Historical Society of Washington in Mount Vernon Square (801 K Street NW) on Wednesday, July 28, from 12-2pm.
The exhibit is expected to be on display through Labor Day at HSW and then will be taken "on the road," hopefully to the Wilson Building, Eastern Market, UDC, office buildings and retailers which border Franklin Square, Union Station, the MLK Library, the Sumner School, and other locales. The beautifully designed and documented 8, 3' x 7' panels will be affixed to stands/easels/tripods that make the exhibit easily transportable.
The exhibit is organized by the Coalition for Franklin School, a group that has organized to support a future educational use for the historic school building located at 13th and K Streets NW. Others involved include Cindy Janke (curator), Kesh Ladduwahetty (designer), Humanities Council of Washington, DC, Sumner School Museum & Archives (Kimberly Springle), Historical Society of Washington, DC (Sandy Bellamy), Margaret Hutto, Jack Brewer, Association of Oldest Inhabitants (Bill Brown), and Tanya Edwards Beauchamp (project humanities scholar / adviser).
I strongly support their efforts. You can reach my Washington Post op-ed on the future of the Franklin School here.
According to a recent article in the National Trust for Historic Preservation magazine, the building, which was the site of Alexander Graham Bell's and last used as a homeless shelter, is deteriorating.
"There's water on the top floor, and there are broken windows or open windows," says Joe Browne, chairman of the steering committee of the Coalition for Franklin School, whose members toured the building last November. "Because there's no climate control, [an] original mural is deteriorating fast."
1 comment:
There's a write up of HSW's Franklin School exhibit on the Georgetown Dish: http://www.thegeorgetowndish.com/thedish/grand-franklin-school.
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