Dc State Historic Preservation Office Determination of Eligibility Form
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DC STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICE DETERMINATION OF ELIGIBILITY FORM PROPERTY INFORMATION Property Name(s): Smithsonian Quadrangle Street Address(es): 1000 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20560 Square(s) and Lot(s): Reservation 3A Property Owner(s): Smithsonian Institution The property is being evaluated for potential historical significance as: An individual building or structure. A contributing element of a historic district:1 A possible expansion of a historic district: Specify A previously unevaluated historic district to be known as: Specify An archaeological resource with site number(s): Specify An object (e.g. statue, stone marker etc.): Specify A new multiple property/thematic study regarding: Specify Association with a multiple property/thematic study: Specify Other: Specify See continuation sheets for current photographs of the property, map, description, rationale for the proposed determination of eligibility, images, drawings, and other pertinent information.2 ________________________________________________________________________________ PREPARER’S DETERMINATION Eligibility Recommended Eligibility Not Recommended Applicable National Register Criteria: Applicable Considerations: A B C D A B C D E F G Prepared By: Daria Gasparini, Principal, Robinson & Associates, Inc. Date: May 25, 2017 DC SHPO REVIEW AND COMMENTS Concurs with Recommendation Does Not Concur with Recommendation David Maloney Date: District of Columbia State Historic Preservation Officer Reviewed by: DC Government Project/Permit Project Log Number: 1 The Smithsonian Quadrangle is a contributing element of the National Mall Historic District. See Robinson & Associates, Inc., National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, “National Mall Historic District,” August 31, 2016, prepared for the National Park Service. Although the purpose of this individual Determination of Eligibility for the Smithsonian Quadrangle is not to elaborate extensively on its contributing status to the historic district, a brief explanatory statement in the Previous Evaluations section is provided. 2 All photographs are by Robinson & Associates (June 2016) unless otherwise indicated. DC State Historic Preservation Office Determination of Eligibility Form for the Smithsonian Quadrangle Figure 1: Aerial view of the Smithsonian Institution Building (foreground) and the Smithsonian Quadrangle’s Enid A. Haupt Garden, National Museum of African Art entrance pavilion (upper left), and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery entrance pavilion (upper right). (Photo courtesy Martin Stupich.) Figure 2: View looking northwest from Independence Avenue of the entrance pavilions to the National Museum of African Art (right foreground) and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery (left background), Smithsonian Quadrangle. 2 DC State Historic Preservation Office Determination of Eligibility Form for the Smithsonian Quadrangle Figure 3: View looking north across the central parterre of the Enid A. Haupt Garden, Smithsonian Quadrangle, to the Smithsonian Institution Building. Figure 4: Map of the Mall with the location of the Smithsonian Quadrangle identified with an orange star. [USGS Topographic Map, 2014] 3 DC State Historic Preservation Office Determination of Eligibility Form for the Smithsonian Quadrangle Figure 5: Site plan showing the location and arrangement of the Enid A. Haupt Garden and the aboveground pavilions of the Smithsonian Quadrangle. [Image courtesy Surfacedesign] INTRODUCTION The Smithsonian Quadrangle is located on a 4.2-acre site within the Smithsonian’s South Mall Campus, which encompasses approximately 12 acres of land within the National Mall Historic District in Washington, D.C. The site is bounded by the Freer Gallery of Art (Freer Sackler Gallery) on the west, the Smithsonian Institution Building (the Castle) on the north, the Arts and Industries Building on the east, and Independence Avenue on the south. (See Figure 5.) The Quadrangle comprises a multilevel subterranean structure with three aboveground entrance pavilions set within a rooftop garden dedicated as the Enid A. Haupt Garden. The building functions as a combined museum, office, education, and support complex that contains the Smithsonian’s S. Dillon Ripley Center, the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, and the National Museum of African Art. The Smithsonian Quadrangle (1983-87) was designed by Shepley, Bulfinch, Richardson and Abbott (Jean Paul Carlhian, Design Principal) in the postmodern style following a concept by Japanese architect Junzo Yoshimura. The landscape architect of record was Sasaki Associates. In 2016, the Smithsonian Quadrangle was listed in the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing building to the National Mall Historic District. PURPOSE AND METHODOLOGY The purpose of this Determination of Eligibility is to provide an evaluation of the Smithsonian Quadrangle for its potential significance as an individual building under the National Register of Historic Places Criteria for Evaluation in satisfaction of the requirements of the D.C. Historic Preservation Office. A Determination of Eligibility is an initial consideration of the National Register eligibility of a resource used to fulfill a state or federal agency’s obligations under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. It provides objective, accurate, and meaningful documentation of a historic resource to assist in reaching a consensus determination between an agency and a State Historic Preservation Office and can be followed by further evaluations. For the purposes of this Determination of Eligibility, the Quadrangle is classified as a building. This classification, which is consistent with Quadrangle’s resource type in the National Register nomination for the National Mall Historic District, refers to the historically and functionally related unit comprised of the Enid A. Haupt Garden, the entrance pavilions to the Sackler Gallery, the National Museum of African Art, and the Ripley Center, and the Quadrangle’s subterranean structure. 4 DC State Historic Preservation Office Determination of Eligibility Form for the Smithsonian Quadrangle The content of this Determination of Eligibility follows the guidelines established by the D.C. Historic Preservation Office. It includes a description of the resource focusing on its principal public spaces, a concise narrative describing the historical background in which the building and its associated landscape were designed and developed, a description of key changes to the building and grounds over time, an evaluation of significance, and a list of key features. Since this Determination of Eligibility does not recommend that the Quadrangle is individually eligible for the National Register at this time, it does not define a period of significance or provide an evaluation of integrity. It does, however, include a list of “key features,” which have been defined as the important extant features remaining from the original construction. Drafting this list assisted in the process of evaluating the resource and provided a knowledge base to guide decision making. The list of key features may also be used as reference for future evaluations of the Quadrangle’s individual eligibility. The evaluation of significance section includes a summary of the Quadrangle’s existing National Register status as a contributing building of the National Mall Historic District and an assessment of its potential significance as an individual building at the local and national levels. The evaluation follows the U.S. Department of the Interior guidelines for applying the National Register Criteria for Evaluation and Criteria Considerations. The National Register Criteria for Evaluation include: Criterion A, for properties associated with significant events; Criterion B, for properties associated with significant persons; Criterion C, for properties that embody distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction, properties that represent the work of a master, or properties that possess high artistic value; and Criterion D, for properties that yield information important to prehistory or history. Due to the fact that it was completed in 1987, this Determination of Eligibility also evaluates the Quadrangle under National Register Criterion Consideration G, for properties less than fifty years old. Criterion Considerations set forth special standards for listing certain kinds of properties usually excluded from the National Register. Criterion Consideration G states that special exception is made for properties of the recent past that are of exceptional importance at the national, state, or local level. National Register guidelines state that Criterion Considerations are applied only to individual properties, not to contributing elements of eligible historic districts. Components of eligible districts do not have to meet special requirements unless they make up the majority of the district or are the focal point of the district. This Determination of Eligibility recognizes that decisions concerning the significance of properties, especially the exceptional importance of properties as required to meet Criterion Consideration G, can be made reliably only when the relationship of individual properties to other similar properties is understood. As such, the development of historic contexts – organizational frameworks based on themes, geographic limits, or chronological periods – is a key step in decisions about the identification, evaluation, and registration of historic properties. Several