Updated markers are coming to Shirlington next year in honor of a husband and wife who made waves in Arlington civic life for more than half a century.
The Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board (HARLB) has approved a request from Federal Realty Investment Trust to replace the existing markers honoring Edmund and Elizabeth Campbell.
Edmund Campbell served on the County Board and handled civil rights cases as an attorney, while Elizabeth Campbell served on the School Board and as president of what became public television’s WETA. The current horizontal markers at the Village at Shirlington will be swapped out for new vertical ones located about 20 feet to the north on the plaza in front of Shirlington Library.
The relocation will enable work to start on a $15 million renovation of the Village at Shirlington, and will provide a smoother pedestrian flow and more trees in front of the library and Signature Theatre, a representative for the developer said.
“We just want to scooch them a little bit from where they are right now,” Federal Realty’s Geoff Sharpe told HALRB members on Nov. 19.
After some discussion and modification to the submitted proposal, the request was approved on an 11-0 vote.
As part of the agreement, Federal Realty will pay for new vertical markers, replacing the current horizontal (“table-top”) models. The wording will remain essentially the same, and ownership of the new markers will remain with the county government.
The Nov. 19 approval covered the relocation; Federal Realty will need a separate authorization later for the design of the new markers.
Edmund (1899-1995) and Elizabeth (1902-2004) Campbell each was active in Arlington civic life for more than a half century. Their leadership roles went well beyond county life, HALRB member Gerald Laporte said.
“This was a very prominent couple, both locally and nationally. Both of them were national figures in their own right,” Laporte said.
In the early 1960s, Elizabeth Campbell founded and served as president of what became WETA. She served as the organization’s vice president of community affairs from the early 1970s until her death at age 101, never taking a paycheck for her service.
Both Campbell Avenue, the main thoroughfare at the Village of Shirlington, and Campbell Elementary School honor the couple’s legacy.
Laporte, who served on the body when the original markers were approved, said he had mixed feelings about switching from horizontal to vertical markers.
“There are pros and cons” to each, he said.
In its bid to win approval, Federal Realty agreed to move the separate markers closer together than initially planned.
“If you put them away from each other like is proposed … people wouldn’t get the idea they’re a couple,” Laporte said.
Another change from the initial proposal: the markers will be slightly angled toward each other, also to accentuate that they are connected.
County historic-preservation staff said since each of the markers will have two sides, it is possible one side could be in English and the other in a second language, likely Spanish. Adding multi-lingual historic markers is a goal of the staff, HALRB members were told.
