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Washington's Silver Springs to be revitalised
Historic buildings within Silver Spring's National Park Seminary in Maryland, US, are set to be restored and converted as part of a $150m (£101, 111.2 euro) redevelopment project.
The project, led by the site's owner, The Alexander Company, will result in several buildings dating between the 1890s and 1920s being restored and preserved as historic attractions. Homebuilder EYA is the contractor for the redevelopment and will be working with developers Struever Brothers, Eccles & Rouse and landscape architects Parker Rodriguez.
The campus consists of 27 properties including a schoolhouse, a hotel, an English-style castle, a Dutch windmill, a Japanese pagoda, a Swiss Chalet and a chapel, all of which will have their interiors restored and converted to house a range of residential units. The hotel's ballroom is also being restored and will be used as a community space.
A spokeperson for The Alexander Company said: "National Park Seminary is undoubtedly one of the most unusual communities in the country. With its long and storied history, internationally influenced architecture, and wooded glen, our residents feel like they are living in the past or in another world, yet Washington DC is only 15 minutes away." The 32-acre site used to be used as a summer hotel resort, called Ye Forest Inne, owned by developer Seymour Tullock. Since then the site has hosted a girls' finishing school and the surrounding buildings were used as classrooms and sororities.
The site was then used as a medical centre during World War II before being sold by the General Services Administration to the Alexander Company in 2004, which agreed to preserve the site. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. The redevelopment is expected to be completed in Spring 2009, and will also include the restoration of footpaths and walkways through the site and the Glen.