Supporters of the historic Holt House in Kalorama remain baffled by the federal government’s continuing refusal to save the deteriorating 197-year-old property, once used as administrative offices for the National Zoo.
The federal budget for years has included a provision prohibiting the Smithsonian Institution from using any funds for the preservation of the circa-1810 Holt House, “unless identified as repairs to minimize water damage, monitor structure movement, or provide interim structural support.” The condition appeared again in President Bush’s FY 2008 proposal, released Monday.
“I don’t know the origin of the restrictive language, but the task force’s position is that the language would allow the zoo to perform some very basic and necessary maintenance of the building right now,” said Mary Belcher, chair of the Kalorama Citizens Association’s Holt House Preservation Task Force. “All those things are maintenance items that need to be done and as far as we know are not being done.”
The Holt House, located just off Adams Mill Road on National Zoo property, was one of more than a dozen large estates built on the high grounds along Rock Creek. Purchased by Dr. Henry C. Holt in 1844 and sold to the National Zoo in 1889, the home was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
Zoo administrators moved out of the building in 1988. Through budget language, Congress simply said “we will not be using federal funding to renovate a piece of property at the back of the zoo that has no purpose,” said Linda St. Thomas, Smithsonian spokeswoman.
“They have no use for it,” she said of the zoo. “There’s some discussion of whether it’s historic or not.”
The spending provision first appeared in the Department of the Interior’s FY 1999 budget and has remained in place since.
“We haven’t been able to ascertain what the issue is,” said Rebecca Miller, executive director of D.C. Preservation League, which has listed the Holt House as one of the city’s most endangered properties. “Our only guess is that they’re waiting for it to collapse.”
Smithsonian budget increase high on salaries, security
President Bush’s $678.4 million budget proposal for the Smithsonian Institution provides $571.3 million for salaries and expenses and $107.1 million for capital improvement, a total request of about $50 million more than the current year.
A 3 percent pay increase for the Smithsonian’s 4,000 federal employees — the institution employs 6,000 people total — will push salaries higher by about $20 million in Fiscal Year 2008. Another $9.9 million will be set aside for planning and staffing the National Museum of African American History andCulture, the newest Smithsonian facility, to be built adjacent to the Washington Monument on a site bounded by Constitution Avenue, Madison Drive, and 14th and 15th streets.
Also, the president proposed $1.4 million for improved security, including more aggressive background checks of employees and contractors and new computer software to track staff badges.
“There hasn’t been a crisis, but there was an audit of [security] that found we’re a little bit deficient in this,” Smithsonian spokeswoman Linda St. Thomas said.
The capital budget is almost entirely comprised of revitalization and repair of existing facilities. No new construction is funded.
