Over the years, the NPS has served as a Native American habitation, farmland, a resort, a women’s school, an Army medical facility, and now a residential community, explains Linda Lyons, president of Save Our Seminary at Forest Glen (SOS), who nominated the site. When NPS functioned as a school, the site underwent a building program that brought a wide variety of architectural styles to the campus, including an Italian villa, a Dutch windmill, and a Japanese pagoda.
Since part of the campus stood vacant for over 30 years, dilapidation and vandalism took their toll, particularly on the gymnasium.
With private donations, SOS has restored the exterior of the pagoda and, in 2003, brought in a development team led by the Alexander Company to implement a preservation plan using the campus as the center of a residential neighborhood. That neighborhood currently includes townhomes, condos, and apartments. The company has done a good job blending new development with historic resources in a unique manner.
“At the same time, this one building in the middle of everything else is such an eyesore,” says Lyons. “Pieces were falling off, and residents of the surrounding townhouses were nervous that they’d get hit on the head." (Since the application to Preservation Maryland was submitted, the Alexander Company has stabilized the exterior deterioration.)
Much good work has been done at the NPS, says Lyons, and the Alexander Company is fully committed to the historic rehabilitation of the gymnasium, recognizing it is the “front door” to the NPS community. Yet, she adds, they have encountered difficulty in securing the financing needed.
“Invest in this project so that restoration and adaptive reuse can go forward. Marylanders should be an advocate for saving our historic heritage and preserving the special buildings that illuminate our history,” says Lyons. “That is how we contribute to making Maryland an outstanding place to live.”
For more information, visit www.saveourseminary.org.
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