The Carnegie Library in Washington, D.C., will no longer be the future home for the International Spy Museum, the project organizers announced Tuesday. Events DC, the group behind the redevelopment proposal for the 1903 structure, has decided not to pursue the proposed project following last Thursday’s hearing with the city’s Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB).
“As a result of our meetings with the review agencies and various community stakeholders, we developed multiple iterations that resulted in significant changes to our original design,” said Gregory A. O’Dell, president and chief executive officer of Events DC, in a press release. “Ultimately, any further adjustments to the design would have compromised our essential program for this project or been too cost prohibitive to implement.”
At Thursday’s meeting, the HPRB expressed concern about the size of the proposed additions to the Ackerman & Ross building. (See renderings of the proposed design here.) In her motion, which passed unanimously, board chair Gretchen Pfaehler, AIA, said, “We don’t agree that this meets the preservation guidelines, however we do feel that this is moving in the correct direction and we’d like to see it come back before us for review.”
Today’s press release stated that “plans for a permanent location are unknown at this time.” The museum’s current lease at 800 F Street NW runs through mid-2017, according to museum public relations manager Jason Werden.
This post has been updated.
