Fall 2004

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Fall 2004

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Benjamin Forgey Gives Keynote Address at DCPL Annual Meeting

.On Wednesday, June 9, 2004, DCPL members were given the unique opportunity to view and experience the ongoing interior rehabilitation and renovation of the Tivoli Theater, and hear Washington Post architecture critic, Benjamin Forgey, chart – in a riveting and reflective personal review – a quarter-of-a century of preservation progress in Washington. (See complete speech text on page 4.)

Until recent work began, the Tivoli Theater, a 1920s silent movie house designed by renowned theater architect, Thomas Lamb, laid dormant and threatened by demolition since 1976. A National Historic Landmark located in the Columbia Heights neighborhood, the Tivoli is undergoing an impressive transformation with the building and its adjacent site set to feature a mixed-use development that will include an arts theater, office space, retail, and residential condominiums. Over 125 DCPL members, and guests entered the theater through its original lobby where they previewed the restoration of interior decorative finishes and on-site replication of original, missing, or damaged, ornamental plaster panels.

DCPL Board President, Farleigh Earhart, formally welcomed the crowd in the theater’s expansive upper level where all got a rare, up-close look at the building’s historic and quite elaborate domed ceiling. Following Ms. Earhart’s annual address updating members and thanking them for their unyielding support to the organization. Benjamin Forgey took center stage addressing the crowd in a rare public speaking appearance, himself noting – regarding his involvement in the preservation movement and decision to participate – “ I figured it was a good time to review this involvement and thought I might as well take you all along for the ride, that you might find it interesting or informative or even provocative.” He was correct on all counts. Forgey emphasized the importance preservation has played in shaping Washington over the past 30 years and how DCPL’s role in this was “impossible to quantify.” Reflecting on the relationship between historic preservation and contemporary design, Forgey expressed that architects have a “new-found willingness to use history directly in the design of new buildings,” and concluded with a poignant wish that “every generation contribute its own best note of beauty to this beautiful city.

The evening concluded with tours of the building led by DCPL Trustee, John Bellingham, President of Monarc Construction, the general contractor on the project, including leading groups up a ladder into the interior dome of the ceiling. Tivoli Theater during its construction in the 1920’s.