The first
building constructed on what was to become National Park Seminary
was Ye Forest Inne, a resort for Washingtonians looking to escape
the city's oppressive summertime temperatures. Hit by financial
hard times, Ye Forest Inne closed its doors at the end of the
1892 season.
The shingled
Queen Anne style resort was purchased by John and Vesta Cassedy,
who re-opened it as a girls' finishing school with a class of
48 female students in 1894. Over the next 15 years, internationally
styled buildings sprouted throughout the Campus as the school
grew healthily - many of these unique structures such as the Dutch
Windmill, Japanese Pagoda, Swiss Chalet, and English Garden Castle
were built on a small scale, as they were initially used only
as sorority meeting houses. Elaborate, well-tended gardens and
winding paths kept the buildings connected and created a whimsical,
almost playful feel to the campus. Dormitories, a chapel, and
the Aloha house were also built. Ye Forest Inne, renamed Main,
underwent extensive renovations to accommodate an exclusive higher
learning facility; classrooms, boarding rooms, and several parlors
were created, all of which were tastefully furnished. In 1901,
the Odeon, a classically styled theatre, was built. An impressive
colonial revival gymnasium, complete with a heated pool, bowling
alley, and solarium was one of the last buildings constructed
during the Cassedy era.
In 1916, John
Cassedy sold his interest in the blossoming school to James Eli
Ament. Ament, much like the Cassedy's, immediately started building.
He expanded the Main building, connecting it to the outlying dormitories
as well as the Chapel and the huge President's House was added
to the Main at a 45-degree angle. In an attempt to unify the now
monolithic building, the entire façade was covered in white
pebble-dash stucco. Under Ament's guidance, the whole grounds
were interconnected through ornate bridges and covered walkways
in an attempt to "unify" the campus.
During his
tenure, Ament undertook two other building campaigns; the first,
in 1924, centered on a massive renovation of the Gymnasium. The
changes turned the building from a colonial revival into an intimidating
highly detailed neo-classical structure. It was covered in stucco
and a massive Greek portico complete with Corinthian columns was
added. The last major building campaign on the campus took place
in 1927, when a ballroom of Ament's own design was built. The
tallest building on the site, the ballroom was and still is seen
as the crowning jewel of the campus. Along with various busts
of prominent thinkers, leaders, and artists that could not be
reached by vandals, the massive wooden speaker from the original
Victrola record player still sits in the ballroom today.
At its peak
before the stock market crash in 1929, National Park Seminary
enrolled 400 young women and had an ample waiting list. It boasted
tuition rates higher than both Harvard and Yale and catered to
the highest socio-economic class in the country.
The school
suffered during the depression, however in 1936 a new headmaster,
Roy Tasco Davis began to take the school in a new direction with
more modern principles of thought. The future of the school once
again looked bright when the property was annexed by the army
in 1942 for use as a medical facility.
Through three
wars, soldiers were rehabilitated at National Park Seminary. The
grounds sprouted military style cinder block buildings, and many
of the lavish furnishings were auctioned off. The ornate covered
walkways that once connected the campus were torn down, bridges
collapsed, and the grounds, once elegant and graceful, began to
overtake their surroundings. By 1978, the army had abandoned much
of the complex in favor of newer facilities and many buildings
fell into advanced states of disrepair due to poor, or non-existent,
maintenance. Vandalism and theft increased at shocking rates.
Local preservation
groups took action and in 2003 a development team led by The Alexander
Company, a national leader in historic preservation and rehabilitation,
took on the task of saving National Park Seminary and restoring
it to its original glory, cementing its place once more as a true
gem of the region as well as the country.
