Wok and Roll

[L Verge]

I agree with Jim that the boardinghouse will never be resurrected as a museum. I believe that the Lee family did sell out several years ago. However, the Chinatown area is now very high rent because of the close proximity to the Verizon Center. We have often worried that more parking lots might be needed! Its being part of the last vestiges of Chinatown, however, has probably saved it.

I suspect that there might also be some problems with getting federal funding for a restoration. We have tried on three occasions to raise Surratt House's standing from the Register of Historic Places to National Historic Landmark. We get rejected each time because the NPS does not see the "need for any more reminders of the Lincoln assassination."

It would also be an expensive restoration because of the damage that has been done to the interior in recent renovations. The first and second floors have been literally gutted into one space with high ceilings.