Washington Aqueduct Structures

In early August 2024, it was discovered that after nearly 7 years of snail-paced progress, it appeared that the restoration project to preserve 5 structures at the Georgetown Receiving Reservoir took a drastic turn: demolition activities were observed on the two southern brick turrets of the iconic Castle Building.

This disturbing action was brought to the attention of the District Historic Preservation Office which immediately issued a Stop Work Order on the project. As a result, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) which is responsible for the Washington Aqueduct system reached out to "stake holders" to begin steps to comply with the Section 106 provision of the National Historic Preservation Act. The Association of the Oldest Inhabitants of DC was included in the outreach by the ACE and promptly advised of their interest in the project and its willingness to become a "consulting party."

The ACE has issued a draft Memorandum of Agreement which the AOI has reviewed and has drafted a response. (It will be posted once the draft is finalized.) Once all of the responses to the draft MOA are made available to the Consulting Parties, the AOI leadership will approve the MOA which will govern the final stages of restoration and provide for addition historical protections and new, interpretive elements.

Here is some additional background on how the AOI became involved in this matter of historic preservation:
Georgetown Receiving Reservoir Structures Threatened

AOI's Past-President Bill Brown walks past the Montgomery Meigs-designed Georgetown Receiving Reservoir nearly twice daily. Since 2017 he has monitored the several contractors over the years that have been tasked with "restoring" the five structures that serve various functions for the operation of the water works. The most recognizable and prominent of these is the Castle Building which you may recognized as the iconic "trademark" of the Army Corps of Engineers (pictured above).

On June 26, 2025, the final version of the MOA was signed by the Army Corps of Engineers and the DC Historic Preservation Office. While other stakeholders were involved in the drafting of the document, it was eventually determined their signatures were not required including: the National Park Service, the Association of the Oldest Inhabitants, and others. With the MOA in place, work continues to restore the historic Castle Building and the other two structures on the site. Visual inspection of some of the work in progress, shows the look of the final application of faux sandstone finishes.

The AOI's initiate was successful in that it temporarily halted the demolition of unstable parts of the structure which were NOT approved until talks commenced to ensure that historic preservation guidelines were followed and that not only the Historic Buildings medallion would be reinstalled (the original allegedly lost or misplaced during rehabilitation) and that signage or a wayside would be included to explain the Montgomery Meigs-designed Washington Aqueduct system.