| Call
Boxes -
A coalition of civic organizations and the DC government is sponsoring
a city wide effort to restore abandoned fire and police call boxes to
transform them into artifacts combining art and heritage. The program
is called Art on Call. The Cleveland Park Historical Society (CPHS) is
spearheading our neighborhood's effort.
There are two parts to the project, just as there are two parts to the
call box. The top part of the box, which originally contained a
telephone to connect the caller with the police or fire department, is now
open space. We would use that space to house a plaque with a photograph
and/or text, or other suitable medium, to describe something of
historic interest in the area immediately surrounding the call box.
The call boxes will be painted. The Architectural Review Committee of
the CPHS considered several design options and recommended that we
recreate the original design of the call boxes, that is, the lower half of
the call box would be painted blue-grey and the top part would be
painted red. The Board of the CPHS endorsed that concept. The work will
probably be executed by volunteers, so it is practical to choose a
streamlined design.
The selection of historic information, and the manner in which it will
be presented, is the second part of the project. We seek input into
the decision of using picture and text, or just text, to convey the
historic message. Please share with us any information which you believe
would be appropriate for this project.
The Cleveland Park Historical Society welcomes comments from the
community. To view the location of the call boxes please go to
www.clevelandparkdc.org/history/call.asp or visit our web site at
www.clevelandparkdc.org. We are particularly interested in hearing from neighbors
who
have material that could be used to refer to the history of the area
surrounding specific call boxes, including events, notable individuals, or
information of architectural interest. Also let us know if you are
interested in serving as a call box sponsor. Please respond by June 15,
2005. This message will be repeated next week so we can reach as many
neighbors as possible.
Ana Tejblum Evans
VP - Programs, Cleveland Park Historical Society
Taaeevans@msn.com
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