American boy scouts help preserve future site of AGMA
03.10.2009 11:24 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ 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 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.