Historic Preservation Board to Approve Landmark Status for Maine Avenue Fish Market Buildings

The District Office of Planning’s Historic Preservation Review Board is set to designate the two oldest buildings of Southwest’s Maine Avenue Fish Market, Washington City Paper reported.

The fish market’s lunch room building from 1916 and oyster shucking shed from the mid-1940s are expected to receive landmark status at the HPRB’s meeting today.

The District constructed the two buildings, located next to the concrete barges that hold the fish market, in an effort to more closely regulate cleanliness and working conditions for fishmongers by requiring all fish commerce to occur there.

The buildings are symbols of the government’s effort in the early 20th century to better regulate food and sanitation, according to the application for historic preservation.

A letter from the District’s Historic Preservation Office recommending that the Board grant landmark status to the buildings says that the application for historic landmark status is part of a joint effort between the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development and the developers of The Wharf to restore the dilapidated buildings.