Eden House/ Promise Place is a multi-use building that houses a day program for homeless women, residential addiction recovery programs, group homes for homeless women living with mental illness, transitional rental housing for program graduates, a wellness center, low-income rental housing, and an early childhood development center. The programs of N Street Village are distributed in five to eight story buildings that is responsive to contextual complexities. Frontage on three streets of varying character, relationships to surrounding buildings (including several historic landmarks) and the incorporation of four 19th century townhouses into the development, all influenced the building form.

Affordable housing, the largest and tallest building in the project, is located on the wide 14th Street mixed-use corridor. The supportive housing and associated services are located off an internal courtyard which opens onto N Street. New construction on this street is similar in height to both the historic N Street townhouses on the site and the Luther Place Church parish hall across the street. The early childhood development center, which is open to the community, is located on the ground floor of the Vermont Avenue frontage. This side of the building, scaled to match neighboring structures has a repetitive bay rhythm recalling the townhouse increment so prevalent on the immediate stretch of the avenue. The buildings surround a central courtyard, which serves as an organizing element for the entire project.

The financing was packaged to produce as small as possible permanent loan (10% of the total project costs) in order to provide the lowest rents. The developer, N Street Village, Inc., agreed to make a capital contribution equal to the developer's fee - reducing the cash requirements of the projects and at the same time providing basis for the LIHTC calculation to offset the deduction for some of the funds that are excluded in the basis calculation under the tax credit program. A $5 million special purpose grant also was secured from the U.S. Congress. Tax credits were syndicated by Enterprise Social Investment Corporation - reducing the must pay obligations over time. A grant from Federal Home Loan Bank and a forgivable loan from the Trust for Affordable Housing, along with the gifts and grants, allowed closing the gap on the financing package.

N street Village is committed to keeping Eden House rents as low as possible. Its capital campaign includes a $1 million endowment whose proceeds will be used to subsidize rents. N Street Village also has a rent subsidy program for residents of Promise Place and Eden House. The funds are provided by special gifts from individuals and churches.

Support housheold and neighborhood fit:

The program is distributed in a five to eight story building massing that is responsive to the neighborhood. Frontages on three streets of varying character, relationships to surrounding buildings, and the incorporation of four nineteenth century townhouses into the development, all influenced the building form. The affordable housing component, the largest and tallest component in the project, is located on the wide 14th Street mixed-use corridor. The supported housing and services are located off the courtyard, which opens onto N Street. The new construction on this street is similar in height to both the historic townhouses and the church parish hall across the street. The early childhood development center, which is open to the general public, is located on the ground floor of the Vermont Avenue frontage. This side of the building, scaled to match neighboring structures, has a repetative bay rythm recalling the the townhouse increment so prevalent on that immediate stretch of the Avenue.

The exterior finish materials and color palette were selected to relate the building to its closest neighbor (and its sponsoring church), Luther Place Memorial Lutheran Church, as well as the neighborhood at large.

Meet high aesthetic standards:

Exterior finishes, details, and colors were designed to give appropriate scale and articulation to the buildings. Two distinct wall types are used to organize the massing and moderate the size of the building. Brick patterning, cast stone trim and double hung windows articulate the surfaces. Ornamental metal canopies and awnings embellish the wall.