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Holt House Update, April 4, 1998

Unfortunately the National Zoo has complicated matters recently by posting NO TRESPASSING, U.S. GOVERNMENT PROPERTY, on the historic road adjacent to the burial ground. The public use of that road, the original Adams Mill Road, predates the National Zoo. The Zoo's action makes it illegal to visit the burial site and the Holt House (the Smithsonian's oldest building) from the main part of the zoo, as well as cut off access to Rock Creek and the Zoo from the Adams Morgan Community.

The Smithsonian has stopped responding to the Freedom of Information Act requests for records that might justify the No Trespassing posting - have gone unanswered. As have requests for the Smithsonian to follow regulations prescribed in the Historic Preservation Act. The Smithsonian has failed to provide current records in its study by the Office of Architectural History and Preservation (OAHP). Missing are Zoo documents on the use of the burial site for land fill during construction of the Amazonia Exhibit and the plan to build a 4000 sq. ft heavy equipment and Zoo Doo storage facility on that site. Nor has any recent Smithsonian records been provided, that might explain the decision making behind how an irreplaceable historic building was abandoned, despite its 1973 listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Who made that decision and why?

Also unexplained is what happened to the part of the 3.85 million dollars requested by the Smithsonian from Congress for 1998 that was supposed to be used for "Renovation, Repair and Improvements at the Zoo. A part of that money was supposed to be used for the Holt House which is the only Zoo building listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Zoo's budget request stated that the building was "considered a valued portion of our national heritage." It makes you wonder just what they mean by "preservation." In the name of preservation, the Zoo removed the gutters and sections of the roof at the Holt House. The gutters yet to be put back on, and the gapping holes in the roof were patched with a layer of tar paper that won't last more than a season.

Equally disturbing is what might have happened to the Holt House's "prison like cellar slave quarters" described in documents and by current and retired Zoo Staff. No attempt has been made to interview any of the witness, determine the veracity of the legend, or at least have someone competent to answer these questions make an on site inspection. Meanwhile the removal of the gutters have led to water saturation along the foundation of the house, putting at risk the a planned archaeological study. Should legend hold, there will be great interest in unearth buried artifacts, but now all the more at risk then ever before.

In fact the 700 plus pages of documents on the Holt House, pulled together by the Smithsonian, is so rich in American History, that they have just about buried it, making it available only at the Zoo. In it's place they provide 4 pages of seemingly meaningless and speculative summary by the Zoo's Office of Public Affairs. That study is fixated on termite activity at the Holt House in the 1960's. Missing is the report of the current condition of the building and a evaluation from the Smithsonian's Office of Architectural History and Preservation (OAHP) which has the to determine conformance with the Smithsonian's Historic Preservation Policy. The staff of OAHP collected and transcribed hundreds of documents, a big job. But where is the evaluative study that is supposed to be done pursuant to Smithsonian Directive 418, "Smithsonian Institution Historic Preservation Policy," March 19, 1993?

There's more but you get the idea. The Smithsonian sees itself as outside Federal Law. The Smithsonian's Inspector General, cannot see a problem. The next step is to get the attention of Congress.