Photo via Loopnet

Prince of Petworth—supposedly the preferred local blog for City Paper readers—reports that Eric Hilton’s Eighteenth Street Lounge group has filed a liquor-license application for the house on 1337 H Street.

Hilton’s forthcoming concept will be a 99-capacity tavern called Spirit Room and will serve bar-style cuisine and feature DJs or live bands, according to Silverman, who also notes that the house, many years ago, was one of pre-build-up H Street’s many funeral homes.

But more recently, the house briefly served as a hotbed for the District’s arty scene. Last summer, the structure—which Hilton has owned for a while—was envisioned as kind of studio space and makeshift artists’ commune, with Hilton planning to open a bar in the basement.

The space kicked off with “The Living House,” a Bluebrain-engineered project that took visitors from room to room, each one soundtracked to the sounds of a different band. One review of the experience likened it to walking through a physical manifestation of The Flaming Lips‘ four-disc experimental album Zaireeka.

But what appeared to be a promising start turned otherwise after an underground art fair staged by performance artist Adrian Parsons (in his pre-hunger-strike days) was a bit much for the ownership. A City Paper cover story on Parsons recounted just what went down:

Concerned that the first (e)merge Art Fair was too Miami and too upscale for the District, a group of local artists organized a counter-fair. Kool Raunch’s [Parson’s ensemble] performance plans, though, proved too much for the counter-fair’s organizers. So Parsons arranged FairFairFair, a counter-counter-fair at a new art space at 1337 H Street NE. Kool Raunch staged a show in which ensemble members dressed in togas, threw red paint, and wrestled in the ensuing mess; skinned calves’ heads were also involved. A result of the chaos: Ally Behnke, the 1337 resident who invited Parsons (though she says she never agreed to hosting the performance) got evicted.

So, coming soon to H Street: A bar with a history of undertaking, experimental music events and performance artists rolling around in blood-red paint with cow’s heads. The place will probably be jammed when it opens.