We've mentioned it briefly before, but it's worth reminding everyone that a D.C. neighborhood is in contention to win a makeover from HGTV, and a lot of local bloggers are asking you to cast your vote to help make it happen. In partnership with Rebuilding Together, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Natural Resources Defense Council, HGTV's Change the World, Start at Home contest has identified D.C.'s Anacostia as one of ten needy......

Via PreservationNation, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has started a campaign to save the original Tomb of the Unknowns, or Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as it's commonly called, at Arlington National Cemetery. Who would want to mess with the tomb? According to the National Trust, it's the folks who run Arlington National Cemetery themselves, as well as Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) -- perhaps one of the senate's most famous military veterans and fathers......

We kid. Kind of. According to the Washington Business Journal, the Uline Ice Arena and the surrounding area may be the next frontier in development in the District. The arena, which is just north of Union Station and hosted the first Beatles concert in the U.S. in 1964, is being looked at by developer Douglas Jemal as the anchor for a new entertainment district along the lines of the popular East End/Verizon Center area. While......

We've been following the fate of the 9th St. NW Shiloh Baptist Church properties since they were condemned in mid-May. No visible repairwork has since been performed on the buildings, despite an order from the District to fix the roof, gutters, masonry and generally clean up and make the buildings safe. Yesterday at a meeting of the D.C. Board for the Condemnation of Insanitary Buildings, the board ordered DCRA to either perform the repairs......

The Smithsonian Institution is searching for a public or private partner to redevelop and rent the historic Arts and Industries Building, since, according to the Smithsonian's facilities director, William W. Brubaker, the Institution "does not have funding now or in the foreseeable future to rehabilitate" it. The 126-year-old building, the second-oldest next to the Smithsonian Castle, has been closed for three years "in preparation for renovation" since the roof began collapsing -- but no work......

NBC4 has a story about national caffeine overlord Starbucks' continued efforts to lease space for a coffee shop to be located in the former site of The King of France Tavern, within the historic Maryland Inn in Annapolis. Initially rejected by the Annapolis Historic Preservation Commission last winter, Starbucks is scheduled to appear again before the commission tonight with a revised plan, which now includes a wheelchair lift, according to NBC4. The tavern, which opened......

Just in time to close out Black History Month, Cultural Tourism DC, in partnership with the Historic Preservation Office of the D.C. Office of Planning, is unveiling its first African-American Heritage Trail marker. The marker is to be placed at the Recorder of Deeds office at 515 D Street, NW. The Recorder of Deeds office is historically significant because in 1881 President James A. Garfield appointed American abolitionist and reformer Frederick Douglass as Recorder of......

Has any stretch of real estate in D.C. turned itself around as quickly as Barracks Row? In just over six years the stretch of Eighth Street SE south of Eastern Market and north of M Street SE. has seen rapid development changing the area from one infested with drug traffic and petty crime to a vibrant thoroughfare. Sure, the space still has some bleak spots, including a Popeye's with astonishingly bad service (even for a......

The third annual Barracks Row festival will be held this Saturday from 11-5, on, you guessed it, Barracks Row. The festival will feature musical performances; a dog show; and over 70 vendors selling art work, gift items, and food. If you haven't been to Barracks Row and are curious, this is the perfect opportunity to see what some have (perhaps a little prematurely) called "the next Georgetown." The Barracks Row strip (the 500-700 blocks of......

In a tough blow to the already beleaguered H Street corridor, the Board of Directors of the H Street Main Street program have cancelled the first annual H Street Arts and Humanities festival, scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 9. In a release to the Voice of the Hill, spokesman Richard Layman states that the festival has been cancelled because The board was uncomfortable with the amount of money raised thus far, as well as the......