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Most Endangered Places
2005

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Most Endangered Places for 2005

HOLT HOUSE

NATIONAL ZOO, off ADAMS MILL ROAD

STEWARD: SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION/NATIONAL ZOO
DC INVENTORY OF HISTORIC SITES: (1964)
NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES (1973)

Built about 1810 by owner George Johnson, the property known today as Holt House was one of more than a dozen large country estates built on the high grounds of Rock Creek, within the boundaries of an old land grant known as “Pretty Prospects.” Today, Holt House is one of the few that remain, and the last east of Rock Creek.

The residents of this rare surviving example of a five-part federal-era residence comprise a “who’s who” of Washington, DC’s diverse populace, including early entrepreneurs, presidential advisors, enslaved African Americans, farmers and scientists.

The surrounding area of the house is also very special and includes one of Washington’s oldest millseats, the city’s first Quaker burial ground, a post-Civil War African American Cemetery, and the Civil War hospital known as Cliffburne Barracks, where the “Invalid Corps” were headquartered.

Dr. Henry C. Holt, a former US Army assistant surgeon, purchased the house in 1844 and sold it to the newly created National Zoo in 1889.

The Zoo renovated it for use as administrative offices. In helping plan the zoological park, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. advised the park’s planners to look to the graceful architecture of Holt House as a source of inspiration.

In 1988, after almost 100 years as administrative offices for the Zoo, Holt House was boarded up. In 2002 the Holt House Preservation Task Force obtained a matching grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation to hire Quinn Evans Architects to assess the house. Their findings were:

“Massive collapse of the house is a real possibility; partial collapse or failure of a segment of the framing is a distinct probability.”

For a number of years Congress has limited the amount of money the Smithsonian and the National Zoo can spend on Holt House. The current Smithsonian funding law, Public Law 108-542, appropriates $122.9 million for facilities institution-wide, but the law states:

“None of these funds in this or any other Act may be used for the Holt House located at the National Zoological Park in Washington, DC, unless identified as repairs to minimize water damage, monitor structure movement, or provide interim structural support.” (HR 4568, the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2005.)

Actions/Next Steps:

• Work with the National Zoo and community groups to raise sufficient funds for maintenance, restoration, and interpretation of the historical and cultural resources of the House.
• Work with the National Zoo and community members to prepare preservation plan that explores options for use of Holt House, such as making the building available for use by local civic groups or community organizations.

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