MMD Team Celebrates Ward 6 Community Center Opening
Members of the Michael Marshall Design team celebrated the grand opening of the newly-restored James C. Dent House on June 19 with Pepco, Living Classrooms and the Ward 6 community in southwest, Washington, DC. MMD was the architect for the project.
“We were proud to commemorate the ribbon cutting today with our partners, Pepco and Living Classrooms, for the new Ward 6 Community Center,” said MMD Principal and Design Director Michael Marshall. “The goal for the project was to deliver educational resources while honoring the legacy of James C. Dent. Transforming the historic site into an active and engaging Community Center for the families of Ward 6 was a humbling experience, and one we are incredibly grateful to be part of.”
Pepco restored the house, partnering with Living Classrooms and MMD, to provide youth and adult education programming as part of efforts to enrich the communities it serves. Based on community input, programs will include after-school and summer academic enrichment for youth, adult job training and education, and mentoring. Educational initiatives will focus in STEAM (hands-on science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) education; a music production program; and workforce development.
The James C. Dent House was built in 1906 as the home of Rev. James Clinton Dent. Born into slavery in 1855, Rev. Dent was also a pastor of the Mount Moriah Baptist Church. In 2010, the house was designated an Historic Landmark on the National Register of Historic Places “as a symbol of progress and testament to the heroic contributions of James C. Dent to improve life and foster faith in his community.”
“We designed the Dent House to facilitate an array of knowledge-focused activities and enriching programming, while respecting the historic aesthetic of the structure,” said Marshall.
The James C. Dent House is located near Pepco’s Waterfront substation, which provides power to the Buzzard Point, Southwest Waterfront, and Navy Yard areas of the District. It is among the largest indoor substations in existence, with provisions for six high-voltage transmission feeders and 72 electric distribution circuits. The substation design incorporated extensive community input.
“We are always particularly proud of projects that require work in historic preservation, in deference to their neighborhoods,” said Marshall. “The partnership with Pepco and Living Classrooms, and most importantly the Ward 6 community, was incredibly rewarding, as it is an important part of the historic fabric of our city, and honors an esteemed legacy of service.”
