SOS ONLINE P.O. Box 8274 Silver Spring, MD 20907 301-589-1715 mailto:info@saveourseminary.org http://www.saveourseminary.org/ April May 2008 If you visited our website (www.saveourseminary.org) recently, you have already discovered how much it has changed. We hope you find it more attractive, more informative, and easier to use. Two important pages What s New and the Gallery are still under construction. When they are finished, you ll have access to the latest information about SOS and the National Park Seminary redevelopment, back issues of our newsletters, and our best historic and contemporary photos and videos. Save Our Seminary: What s New? The new website design is part of our ongoing effort to refocus Save Our Seminary from the battle to save the historic seminary buildings and landscape to a sustained effort to preserve and communicate the history and traditions the National Park Seminary and to protect and improve it for the benefit of its new residents, the community, and the public at large. When the rehabilitation of Main, the oldest of the seminary buildings, is finished, SOS will have an office in the front lobby where we can work more closely with residents and visitors. We also are working with The Alexander Company to determine the best location for our archive storage and cataloging work. We have increased our efforts to acquire material for the seminary archive, primarily through donations from seminary alumnae and their families. Our most recent acquisition is one of the most important. The National Park College Alumnae Association (NPCAA) kept the memories of the school alive after it closed in 1942. They have asked SOS to take over this responsibility and have donated to us their complete archive, including association membership records, bulletins and notes, National Park yearbooks and view books, alumna writings, student scrapbooks, and photographs. This carefully annotated memorabilia adds rich detail to our view of National Park life over the years. In February 2008, we received a NPCAA directory from the grandson of an alumna. In October 2007, we received from an alumna a National Park view book and a scrapbook of printed and hand-written documents that she had compiled as a student. In September 2007, we received from a Silver Spring neighbor a collection of seminary material that they purchased at an estate sale. Their donation included three National Park Seminary catalogs from 1901, 1921, and 1923, two alumnae bulletins from 1939 and 1941, a National Park Seminary view book, NPCAA rosters and minutes, personal
correspondence of a National Park alumna; and a variety of studies and local histories related to the seminary. In May 2007, we received from the daughter of an alumna a 1931-32 National Park College catalog, three student letters, and several news clippings related to the seminary. In February 2007, we received an annotated album of historic photographs of the seminary. Our April 26 tour had 110 enthusiastic participants, many of whom learned about us from a timely article in The Washington Post Weekend section: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/24/ar2008042401196.html The next tour will be May 25 Memorial Day weekend and we expect a similar level of interest. In the future, as the renovations proceed at the seminary, important interior spaces like the ballroom will be added to the tours. Construction Watch: What s New? The renovation of the National Park Seminary is approaching a very significant milestone: the utility systems in the seven-unit Aloha House are complete and, with only a few finishing touches remaining, it is ready for a certificate of occupancy from the county. When this approval is received, the first three owners of historic condominiums at National Park Seminary will move in. The sixty-six rental apartments in Main also are close to completion. The Alexander Company hired Habitat America (www.habitatamerica.com) to manage the rental component of the project. They are a woman-owned real estate management company that specializes in residential and retirement properties. Headquartered in Annapolis, their portfolio includes local projects in Silver Spring, Takoma Park, Potomac, Olney, Washington DC, and Alexandria VA. Their on-site office is in the Pagoda on Linden Lane and will later move into Main. We expect to see apartment residents living in Main by early summer. Looking ahead to progress on other historic buildings, work on Practice House and the power plant is scheduled to start this summer and we expect work on the gymnasium to begin in the fall. Construction of the two-level parking structure on site of the Odeon Theater, lost to arson in 1993, will begin in the summer. EYA has completed a block of Tudor style townhouses on Linden Lane at Smith Drive. On Ament Street, close to the new entrance to the Ireland Drive carriage trail that connects the seminary to Rock Creek Park, another block of townhouses is nearing completion. Two new Courtyard style townhouses across Linden Lane from Aloha House are framed and enclosed. EYA also demolished the construction model next to the gymnasium. For a brief while, this quirky little structure took its place among the castle, the windmill and the other architectural follies that give the seminary it s unique charm. Feature of the Month: The Caryatids of Forest Glen The seminary has always been noted for the sculptural and artistic works dotting its campus. Among the many sculptures brought to the grounds by President James Ament are the four-tiered fountain in front of Main, the lion statues, dubbed Leo and Theo by the students, which graced the steps leading down to Kappa House (the
Windmill), the sculpture of Cyporissus at the head of the trail leading to the glen, and thirty statue-like figures known as caryatids. Caryatids are draped female figures used to support a beam or arch, in the same way columns do. They are thought to represent the women of Karyae who were maidens of the goddess Artemis. These decorative supports can be found most famously at Delphi and the Erechtheion on the Acropolis in Athens. It is likely that caryatids were chosen as decorative elements for the seminary because they reflect the young ladies attending the school in their serenity, their dedication to service, and their youthful female forms. A group of ten caryatids forms the Porch of the Maidens that connects Aloha House and the Chapel and will be described in more detail in a future SOS Online. A second group of twenty or more caryatids formed the Statuary Colonnade that supported a T-shaped glass-covered walkway connecting the Gymnasium and Aloha House and spanning Linden Lane to connect with Recitation House. These caryatids are canephorae or basket-bearers because they support baskets on their heads to represent maidens carrying objects sacred to the goddesses Artemis and Athena.
The Army tore down Recitation House and the walkway in the 1940s. Most of the caryatids from the colonnade were sold or otherwise lost to the seminary. The two that remain have recently been taken out of storage and placed near the new Ament Street south of Linden Lane where they will draw attention to the interpretive trail that will soon connect the Ireland Drive carriage trail to the seminary campus (photo left). From time to time we hear of caryatids in private hands and we sometimes investigate to determine if they are from the seminary. Recently, we wrote to a local homeowner to ask about four caryatids of the canephorae style in his back yard, clearly visible from a walking trail in a nearby park (photos below). He showed our letter to his father who was able to refresh his memory of how their family came to own them. The first owner of their home bought the caryatids from the Army in the 1940s. The third owner (the current owner s father) incorporated them into a grape arbor that he built behind his house. In the mid-90s, when his son built a second house on the property, he dismantled the now deteriorated arbor, repaired the caryatids and moved them to their present location, closer to the trail (photos above). They were an important part of his childhood and he clearly appreciates their historic importance. He graciously allowed us to photograph them and share the pictures in
SOS Online. We won t compromise his privacy by telling you where they are, but keep your eyes open the next time you re walking the trails in the area. How Can I Help? SOS would like to find the rest of the caryatids from the Statuary Colonnade, talk to their owners, and photograph them in their present location. If you have seen or heard of a lovely concrete maiden that may be a caryatid, please call us at 301.589.1715 or e-mail us at info@saveourseminary.org.