Page 58 - ArchDC Fall 2018

ArchDC Fall 2018.qxp_Fall 2018 8/27/18 8:35 AM Page 56

The Capital Yacht Club (center) with All photos © Alan Karchmer
the burgeoning Wharf development to the left.

On the Waterfront
On the Waterfront

Venerable Yacht Club Builds New Home

by Deane Madsen, Assoc. AIA

DC’s new Wharf development has it all, from crab shacks anchored on the Washington Channel. From these
to rooftop bars, with a few music venues, coffee shops, humble beginnings, the CYC grew to a two-story barge
and oversized swings thrown in, but its real draw is moored on the water before building a more traditional
the water. The much-hyped $2 billion revitalization of cupola-topped, landside clubhouse, which it occupied
Washington’s Southwest waterfront owes its success to from 1922 to 1959. Following the redevelopment of the
a whole-hearted embrace of the marine-related functions close-in Southwest neighborhood during Washington’s
of previous iterations, including its community of live- urban renewal period, CYC was rebuilt in 1973 as a
aboard sailors and, in a gleaming reinvention, the Capital ground-floor clubhouse with restaurant above in a
Yacht Club. forgettable structure that was razed to make way for
Founded in 1892, the Capital Yacht Club (CYC) the rest of the Wharf.
recounts its origin as an informal group of nine boat Now, CYC is reborn at the midpoint of the first phase
owners hiring a watchman to look after their vessels of the Wharf. Well, it’s slightly off-center, Lee Quill, FAIA,

56 ON THE WATERFRONT