Dupont Underground Developer to Expand Own Residence

Julian Hunt, Founder and Chairman of Arts Coalition for Dupont Underground, will also take on the job of renovating and expanding his own home studio at 1504 Swann Street NW. Hunt is an architect and principle at Hunt Laudi Studio.

1504 Swann Street now

Hunt appeared and spoke June 11, at the last regular monthly of Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2B/Dupont Circle. He appeared before the ANC with his wife, Lucretia Laudi, also an architect. She is President of Hunt Laudi Studio.

Hunt and Laudi's appearance before ANC2B was only to inform on their plans -- they will have to come back, probably more than once, because their home will require ANC endorsement of petitions to both DC's Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) and the Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA). 

HPRB will have authority to review because the property is located within the U Street Historic District. 

Hunt explained they have lived at the property for about 17 years. Recently, their neighbors did a by-right expansion of their home to the property line. This cut off light and air to their property, as they are on the north side of a party wall. So, the owners of 1504 Swann Street wish to expand their own property to a height roughly the same as the other buildings on the street.

Two aspects of the project may not fly easily through the permit process. First, The architects desire a higher roof deck on their expanded property. Second, the property already occupies 100% of the lot it stands on, so it is already in violation of zoning regulations.

No votes were taken on the project at the June 11 meeting, nor did commissioners express any opinions.

Hunt Laudi Studio has also been in the news as the designer of the Metro Memorial Park. Mayor Vincent Grey broke ground on the project on June 22. 

Dupont Underground was the subject of the SALM blog post of April 4.  See an article from the same date by the blog Urban Turf here.