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2005

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Most Endangered Places for 2005

McMILLAN RESERVOIR SAND FILTRATION SITE

Bounded by North Capitol Street, NW; Michigan Avenue,
NW; First Street, NW, and Channing Street, NW.

STEWARD: DC GOVERNMENT
NOMINATED BY: McMILLAN PARK COMMITTEE
NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES (1991)

The 1905 completion of the McMillan Reservoir Sand Filtration Site was a Washington public health milestone. Its innovative system of water purification, which relied on sand rather than chemicals, let to the elimination of typhoid epidemics and the reduction of many other communicable diseases in the city. The 25 acre site consists of regulator houses, sand bins, washers and underground sand filtration beds. A legacy of the City Beautiful Movement, the complex is an engineering wonder that served its original purpose until 1986.

In 1906 Secretary of War William Howard Taft designated the site part of the McMillan Reservoir Park, a memorial to Senator James McMillan (R-Michigan), for his work as chairman of the Senate Commission on the Improvement of the Park System and his efforts in shaping the development of the city at the turn of the 19th century.

Conceived of as a large permanent reserve of open green space for the benefit of citizens, the site’s design and construction was the collaboration of pre-eminent civil engineers, urban planners, artists and architects including engineer Allen Hazen, planner and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., sculptor Herbert Adams and architect Charles Platt.

Since its purchase by the District government in 1987, the site has deteriorated severely due to lack of maintenance and is now threatened by pressure for commercial and residential development. The property has been selected by NCRC (National Capital Revitalization Corporation) in a land swap deal for Anacostia Riverfront property, necessary for the proposed baseball stadium. In advance of a Request for Proposals a development team has submitted a scheme that includes 1,200 units of housing of buildings up to 10 stories, a 100,000 square foot shopping center, a 125-room hotel and conference center and underground parking. Limited open green space would remain.

Actions/Next Steps:

• Support the McMillan Park Committee in its efforts for the restoration of the site.
• The DCPL Project Review Committee will review plans for the site and provide advice and assistance on any alterations made to the site to determine whether the changes are compatible and enhance the historic landmark for current use.

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