Alfred Richards House Demolition:
follow-ups

Alfred Richards House, January 2006
Elvert Xavier Barnes Photography http://www.flickr.com/photos/perspective/92870867/in/set-72057594056048202/

Both Jacqueline Dupree’s web-site blog "Near Southeast DC Redevelopment" and The Washington Post did follow ups on the demolition of the historic 1840s constructed Alfred Richards House.

From Jacqueline Dupree at http://www.jdland.com/dc/stadium.cfm?tab=news

• Background on Demolished Richards House (5/31/06 02:31 PM)
Because I've been writing about Near Southeast for 3 1/2 years now, I admit to not always explaining every item in minute detail--I work under the assumption that everyone's been reading along from the beginning and has committed every iota of my prose to memory. (It's not at all a wise strategy, but you have to admit it saves space.) Anyway, I made mentions over the past few weeks of the demolition of the one nice structure on the ballpark site, which I referred to as the Ken Wyban house (after it's last owner). I didn't give much additional background, but you can go to Douglas Willinger's South Capitol Street Frederick Douglass Mall blog to get a bit more detail--it was actually the Alfred Richards House, built in the 1840s and named after it's original owner. (You'll recognize a lot of familiar verbage and photos in the entry, as Willinger quotes from my site--thanks for the hat tip.) The blog itself discusses the fate of South Capitol Street, which in 1990s planning documents was going to be transformed into a grand boulevard/promenade--the stadium has changed those plans, and Willinger is not happy...

• Wyban on the Loss of His House (6/5/06 06:31 AM)
A small brief in Sunday's Post talks to Ken Wyban, the only person who owned and lived in a home on the stadium site, now that his house has been demolished.

From The Washington Post at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/03/AR2006060300207.html

UPDATE: Displaced Man Regrets Ignorance of Eminent Domain

UPDATE: Displaced Man Regrets Ignorance of Eminent Domain Sunday, June 4, 2006; Page C02

Last month, the D.C. government tore down Ken Wyban's house.

Wyban was not in town to watch, but a friend sent him a picture. The five-bedroom red-brick Civil War-era home in Southeast Washington that he had purchased in 1998 -- and was restoring when the city took it as part of a plan to build a new baseball stadium -- has been turned into a pile of rubble.

"I was probably foolish for thinking there may have been a chance that they would use it as a historical museum as part of the new stadium," Wyban, 56, wrote in an e-mail last week from Riverview, Fla., near Tampa, where he rents an apartment near his mother's home.

As District contractors move quickly to clear a 20-acre site near South Capitol Street and the Navy Yard along the Anacostia River, the people who owned properties at the site have moved on -- some having sold to the city and others forced out by eminent domain. Several cases are tied up in court to determine how much money the District must pay the property owners.

Perhaps no one put a human face on the process as much as Wyban, who was the only person who owned a house at the site and lived there full time. Before leaving Washington on Feb. 3, Wyban agreed not to take the District to court in return for being allowed to collect the $1.2 million offered by the city and to have his attorney continue negotiating with the city for more money. He said he has yet to receive the money.

These days, Wyban, who retired from the military years ago, is caring for his mother, who has lung cancer. And he is seeking to do volunteer work, he said, as he once did for the United Service Organizations at Reagan National Airport.

"I would have done many things different now that I am more educated in eminent domain," said Wyban, who plans to return to Washington in the fall to help organize the Army Ten-Miler. "I'm sure the city would have done things different with Major League Baseball now that they know the rest of the story. I guess we both lost large sums of money because of our ignorance."

David Nakamura

I wonder why anyone thought that the Alfred Richards House was going to be saved?

I write this not merely because I feel that it should have been saved, either incorporated or relocated.

Rather, I raise this question because of the apparent lack of any discussions or expressed concerns for this structure by those that could have made a difference, such as the DC City Council, the DC Sports and Entertainment Commission, Major League Baseball, the Washington Nationals nor any of the potential owners, nor any of the numerous historical and preservationist societies that abound in Washington, D.C.

Where or when did any of these entities consider the plight of the Alfred Richards House?

Originally from Cleveland OH and retired from the Army when Ken Wyban would purchase this historic property more than 8 years ago which was built and onced owned by WDC brick manufacturer Alfred Richards his dream was to renovate 21 N Street, in SE, and open it as a bed and breakfast. Unfortunately with the proposed Washington Nationals Baseball Stadium his long time dream will not be fulfilled. Though, for the past eight years he's done extensive renovation and have installed top of line equipment and appliances, in anticpation of his bed and breakfast with a view of the US Capitol, when I'd tour his house on Sunday afternoon, 29 January 2006, he would inform me that movers are scheduled to arrive on Monday and Tuesday to move the packed boxes that filled each room would be moved to storage. And that on Wednesday, as a result of the proposeed baseball stadium he will be relocating to Tampa FL to be near his mother.

With a sadness in his voice he would then shed light on the history of the property...

www.flickr.com/photos/perspective/sets/72057594056048202/

This blog would very much welcome hearing from Ken Wyban, particularly about any indications that any of the above had considered saving the Alfred Richards House. This blog would definitely provide a piece for a longer interview...

Regrettably The Washington Post article fails to mention either JD’s or this blog in scooping this story first.

This is even though the The Washington Post ran an article dated May 25, 2006 “Owners want city to shift gears on parking” about the efforts of the Lerners (owners of the Washington Nationals to build the stadium’s parking above ground rather then belowground in order to save $20-30 million) and to make it easier to complete by the scheduled opening in April 2008. Accompanying this article, which does not discuss any demolition, is a photo showing red bricks indicative of recent demolition.

Illustration: Pile of bricks from demolition for the Nationals Stadium

The site of the ballpark in Southeast Washington. Stephen Goldsmith, chairman of the Anacostia Waterfront Corp., is trying to develop a compromise on the parking garages. (By Nikki Kahn -- The Washington Post)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/24/AR2006052402507.html?nav=E8

Since the Alfred Richards House was constructed with red bricks, and given this articles date, May 25, one might wonder if these scattered bricks were its remains.

www.flickr.com/photos/perspective/92910633/in/set-72057594056048202/

Alfred Richards was a manufacturer of such red bricks. According to the following url where I found this illustration:

Copy of an invoice from The Alfred Richards Brick Company furnished by current owner, Ken Wyban, citing the location of the brick company at O and South Streets, in SE. Which is directly in the back of 21 N Street and is the current location of the gay sex clubs The Glory Hole and The Follies at www.flickr.com/photos/perspective/85187047/.

This appears to be a story that bloggers reported before the mainstream mass media.

Bravo to Jacqueline Dupree for correctly reporting the 1990s planning of South Capitol Street as a "grand boulevard/promenade"- something representing the greater accuracy of blogs over mainstream mass media which instead over-uses the word "boulevard" to describe the two significantly different visions for South Capitol.

And Bravo to Elvert Xavier Barnes Photography for its photo-tribute to the Alfred Richards House, January 2006.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/perspective/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/perspective/sets/72057594056048202/

UPDATE: Displaced Man Regrets Ignorance of Eminent Domain

Ken Wyban's Restored Victorian:
the Alfred Richards House;
Now it has no future


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29719-2004Oct13.html
http://www.washingtontimes.com/metro/20060206-103010-4543r.htm

As of early morning May 30, 2006 I have not found any report, news account, or other indication yet of the status of Ken Wyban's restored Victorian house on the south side of N Street SE -- inside the Nationals Stadium complex footprint -- except for that from my return visit to Jacqueline Dupree's web site, where I found the middle of the three photos below replaced with the third photo

http://www.jdland.com/dc/stadium.cfm?tab=no2

Photos by Jacqueline Dupree

Ken Wyban's house, demolished. This occurred apparantly sometime after Monday, May 15, the given demolition date for the houses to the right, or Wednesday, May 24, when the house is given as still being there, and before Sunday, May 28, 2006, when it is given as demolished.

From Jacqueline Dupree at http://www.jdland.com/dc/stadium.cfm?tab=no2

News Items Posted For This Project

• Stadium Construction Update (5/28/06 09:00 AM)
The one structure on the stadium site that maybe should have been saved--the Victorian rowhouse at Van and N--was demolished late this week, leaving now just the buildings on the east side of Half Street between N and O as the only ones left to take down. I added a couple of new shots to the stadium construction gallery, although not a full complement (I'm being lazy this holiday weekend). I'll also note that the WashTimes ran its own piece on Saturday on the looming battle between the city and the Lerners over the parking garages....

• Stadium Construction Update (5/24/06 11:30 AM)
Pile driving has begun at the ballpark site, at a spot just northwest of Ist and (formerly) O streets. And the red-brick car repair building on the west side of Half Street has now been demolished, leaving only the industrial buildings on the east side of Half and south side of N, plus Ken Wyban's house on N Street.

• Another Day, Another Stadium Demolition Update (5/15/06 02:35 PM)
The four red-brick rowhouses on N Street between Van and South Capitol bit the dust today; my stadium construction gallery has before-and-after photos, as well as some updated shots of the demolition of the trash transfer garage at 1st and N. (Note that Ken Wyban's restored Victorian townhouse is still standing, at least as of today. Maybe they'll hang onto it for a while, and think about including it in any of the non-stadium entertainment development they might be planning for that spot?)

The houses shown demolished were on the south side of N Street SE. The area appears to be a part of the actual stadium in the earlier renderings. However, later renderings, such as that below, appear to shift the stadium slightly south, making room for an additional above ground structure (the likely western parking garage).

Nothing yet about this demolition in a Google new search.

It was built in the 1840's for its first owner, Washington, D.C. brick manufacturer Alfred Richards.

A link to a photo gallery by Elvert Xavier Barnes Photography about this Alfred Richards House that was demolished late May, 2006 for the Washington Nationals Stadium complex; the Alfred Richards House was located at
21 N Street SE,
Washington, D.C.:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/perspective/sets/72057594056048202/

From that site:

If current owner Ken Wyban, had his way the house at 21 N Street, in SE, WDC which was built in the 1840's by WDC brick manufacturer Alfred Richards would've been placed on the National Historic Preservation List, and, instead of being demolished to make way for the Washington Nationals Baseball Stadium it would be raised and relocated to a more suitable site, for operation as a bed and breakfast.

From NBC news at http://www.nbc4.com/news/4440977/detail.html

At American University, students have made a documentary about the relocation of these people and businesses.The class that produced the film -- which is called "In the Shadow: Stories From Southeast" -- is a mixture of journalism and film students working for social change.The students initially selected the topic of gentrification, but they narrowed it down to the impact of the stadium on a 28-acre area of southeast D.C.

Ken Wyban appears in the documentary. In April he received a letter from the city telling him he has until Dec. 31 to be out of his home. The city is taking his property, five other homes and 24 businesses through eminent domain."I'm going to try to deal with the city in good faith, but I know the city -- based on what I'm seeing -- has no intentions of dealing with us in good faith," he said.

I am not aware of any discussion or consideration about having Major League Baseball pay for the relocation, to avoid an Alfred Richards House demolition, as it would have been the only such structure within the Nationals Stadium complex footprint.

Nor have I found anything about whether such groups as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, had intervened.

http://www.nationaltrust.org/11Most/list.asp

Likewise, has anyone seen any discussions of alternatives for this stadium's design that would have instead incorporated the Alfred Richards House? From the diagram below, the Alfred Richards House was located by the group of 4 trees.

Illustration found at web site of Jacqueline Dupree

Perhaps when Nationals Stadium is demolished as a 20-30 year old eyesore -- much as the cir. 1980-2005 D.C. Convention Center was -- a replica of the Alfred Richards House may be constructed to face the eastern side of the South Capitol Street/Frederick Douglass Mall.

UPDATE: Displaced Man Regrets Ignorance of Eminent Domain