Two rowhouses that partially collapsed along Morgan Street NW last Friday may be headed for demolition.

According to a Mount Vernon Square Neighborhood Association Listserv report: “Unfortunately now, DCRA wants to demolish both buildings and have them re-built and many of us believe that the facades of the two properties in our historic-designated neighborhood should be saved.” The poster is encouraging residents to contact the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) to convince them to halt the wrecking ball. He adds that there isn’t much time: “…we need to do it NOW because they are planning to demolish the buildings on this coming Monday.”

Another member of the email discussion group, Boris Miric, is concerned about something else entirely: “This is if I recall correctly this is 5th or 6th house that has collapsed in our vicinity and fortunately no one is killed buy [sic] the events.I am confident that all preservation could be avoided (in 1st place) if there was an infrastructure on prohibiting such unlicensed and inexperienced work to be done to start with.” Contacted by City Desk, Miric declined to comment further.

DCRA spokesperson Michael Rupert emails in regard to the buildings scheduled for destruction that “Discussions on the best options for safety AND the neighborhood are occurring now.”

Photo by Rend Smith