D.C. Unveils New Renderings of H Street Car Barn

A rendering of the proposed car barn as viewed from Benning Road NE.

The D.C. Department of Transportation today unveiled revised renderings of the proposed $50 million streetcar training and maintenance facility set to be placed on the campus of Spingarn High School along Benning Road NE. The car barn is one of the last puzzle pieces in the long-awaited H Street NE streetcar, which is set to run towards the end of 2013 or in early 2014.

This new design is the third that has been proposed so far. D.C. officials were forced back to the drawing board late last year after Spingarn was designated a historic landmark. Around the same time, the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts wrote DDOT Director Terry Bellamy and encouraged him to offer up a simpler and more squat design for the facility than what had already been presented. The commission reviewed the design last week, and the D.C. Historic Preservation Board will conduct its own review later this week.

As envisioned by DDOT, the new car barn would be more smoothly integrate itself into the campus around it; they lopped off a full floor and pulled it back from the street, aligning it somewhat diagonally to Benning Road instead of immediately alongside it. The car barn's look isn't any more "historic" than any past designs, but is rather meant to be more discrete.

If you're curious about where the H Street NE streetcar stands and what's left to be done before it gets rolling—hint: plenty—DDOT is hosting an open meeting tomorrow where it will update residents on the work that remains to be completed on H Street. The meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. at Miner Elementary School (601 15th Street NE).