The historic Mary Murray Washington School will get a new life as the  "House of Lebanon Senior Apartments," providing 82 units of affordable  and mixed income senior housing in the historic Shaw neighborhood.

Since 1912, the Mary Murray Washington School has played an important role in shaping the surrounding neighborhood. This year, as the building turns 100 years old, it will get a new life as much-needed affordable housing and community space. Now known as “House of Lebanon,” the project will provide 82 units of affordable and mixed income senior housing in the historic Shaw neighborhood, a rapidly transforming area of the city. Construction on this project is scheduled to begin this month.

The building was originally constructed in 1912 as the O Street Vocational School, designed to encourage training in the mechanical, craft, and domestic skills as workers had to adapt to increasingly mechanized industry and transition to factory work from more traditional apprenticeships. Female students greatly outnumbered males and following a steep decline in the enrollment of male students during World War I, the school shifted its curriculum to “domestic” instruction. In 1926 it was renamed for the late widow of Booker T. Washington, a leader of several African-American feminist organizations.

During World War II, the school expanded its course offerings to include nursing. Its graduates were lauded by the military and the evening nursing program grew in popularity and was soon accredited. As young veterans returned from war, the school re-opened its doors to male students, many of whom participated in the nursing program or concentrated in tailoring and food service. The M.M. Washington School became part of a cluster of five important African-American schools in the Shaw neighborhood. The schools illustrated the evolution of public education and facilities for African-American students in Washington, and were a significant example of vocational schools through much of the twentieth century.

The M.M. Washington School closed in 2008, and Mission First Housing Development Corporation and its partners, Mt. Lebanon CDC and Urban Matters LLC, were awarded the site in 2009 by the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development. The adaptive reuse of the building will preserve its historic integrity while bringing much needed affordable housing and community space to a transforming neighborhood. The project will comply with Enterprise Green Communities and utilize 4% low-income housing tax credits, historic tax credits, and tax-exempt bonds.

Development in the greater area, NOMA (North of Massachusetts Avenue) is booming with numerous new federal government office buildings and a full service Harris Teeter grocery store. According to the NOMA Business Improvement District, NOMA has leased more than three million square feet of commercial office space in the last three years, including three residential buildings. The accessibility to several bus routes, the New York Avenue Metro Station, and North Capitol Street makes this neighborhood a prime area for development. House of Lebanon will further add to the growth of the neighborhood while offering its residents many resources of a re-emerging urban community.

Labels: adaptive reuse, historic tax credits, House of Lebanon, low income housing tax credits, senior

Subscribe to RSS Feed