Old Town is no stranger to controversy over historic preservation, and the Office of Historic Alexandria’s superb This Week in Historic Alexandria newsletter documented the intense local controversy around the neighborhood’s historic designation 78 years ago.
Old Town is the third oldest historic district in the United States, after Charleston formed a historic district in 1931 and New Orleans six years later. The first preservation efforts focused on residential buildings and were called the Charleston Ordinance, WETA reported.
The Office of Historic Alexandria said the move to establish a set of historic district regulations was supported by residents, but faced backlash from local businesses.
“In Alexandria, downtown businesses strongly opposed the historic designation, but the measure received strong support from residents who sought to preserve the hundreds of early buildings in the city center that remained from the 18th and 19th centuries,” the newsletter said.
The National Park Service eventually weighed in on the fight, pointing to a tacky new Hot Shoppes restaurant with bright neon signage built at 905 N. Washington Street as an example of what could be built in Alexandria without historic district protections.
“The National Park Service also weighed in, urging that the City take steps to protect the commemorative nature of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, which passed through Alexandria along Washington Street,” the newsletter said. “The Park Service argued that inappropriate development, such as the recently constructed Hot Shoppes restaurant with neon signage and an adjacent iced custard shop that mimicked an Alaskan igloo, complete with a beckoning cement polar bear, were not in keeping with Alexandria’s colonial character.”
The historic district designation was approved in 1946.
