Dick Wolf Memorial Lecture

This lecture on issues in urban planning and preservation is named for former CHRS president Dick Wolf, a city planner and activist who championed the cause of historic preservation. 

DIck Wolf

Wolf, who died in 2012 at the age of 79, worked tirelessly for the betterment of Capitol Hill. 

Wolf served on the CHRS Board of Directors for many years, including as President from 1977 to 1980 and again from 2005 to 2009. For more than 40 years, he energetically advocated for historic preservation and sound land use planning in an effort to balance residential neighborhoods, commercial development and national institutional growth. He is remembered as a great leader and motivator, and because of his vision and civic energy, Capitol Hill is a better place.

He could be irascible and did not suffer fools gladly, or at all! He was a master storyteller, with a deep knowledge of local law and history.

Some of his many accomplishments include his participation in establishing the Capitol Hill Historic District in 1976; redeveloping historic Eastern Market and rebuilding and reopening the market after a disastrous fire in 2007;  supporting the Main Streets Project, which helped transform  Barracks Row into a lively commercial district; and helping establish the DC Historic Preservation Act.

After graduating from the University of Michigan in 1954 and Yale Law School in 1957, Wolf came to Washington as a lawyer for the Civil Rights Commission and in 1961 transferred to NASA, where he served in the legal department until his retirement in 1998.

Wolf moved in 1965 to Capitol Hill and for the next 48 years lived in the same rowhouse near Lincoln Park. He was married to Muriel DuBrow Wolf for 53 years until his death, and the couple had two daughters.

You can read his interview with the Ruth Ann Overbeck Capitol Hill History Project here. 

More From This Category

Upcoming Events

View Calendar