PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
October 2, 2009
Contact: Press Office
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (202) 383-9009
BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA HELP PRESERVE FUTURE SITE OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
MUSEUM OF AMERICA
Washington, DC – As part of their community service program, a Boy
Scouts of America troop from the Washington, DC, region is
volunteering to help preserve the National Bank of Washington (NBW)
building, which is a designated site on the National Register of
Historic Buildings.
As plans proceed to convert the 1920s structure into the Armenian
Genocide Museum of America (AGMA), the preservation of the historic
building has remained one of the priorities of the museum project. The
renovation plans will restore the site to its original grandeur, as
well as allow for the installation of full-scale exhibits on the
tragic ordeal of the victims and the long struggle of the survivors.
The NBW structure has historic designation for both the exterior and
the interior main hall of the former bank space.
"As we pull together the AGMA plans and exhibits, we also want this
historic site to be presentable and available to the local community,"
said Van Z. Krikorian, museum trustee and chairman of the project’s
building and operations committee. "We are honored by the offer of the
Boy Scouts of America to pitch in with our efforts to improve the site
for public use. Their volunteer spirit exemplifies the best of our
country’s values and is especially appropriate since the Boy Scouts of
America in the past honored Armenian Assembly of America chairman and
AGMA board of trustees chairman Hirair Hovnanian with their
Distinguished Service Award for serving on their National Board."
The reviews and approvals of the District of Columbia Historic
Preservation Review Board (HPRB) and the architectural plans developed
according to HPRB specifications have clarified which portions and
what details of the existing structure must be preserved and will be
renovated. The review also identified aspects to the interior of the
building that were later additions or are features that do not
constitute part of the original integrity of the historic building.
Not by coincidence AGMA is located on The Extra Mile: Points of Light
Volunteer Pathway, which is a new national monument dedicated to the
spirit of service in America. The Extra Mile honors heroes of the
nation’s service movement with a series of large bronze medallions,
including William D. Boyce, founder of the Boy Scouts of America.
Other honorees include suffragist Susan B. Anthony, abolitionist
Frederick Douglas, advocate for the blind Helen Keller, civil rights
leader Martin Luther King, Jr., Special Olympics founder Eunice
Kennedy Shriver, and American Red Cross founder Clara Barton, who led
American relief efforts in response to the 1896 Armenian massacres.
The AGMA offices are also located across the street from the Church of
the Epiphany, which is one of the starting points of the Civil War to
Civil Rights: Downtown Heritage Trail.
The Armenian Genocide Museum of America is an outgrowth of the
Armenian Assembly of America and the Armenian National Institute
(ANI), catalyzed by the initial pledge of Anoush Mathevosian toward
building such a museum in Washington, DC.
###
NR#2009-04