Photo by omarali.md.
The Washington National Cathedral and George Washington’s estate at Mount Vernon, Va. are each getting $100,000 in historic preservation money from American Express after both sites finished atop an online vote to award grants to landmarks around the D.C. area. The cathedral finished slightly ahead, edging out Mount Vernon by only 7,000 points tallied by website votes, tweets, Instagram photos, and Foursquare check-ins.
American Express’s charitable foundation and the National Trust for Historic Preservation put on the contest, called Partners in Preservation, to get the public to weigh in on how to dole out $1 million in total awards. The National Cathedral is getting $100,000—the most allocated to any site—to repair damage to its nave vaulting incurred during the August 2011 earthquake. Mount Vernon, meanwhile, will use its award to fix up Washington’s ornate dining room.
“If we want to have historic places in our midst, we have to make a commitment,” Andrew Hullinger, the National Cathedral’s finance director, said upon accepting the prize. “Not just from the trust and Amex.”
Although the 24 sites receiving grant money are scattered around the greater D.C. area, 16 of them are located in the District itself, a fact that excited Mayor Vince Gray. “It’s always exhilarating to be speaking after someone who just got $100,000,” he said.
While the National Cathedral and Mount Vernon are widely known, many of the locations receiving grants are not in the national zeitgeist.
Although only those two received the full $100,000, many sites in the running received significant sums. All Souls Unitarian Church, in Adams Morgan, received $50,000 to fix up its historic bell tower; Congressional Cemetery is getting $60,000 to replace 26 mausoleum roof; the GALA Hispanic Theatre in Columbia Heights will receive $35,000 to repair interior domes; and the Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site, a Shaw landmark that has been closed to the public for many years, will get $75,000 to help get it open.
“A lot of these sites that are lesser known but just as deserving,” said Timothy McLimon, the president of the American Express Foundation. He said that in a change from the Partners in Preservation contest’s first eight years—which was conducted in other metropolitan areas—the D.C. area vote was more tilted toward the most famous locations
But that didn’t lessen the ebullience of the representatives from the winning sites who showed up to the grant announcement at the National Trust’s headquarters in Dumbarton House. Joy Kinard, a National Park Service district manager who oversees the Woodson house, jumped out of her seat and let out a whoop when her grant was announced.
“It means so much to us,” she said in an interview. Kinard’s district, which includes five additional NPS-managed sites throughout the District, has had to make cutbacks because of federal budget sequestration. The Woodson home is still a long way from being ready to open, but the $75,000 it is receiving will be put toward repairing its front and rear façades.
Paul Wells, a great-great-nephew of Woodson, who is considered to be the founding scholar of African-American history, was also at the ceremony. “As a member of the family, it’s wonderful,” he said.
Three sites also received an additional $20,000 for being the leading vote-getters on various social media. Arlington House was featured in the greatest number of Instagram photos; LAMB at Military Road School, a charter school in upper Northwest D.C., had the most Foursquare check-ins; and Living Classrooms, a maritime education organization, received the most tweets.
The contest also featured some good news for movie lovers. The Greenbelt Theatre, in Maryland, is getting $75,000 to begin repairs to its art deco lobby.
