Last week, Ryan Little eulogized Gold Leaf Studio, the artists collective at 443 I Street NW that will be booted at the end of the month to make room for a 162-unit apartment building. As it happens, there’s an ironic real estate twist to the story: The warehouse, which is protected as part of the Mount Vernon Historic District, will remain and be converted into retail space.
Downtown D.C. is no stranger to cheek-by-jowl juxtapositions of small historic buildings and shiny new facades. Hickok Cole’s design for developer Equity Residential wraps around an old rowhouse, creating a courtyard in the otherwise solid building, and actually builds five more stories above the Gold Leaf warehouse. Maybe they’ll put a plaque there or something.
The full set of plans is here.