Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Interest in Armenian Museum at Bank Building Still Strong

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Interest in Armenian Museum at Bank Building Still Strong

    Washington Post
    Feb 15 2009


    Interest in Armenian Museum at Bank Building Still Strong, Answer Man Finds

    By John Kelly
    Sunday, February 15, 2009; Page C03

    Today I was at the corner of 14th and G streets NW, and once again I
    wondered what the story is on the southeast corner of that
    intersection, where the National Bank of Washington and Hahn Shoes
    were. It's quite a handsome building. But with all that has been going
    on in downtown Washington, I'm surprised it is allowed to remain an
    eyesore.

    -- Marilyn A. Jones, Washington


    Answer Man first answered this question in 2004. Back then, he said
    that the handsome 1925 structure -- designed by Alfred C. Bossom and
    Jules-Henri de Sibour in the Classical Revival style, with touches of
    the Baroque -- would reopen in 2008 as a museum devoted to the
    Armenian genocide.

    You will recall that 2008 came and went, and there is no museum. I
    asked Rouben Adalian, director of the Armenian National Institute,
    what's taking so long. He said there are several factors. Usually you
    assemble a museum collection and then build a building to put it
    in. "In this case, the property came first," he said. Wealthy Armenian
    Americans purchased the building, and several adjacent properties, and
    donated it to Rouben's group for a museum. "So we've had to think
    about how to create the museum following the purchase of the
    property."

    Another complication is that both the exterior and interior of the
    building have historic designation protection. Martinez & Johnson
    Architects and museum designers Gallagher & Associates can't just rip
    out the inside and start from scratch.

    Finally, this isn't the greatest time to be raising money.

    But Rouben was gracious enough to let Answer Man inside to take a look
    -- with a video camera. (Check out the exclusive footage at
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/johnkelly.)

    Answ er Man can report that it's like entering a beautiful
    post-apocalyptic time capsule. A wall clock is stopped at
    3:18. Deposit slips sit in drawers. The interior is incredibly ornate,
    with an intricate coffered ceiling, large arched windows and enormous
    columns.

    When the bank opened -- as the Federal-American Bank -- it was the
    first to have the banking room on the second floor. This reduced noise
    from the street and served as a security measure: Robbers would have
    to run down a flight of stairs or take the elevator.

    Some of the tellers' counters date to the bank's earliest days. A tiny
    plaque on one reads "Patent 1,673,639. John Poole." Poole, the bank's
    president, invented an open counter system that replaced the
    individual tellers' cages that had been common before. (Poole wrote
    that the cages and tiny windows through which business was
    traditionally conducted "keep the customer and teller from personal
    contact and prevent the cultivation of friendly relations.")

    Downstairs, a massive circular safe door opens onto the safe deposit
    boxes. They look like they've been ransacked, the drawers open, tiny
    keys dangling from each lock. In some rooms, paint curls from the
    walls. Engineers have drilled holes to test walls and foundations,
    leaving piles of concrete and plaster dust. But there's still a
    certain grandeur about the building.

    The centenary of the Armenian genocide -- the killing of 1.5 million
    Armenians at the hands of the Turks -- is in 2015. "It'd be ideal to
    have [the museum] open way before then," said Rouben.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/cont ent/article/2009/02/14/AR2009021401565.html
Working...
X