Heart of Adams Morgan, DC
Our neighborhood was previously known as “18th and Columbia.” It makes sense since that important intersection feels like and is often referred to as “the heart of Adams Morgan.” After that corner was left as a dirt lot when the Knickerbocker Theater was torn down, farmers from Licking Creek Bend Farm started DC’s first Saturday farmers market there in 1973.
A few years later Adams Morgan neighbors fought off a BP gas station from moving in. In 1976, when Perpetual Federal Savings & Loans bank wanted to build a branch there, neighbors rejected the plan, largely because of the bank’s racist banking practices. To win the neighborhood’s approval, the bank president, in a letter and a public dedication, declared the space for perpetual public use. A co-founder of the Adams Morgan Organization that negotiated the deal, Marie Nahikian recalls, “It really became the town square.”
One unhoused person that has been staying on the plaza told me that the fight isn’t really about them, because they can move. Then he said something that struck a chord with me. “You know, if we were in Italy, this would be our ‘piazza’ and it wouldn’t occur to anyone for even a second to try to build something here.” His reframing of the situation brings needed clarity. As an architecture student in Italy I learned that to create a thriving public life the piazza needs to be at the heart of the city’s oldest core and stay there.
I know many say, but the plaza is ugly and in bad shape. It’s true and I haven’t met anyone that wants to keep it as it is. I know some say the organizers to renew the plaza are opposed to new housing, but we didn’t oppose any of the other housing developments in Adams Morgan…we don’t even oppose PN Hoffman from building condos there as long as the plaza is fully preserved. Some say we don’t respect private property owners, but we even supported the privatization of public streets for our local streatery. Some say we can’t abide by the laws, but “the devotion of land for public use by an unequivocal act of the owner” is well settled in the courts. It’s actually Truist bank, the current owner that is failing to respect the ongoing court case by threatening to prematurely fence off the plaza.
Our neighborhood has an incredible antiracist legacy that is preserved even in our name, Adams Morgan. Adams Morgan Plaza is a physical manifestation of that legacy in the heart of our community. It’s our town square, our piazza. The public space there should be preserved and the plaza should be reimagined and revived. The history of Adams Morgan shows that we can win fights to shape our neighborhood around our needs and desires.
I leave you with the words of Michael and Esther of Licking Creek Bend Farm:
“We have made no secret about our respect for the community members who are trying to preserve the Plaza as the “heart” of Adams Morgan. It breaks our hearts that the bank does not respect the history of your community and the bank’s historical commitment to the community. It also is painful to watch a developer’s seemingly disregard for the interests and concerns of a community. Particularly the elimination of public space for profit and to no benefit of the community. Especially now, the lessons we are all learning from the pandemic about how critical public, open space is to all of us. We hope the developer will reconsider its plans and preserve the Plaza for the community (and of course it can be “improved”). How wonderful would that be!”
