. "It is not necessary for economic development to knock down and rebuild bigger - which of course, forces out the current small businesses."  

Instead he calls for a commercial land trust. "As a non-profit, they don't have to gather the high rents required by developers to turn a profit. They could encourage a smaller-scale of development.  Say, expansion of the Co-op."

Ten years ago Takoma-Silver Spring Co-op moved into the red brick storefront on Ethan Allen that once housed a Safeway store. They have shown interest in expand-ing, but would face tough financial hurdles. 

Meanwhile, the neighbors have once again taken up the standard. Under the dynamic leadership of Ellen Zavian, they are trying to define how to make the junction function - that's her committee's name - Make the Junction Function. 

"I have been talking with the store owners, encouraging them to clean up their front windows and to improve the streetscape. But we need to do more. The concerts this summer in the Co-op parking lot are just one example of what could be done." 

Ironically, the best catalyst for change in years may actually be the long-delayed construction of the new fire station.  

The original fire station was built on Carroll at Philadelphia Ave in 1927 to proclaim the elevated status of the city's Volunteer Fire Department. Built entirely by volunteers at a cost of $45,000, the two-story brownstone was home not only to the firefighters, but a public space for the entire community. 

Decades worth of banquets, civic meetings, teen dances, even council meetings were held in its large community room. The gym downstairs offered roller skating as well as basketball. Subsequent alterations eliminated this community space and altered the charming façade in order to accommodate larger fire trucks.  

Now truck size is again pushing the county to replace the existing building. After 10 years of debate on design, complicated by efforts to save a nearby house from demolition, the first signs of construction appeared this spring. 

For the next two years, the City Lot that has been the focus for revitalization schemes, will be occupied by firefighters in trailers and fire trucks in a tent. Given what the traffic is like now, things will be worse before they get better. 

But many residents, like Robinson and Zavian, feel this is the best opportunity to hash out once and for all what the future of the Junction should be once the new fire station reopens. 

Diana Kohn is Education Chair of Historic Takoma. Parts 1 and 2 of this Takoma Juncion series are available online at takoma.com along with her previous columns.

Other landmarks are long gone: General Carroll's manor house. which dominated the corner for nearly a 100 years, was demolished in 1960 after years of neglect.  The trolley line stopped running years before that.

And the fire station at the outside edge of the Junction awaits a long-delayed knockdown-and-replacement, which will erase its familiar stone facade from the streetscape.

Sandra Philpott's Victorian image of Takoma Park has graced Takoma Junction since 1985.  The accompanying portraits (below) have since been painted over.

The storefronts remain much as they have always been since the early 1930s - small businesses modestly providing local residents with groceries, haircuts, electrical repairs, drycleaning, even picture framing. But thanks to these murals the corner has a distinctive character. 

That was the intent. In 1984, the neighborhood was struggling with the departure of Barcelona Nuts, the largest industrial establishment in the city. 

Ed McMahon served on the committee that launched the revitalization effort. One tactic was christening the intersection as Takoma Junction. 

McMahon was also chair of the Public Arts Committee, and he suggested a second tactic: creating what he called a "placemaker," outdoor public art which could help define and reinforce the identity of the area.

 He had already had success with murals in Old Takoma and urged a similar approach in the needed revival at the Junction. 

There was a perfect canvas in the brick wall of the storefront at the corner of Sherman and Carroll. Sandra Philpott, a local artist who had participated in the Old Town murals, offered a nostalgic collage evoking Takoma's Victorian past and the committee gave the go-ahead. 

Phillpott gathered elements from historic photos to create a unique image. The policeman is Sgt. John Barry, the crossing guard at the railroad in the days before the underpass. Honoring the trolley cars that passed through the Junction, she portrayed the beloved "Dinky line" on its way to Sligo Creek. Children and flags and dogs aspoke of the bucolic childhood possible in this railroad suburb six miles from DC. 

Then there was the enigmatic elephant, seemingly added from her imagination. 

Folks like Roland Dawes in his barber shop half a block away vividly remember the carnivals that brought the elephants to town in his childhood. "They came twice a year and set up a Ferris Wheel in the vacant lot on the corner. There were games of chance, and the elephants."

In addition to the 14 ft by 16 ft mural, Philpott created a set of five "trompe l'oeil" family portraits tucked into each of the boarded-up windows on the side of the building. They represented the diverse set of personalities important to Takoma history, including: 

• B.F. Gilbert (the visionary behind Takoma Park),

• Pamela Favorite (early storekeeper), 

• Lee Jordan (founder of the Boys and Girls Club),

• Goldie Hawn (actress), 

• Anna Maria Ariaza of Guatamela and Ty Eam of Cambodia (recent arrivals who represent Takoma Park's ethnic heritage and diversity). 

In the years since Philpott finished her work and moved to Harrisburg, High's Convenience Store has given way to TJ's Market but the mural remains, albeit somewhat worse for wear. 

It turns out that Sandra used ordinary house paint and applied it directly to the bricks. Even a recent touchup several years back failed to halt the deterioration. 

The portraits faded more quickly than the larger mural and were eventually painted over with other images. Luckily, a plaque commemorating their names remains on the wall near the mural.  

The carnivals halted once Shell built a gas station on the empty lot (perhaps 1940) and there was no longer any place to set up. 

Ironically, that gas station became the next canvas. Abandoned sometime in the Sixties it was briefly resurrected as the "Sister Cities Thrift Store." 

For more than a decade, Takoma Park enjoyed a rich cultural exchange with its Sister City of Jequie, Brazil. Students from each town tregularly switched places. The thrift store was a needed source of funds. 

By 1990, however, the cement block building was vacant again. The Revitalization Committee seized the opportunity to create a pocket park on the corner dedicated to B.Y. Morrison, the genius behind azaleas. 

McMahon remembered using open space money to fund the project. Public art once again became part of the package.

A new call for projects went out nationwide, and more than 100 proposals were received. But one local artist -- Jim Colwell, a piano restorer by trade -- had a winning idea. 

McMahon recalls that Colwell's jazz combo, reflecting the diversity he saw in Takoma Park, was the hands-down favorite of the Arts Committee. 

Jim remembers "There was some controversy with the design. I originally had an old man playing the guitar on the left, but I was asked to substitute a Latina. And the central figure was dressed in a lower-cut dress than you see today. Even with the alterations some folks took umbrage. 

"When I was installing the finished mural, the owner of Turner Electric would come over every day to rail about how much he hated it. I just keep saying I was the hired help."

Jim Colwell's "Guardians of the Neighborhood" has been a popular addition to Takoma Junction.

Today the exotic caricatures in the mural, known officially as "Guardians of the Neighborhood," define the Junction as much as the Victorian mural across the street. 

In an effort to ensure the survival of "Guardians," the city has slated the building for roof repair and replacement of the tiles on the pillars. 

Thanks to a grant from the reconstituted Takoma Park Arts and Humanities Commission, John Hume of Sligo Tile Co. will replace the tiles with decorative tiles.  Designed to reflect "Tales of Mystery and Wonder." the new tiles will depict Motorcat, Roscoe the Rooster and the elephant of carnival fame among other fanciful images. 

The most recent mural is the largest, covering the side wall of the Takoma Park-Silver Spring Co-op. A new arrival at the Junction, the Co-op took over the Truner Electric building (which once housed a Safeway) in 1998. 

In 2003, the large blank expanse of brick inspired Co-op enployee Aslia Schwartz to envision a quirky tree motif to help identify the store.

Look carefully at the artwork and you will see how she created a mosaic effect by painting each brick a different shade of brown.  

Collectively the three murals have not solved the underlying problem of how to revive the Junction, but they have enhanced the historic context and identity. even as the debate continues about the possible future scenarios for Takoma Junction. More about that debate next month.

Diana Kohn is Education Chair of Historic Takoma.