Memorial Service
Megachains aren’t always a fitting companion to history, but in the U Street corridor, the two are scheduled to become a package deal.
This fall, a CVS drugstore will open adjacent to the African-American Civil War Memorial at U and 10th Streets NW. The store will occupy the ground floor of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge. Now people stocking up on toilet paper and chewing gum will spill out onto the memorial site—not exactly what neighbors and planners envisioned. Derrick Woody, coordinator of the D.C. Office of Planning’s Great Streets Initiative, would have liked to see a restaurant or cafe with outdoor seating, coupled with an apparel store and perhaps a small welcoming center.
“Our vision was to have a use that drew people into the neighborhood and helped to animate that space,” Woody says. “I don’t see that people are going to be sitting outside of the CVS.” Frank Smith, founding director of the African-American Civil War Memorial, sees the reality pretty clearly: “Unfortunately, when you don’t own the property, your choices are limited [as] to what you can do.”
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August 15th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
For those who don’t know, Prince Hall Grand Lodge, listed on the National Register, was designed by architect Albert I. Cassell and built between 1922 and 1930. The Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge, founded in 1825, was the first black Masonic order south of the Mason-Dixon Line, named in honor of Revolutionary War veteran Prince Hall, the first African American Mason. (from culturaltourismdc.org)
August 16th, 2007 at 9:35 am
You could also go to the identical CVS 2 blocks away called Rite Aid.
August 19th, 2007 at 11:39 am
I don’t know how this will be pulled off or how the CVS will blend in, but one on the things I love about European cities is that beautiful museum quality sites are not confined to museums. You can pop into a cafe or convenience store and walk out to a beautiful and interesting sight. When I’m there I always find myself being so jealous that Europeans have that kind of beauty in their everyday life; and I’m sure most of them probably don’t actively think about it or reflect on it in that way, but there’s something to be said for having history and beauty and awesomeness integrated into your consciousness (of subconsciousness, such as it is) because its ever-present.