Several people have brought up the idea that Metropolitan Methodist Church should have sold Eldbrooke Church to the city as a site for the new Tenley Library, freeing up the present library site for a residential/retail building. This is an interesting concept, but as far as I know it was never under consideration.

Members of the former Eldbrooke congregation felt very strongly about the preservation of their church. Most of all they wanted it to be retained as a place of worship, and if that was not possible, they (and the Historical Society) hoped that it would become a community center for education, art, theater, and music. In our many meetings with clergy and other officials of the combined Eldbrooke/Metropolitan congregation, there was always a very strong sense that nobody wanted to see this building torn down--the site has been occupied by Tenleytown's Methodist congregation since 1840. It was also important to everybody involved that the interior of the sanctuary not be significantly altered. Early on there was interest from a developer who wanted to divide the sanctuary into condos, and this suggestion was met with horror by church members. It would have been necessary to demolish the church building in order to move the library to that site, because there was no way that it could be adapted for use as a modern library. Ginnie Cooper, director of DCPL, has always been adamant that she wants a new building.

The Eldbrooke Church building has been sold pending the working out of final details. It appears that none of the art/theater/music groups who were interested in buying the building had enough money to meet the price set by Metropolitan Methodist plus make the necessary repairs. We do not know who the buyer is, but it may well be American University. We heard some time ago that AU (which is a Methodist institution) might use it for their School of Religion, but again, we have no idea what is going to happen.

--- Carolyn Long, Tenleytown Historical Society
--- carolynlong@earthlink.net

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District of Columbia Public Schools is getting ready for the 3rd Annual
Beautification Day Project, scheduled for Saturday August 25, 2007 from
8:00 AM to 1:00 PM at all DCPS schools. Beautification Day is a
school-community partnership where school staff and community members
work together on providing finishing touch-ups for schools in
preparation for the arrival of students.

Volunteers are needed to help make our schools beautiful for the first
day of school! To register or more information go www.k12.dc.us
<http://www.k12.dc.us> or email contact info to
volunteer4schools@k12.dc.us <mailto:volunteer4schools@k12.dc.us> or
call Naimah Beyah on (202) 727-0488. Show DC Public Schools your
support!

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