American boy scouts help preserve future site of AGMA

PanARMENIAN.Net - As part of their community service program, a Boy Scouts of America troop from the Washington, DC, region is volunteering to help preserve the National Bank of Washington (NBW) building, which is a designated site on the National Register of Historic Buildings.



As plans proceed to convert the 1920s structure into the Armenian Genocide Museum of America (AGMA), the preservation of the historic building has remained one of the priorities of the museum project. The renovation plans will restore the site to its original grandeur, as well as allow for the installation of full-scale exhibits on the tragic ordeal of the victims and the long struggle of the survivors. The NBW structure has historic designation for both the exterior and the interior main hall of the former bank space.



"As we pull together the AGMA plans and exhibits, we also want this historic site to be presentable and available to the local community," said Van Z. Krikorian, museum trustee and chairman of the project's building and operations committee. "We are honored by the offer of the Boy Scouts of America to pitch in with our efforts to improve the site for public use. Their volunteer spirit exemplifies the best of our country's values and is especially appropriate since the Boy Scouts of America in the past honored Armenian Assembly of America chairman and AGMA board of trustees chairman Hirair Hovnanian with their Distinguished Service Award for serving on their National Board."



The reviews and approvals of the District of Columbia Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) and the architectural plans developed according to HPRB specifications have clarified which portions and what details of the existing structure must be preserved and will be renovated. The review also identified aspects to the interior of the building that were later additions or are features that do not constitute part of the original integrity of the historic building.



Not by coincidence AGMA is located on The Extra Mile: Points of Light Volunteer Pathway, which is a new national monument dedicated to the spirit of service in America. The Extra Mile honors heroes of the nation's service movement with a series of large bronze medallions, including William D. Boyce, founder of the Boy Scouts of America. Other honorees include suffragist Susan B. Anthony, abolitionist Frederick Douglas, advocate for the blind Helen Keller, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver, and American Red Cross founder Clara Barton, who led American relief efforts in response to the 1896 Armenian massacres. The AGMA offices are also located across the street from the Church of the Epiphany, which is one of the starting points of the Civil War to Civil Rights: Downtown Heritage Trail.