The Southern Field Office in Washington, DC

As our nation's capital, Washington, DC has a vast collection of historic buildings and landscapes critically important to American history. DC is also home to wonderful historic neighborhoods, from Georgetown to Mount Pleasant to Anacostia.

With so many major federal projects in the District, the Southern Field Office's advocacy work tends to be centered around a few large, nationally significant sites. We use the Dorothea de Schweinitz Preservation Fund (below) to support other excellent, more locally significant projects.

Dorothea de Schweinitz Preservation Fund for Washington, DC

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has awarded more than $400,000 to local preservation projects in Washington, DC. Most of this funding comes from the Dorothea de Schweinitz Preservation Fund for Washington, DC, which distributes approximately $30,000 annually in small, matching grants for preservation planning and education.

In 2007, the Southern Field Office made a special grant of $20,000 to help plan for the restoration of Eastern Market, following a catastrophic fire. Following an outpouring of support from the community, city and others, the market reopened in July 2009.

For more information on the de Schweinitz Preservation Fund and other funding opportunities through the SFO, visit our Grant Funding Opportunities page.

St. Elizabeths Hospital

Perched on a promontory with spectacular views of Washington, DC, St. Elizabeths Hospital – a sprawling 300-acre complex that dates back to the 1850s – holds an impressive collection of Victorian and Colonial Revival buildings, as well as remarkable landscapes, designed to aid patient treatment. The site, listed as one of America's Most Endangered Historic Places in 2002, is currently threatened by the Department of Homeland Security's proposed consolidation. To learn more, visit the St. Elizabeths 11 Most Endangered page.

The National Mall

Framed in part by the Capitol and White House, the National Mall contains some of America's most iconic symbols, including the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial, as well as venerable institutions such as the Smithsonian. Because of the tremendous local, regional, and national importance of the Mall, the National Trust has ongoing involvement in the projects that continue to shape this vast and beloved portion of Washington.

Visit our National Mall page to learn more about our work on the National Mall Plan and the many related sites on and adjacent to the Mall.

The Carter Woodson House

From 1915 until his death in 1950, this National Historic Landmark brick rowhouse in DC’s historic Shaw neighborhood was the home and office of Dr. Carter Woodson, author, scholar, publisher, and “Father of Black History.” By 2001, after many years of neglect, the under-appreciated landmark was seriously threatened by deterioration, arson, vandalism, and collapse, and was placed on the National Trust's 11 Most Endangered List. In September 2001, NTHP provided the owner, the Association for the Study of African-American Life & History, with a recommended sequence for the stabilization of the historic house, indicating that the first priority is to stabilize the structure and make it safe from further deterioration.

Now, the building’s sagging floors have been stabilized, roof leaks patched, windows and doors secured, and piles of debris removed. As the Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site, the National Park Service and Association for the Study of African American Life & History are working cooperatively to plan restoration and create a new educational visitor center.

The Patent Office Building

In 2003, the Smithsonian -- believing it was not subject to preservation review under the National Historic Preservation Act -- demolished the historic courtyard of the National Historic Landmark Patent Office Building, a 1836 Greek Revival building that housed the American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery.

Following a contenious review that ended in termination of the federal Section 106 process, the Smithsonian's newly christened Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture completed a Norman Foster canopy over a new courtyard and restored much of the Patent Office Building's historic masonry fabric. To help mitigate the loss of the historic courtyard and the addition of the Foster canopy, the Southern Field Office and others strongly advocated for landscaping in the interior courtyard and careful treatment of the exterior historic landscape. The most significant mitigation measure -- the reconstruction of the exterior staircase on F Street -- has not yet been completed.

Importantly, the Patent Office Building controversy clarified that the Smithsonian Institution is subject to federal preservation review for exterior building projects in Washington, DC. This is a critical protection for some of the nation's most treasured historic properties. At the same time, Smithsonian buildings outside Washington, DC -- including the Carnegie mansion that houses New York's Cooper-Hewitt Museum -- may still be exempt from federal preservation law.