WASHINGTON — Part of a Southeast DC housing complex, with ties to the Civil War era, could be saved from demolition.
On Wednesday, members of the DC Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) gathered to vote on whether Barry Farm Dwellings, along Stevens Road Southeast, should be designated as a historic landmark under the D.C. Inventory of Historic Sites.
Empower DC, a local non-profit group that works on behalf of low- and middle-income residents in the city, has argued in support of the status designation.
In an application filed to the HPRB, Empower DC cited that Barry Farm Dwellings was a notable example of World War II-era public housing for African Americans in D.C.
"When we started working with Barry Farm tenants all those years ago, they said 'Barry Farm is historic, they can't tear this down,'" Empower DC Executive Director Parisa Norouzi said. "The general belief was that this land that we are part of is sacred, it's historic, it's a part of the fabric of the city."
Thirty-two rows of buildings, dating back to 1942, exist on the site.
The HPRB delayed its vote Wednesday on whether to grant Barry Farm Dwellings a historic designation, which could protect it from drastic alterations in the future.
However, several members of the HPRB did express interest in doing something to save some of the buildings in the area. HRPB Chair Marnique Heath said some landmarking should happen.
"We believe there needs to be a preservation strategy here and something that maintains the culture of this place for perpetuity," Heath said.
In 2018, crews began work to demolish the Barry Farm Dwellings complex. A developer has expressed plans to build a mixed-used development on the site.
According to the DC Historic Preservation Office (HPO), less than half of the original dwellings that were built at Barry Farm still stand.
In July, the effort to save the remaining Barry Farm Dwellings received a blow when the HPO recommended against giving the housing complex historic status.
The office said the building received major renovations in the 1980s.
"Despite regaining their location, orientation, relationships and many aspects of setting, the buildings themselves have been altered significantly and, even in their altered state, are in poor to deteriorated condition," the HPO recommended.
Preservation of Affordable Housing and A&R Development have teamed up to redevelop Barry Farm.
On their website, they also claimed a historic designation for the remaining Barry Farm Dwellings would stop the construction of more than 400 apartments that would be built for low and moderate income families in the area.
While the Barry Farm Dwellings were built in the early 1940s to provide African-Americans housing options in a heavily segregated city, its history goes farther back than that.
The site was developed on the 375-acre, post-Civil War subdivision, Barry Farm. The Freedmen's Bureau, a former government agency set up to help former slaves, sold one-acre lots on the land to recently freed blacks to build homes.
The HPRB plans to meet again in a month to once again discuss the future of Barry Farm Dwellings.