The Alexandria Board of Architectural Review (BAR) has a storied history of seemingly petty battles with property owners, but the newest one might take the cake.
City staff is recommending denial of a Certificate of Appropriateness for vinyl windows, window trim and shutters at a Parker-Gray home — meaning the owner may have to restore the original windows or find historically suitable replacements.
The owners of an Alexandria rooming house could have gotten a significant paycheck from developers for the property, but the home owner is working with the city to keep it affordable.
At a City Council meeting last night, the Council unanimously authorized to pay $1.95 million from the city’s American Rescue Plan Act grant funding to renovate and preserve a rooming house at 1022 Pendleton Street.
While Alexandria is known for its history, an upcoming free tour later this month will take locals into the underexplored stories of the city’s Parker-Gray neighborhood.
Parker-Gray native Michael Johnson, who recently won the Alexandria Historical Society’s T. Michael Miller award for his work raising awareness of issues with the Douglass Memorial Cemetery, is hosting a tour of the neighborhood on Saturday, May 20, from 10-11 a.m. Johnson will be accompanied by an 80-year-old Parker-Gray resident who can help tell some stories from the neighborhood’s history.
No arrests were made after multiple gunshots were reported in the Braddock neighborhood early Friday morning.
Police received multiple emergency calls for at least 10 gunshots just after 1 a.m. near the intersection of N. West Street and Princess Street. Witnesses reported that a dark-colored SUV fled the scene.
(Updated 12/23) Alexandria home owner Harold White paid a local contractor to install an extensive HVAC system to a historic home (319 North Alfred Street), and after a Board of Architectural Review (BAR) decision last night it seems likely he’ll have to pay to have it taken out again.
BAR members said the case serves as an unfortunate reminder to building owners in a historic district: always get city approval before making exterior modifications.
After relocating from the Braddock neighborhood, Alexandria Lighting + Design is hosting a grand opening in the West End today.
The opening is the debut of the shop’s new showroom and coffee shop at 444 S. Picket Street.
It’s a second shot for the proposed Samuel Madden redevelopment after the plans’ first encounter with the Board of Architectural Review sparked some debate.
The Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority (ARHA) project aims to tear down a dozen aging townhouses at 899 and 999 North Henry Street — 66 units in total — and replace them with two new multifamily apartment buildings featuring 500 residential units.
After a contentious Board of Architectural Review (BAR) meeting, plans for the redevelopment of Samuel Madden Homes in the Braddock neighborhood are headed back to public review at a meeting next week.
The City of Alexandria said in a release that a community meeting for the proposed redevelopment is scheduled for Tuesday, July 26, at 6 p.m. in the Charles Houston Recreation Center (901 Wythe Street).
Alexandria’s Board of Architectural Review (BAR) gave a thumbs up to the demolition of an Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority property, but not without a stern rebuke to the housing authority’s history of neglect.
ARHA is working through the city process to demolish the Samuel Madden homes at the north end of the Parker-Gray neighborhood. The homes were built as workforce housing during the Second World War and ARHA leadership said the properties have deteriorated beyond preservation.
The Alexandria Redevelopment Housing Authority (ARHA) is getting ready to tear down a cluster of affordable garden apartments in Parker-Gray and turn the lots into a larger mixed-use development.
Samuel Madden Homes at 899 & 999 North Henry Street currently comprises 13 two-story garden apartments built in 1945 with 66 affordable housing units. The homes were build to house defense workers during WWII and were transferred to ARHA’s predecessor in 1947. The plan is to demolish and redevelop on the site with two new buildings with 500 residential units
After having been deferred earlier this year, a tiny home planned for a lot in the Parker-Gray neighborhood (1117 Queen Street) is moving forward with a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Board of Architectural Review (BAR).
The application to build a two-story home on the 2,000 square foot strip of gravel was deferred at its July hearing to make fairly minor alterations to the design. Upon its return to the BAR last night, it won unanimous approval with very little discussion.
