Executive Director
Stephen Hansen
Contact: staff@clevelandparkhistoricalsociety.org
Board of Directors 2023-2024
President: Bonnie LePard, Macomb Street (second term exp. 2026).
Vice President: Leila Afzal, Ordway Street (second term exp. 2024)
Vice President: Kevin Spence Kelso, Connecticut Avenue (first term exp. 2025)
Treasurer: Mary Jane Glass, 34th Street (first term exp. 2026)
Secretary: Andrea Pedolsky, Connecticut Avenue (first term exp. 2024)
Carol Lynn Bamford, Lowell Street (first term exp. 2024)
Jeff Berman, Ordway Street (first term exp. 2026)
John Buchanan, Newark Street (second term exp. 2026)
John Chelen, 30th Place (second term exp. 2024)
Ana Evans, Ashley Terrace (first term exp. 2025)
Patricia Franco, Macomb Street (first term exp. 2025)
Amanda Hodgdon, Macomb Street (first term exp. 2026)
Judith Kennedy, Newark Street (second term exp. 2026)
Pamela Kurland, Ordway Street (first term exp. 2025)
Karen Lightfoot, Ordway Street (second term exp. 2026)
Nancy MacWood, Woodley Road (first term exp. 2026)
Vicky Marchand, Rodman Street (second term exp. 2025)
Elisabeth Merritt, Devonshire Place (first term exp. 2025)
MaryAnn Nash, Newark Street (first term exp. 2026)
Pat Norris, 30th Street (first term exp. 2025)
Lois Orr, 34th Street (second term exp. 2025)
Kak Slick, Sedgwick Street (first term exp. 2026)
Barbara Zadina, Norton Place (first term exp. 2024)
Committees of the Board
Executive Committee 2023-20224: Bonnie LePard, President; Leila Afzal, Vice President; Kevin Kelso, Vice President; May Jane Glass, Treasurer; Andrea Pedolosky, Secretary
Contact: president@clevelandparkhistoricalsociety.org
Membership: Contact for membership inquiries: Stephen Hansen, staff@clevelandparkhistoricalsociety.org
Architectural Review Committee 2022-2023
ARC members include current and former CPHS board members and other CPHS members with relevant professional expertise. The ARC conducts project review for alterations to properties in the Cleveland Park Historic District when they are referred by the DC Historic Preservation Office.
ARC Members:
Win Brown
Ana Evans
Phil Eagleburger, ARC co-chair
Christine Hobbs, ARC co-chair
Stefan Hurray
Danny Ince
David Kay
Tina Mead
Ron Ngiam
Lois Orr
Anne Weir
Visit this page for more information about preservation design review and the ARC’s work.
Download the ARC’s operating guidelines here.
CPHS’s Design Guidelines for the Cleveland Park’s Historic Commercial District. Download a printable copy.
For ARC-related business, contact Stephen Hansen at staff@clevelandparkhistoricalsociety.org.
Board Member Biographies
Leila Afzal, Ordway Street
I have always felt lucky to live in our local treasure of Cleveland Park, first as a renter and now as a homeowner (35+ years in total). I have been a longtime advocate of the wonderful institutions and features of our community. I was on the John Eaton Home and School Association Board. I was co-president of the Cleveland Park Club. I represented the Cleveland Park historic district on the Advisory Neighborhood Commission. I have been a long-time member of the Cleveland Park Historical Society. The CPHS has been a vital and important part of our community. I want to be more active and offer my energy, and hopefully talents, to continue its educational role and contributions to our neighborhood.
Carol Lynn Bamford, Lowell Street
Cleveland Park has been my home since 1993 when I moved here for my job. I first lived on Norton, Macomb, and Conn Ave before buying our home on Lowell Street (in Cleveland Park’s “Oak View” section) twenty years ago. My husband Jim and I have raised our two daughters and three dogs in our 1919 Foursquare, home also to the Mondale and Stenhouse families for many decades. We couldn’t be happier amidst great neighbors, places to walk, shop and dine, and the lovely landscapes with abundant trees (and cicadas!). During the day I am curator of musical instruments at the Library of Congress and, when not at work, I have been active in our neighborhood serving on the boards of the Cleveland Park Historical Society, Cleveland & Woodley Park Village, Cleveland Park Club, CPCA (forthcoming), or as founder of Girls on the Run-DC and Prince Georges County. For my service to DC residents, I received the Trailblazer Award. During my 20+ years as member or board member of CPHS, I have spearheaded programs such as the antiques auction, geology day, gingerbread house decorating, two house tours, and a garden tour. I enjoy celebrating our neighborhood with activities for all while at the same time finding collaborative ways to support issues that face our changing and growing community.
Jeff Berman, Ordway Street
Jeff Berman is a neighbor on Ordway Street and the founder of Berman Strategies LLC, where he advises clients on public policy issues and campaigns in a broad range of policy and political matters. He maintains contacts across a broad spectrum of elected and political leaders at the federal, state and local levels and with organized labor, non-profit organizations and national media.
Jeff is an expert in the Democratic presidential nomination process. He served as the Delegate Director for President Barack Obama’s historic 2008 nomination campaign and authored The Magic Number: Inside Obama’s Chase for the Presidential Nomination. He later advised Hillary Clinton’s 2016 nomination effort. Jeff earlier was an advisor to the presidential campaigns of House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt and Senator John Glenn and has served on the Democratic National Committee and its important Rules and Bylaws Committee and multiple DNC reform commissions.
Jeff is a graduate of Brown University, magna cum laude, and Harvard Law School. He has served as a Visiting Scholar in Public Policy and Instructor in Government at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia and has lectured at a number of other major universities. He previously served as a partner in a major international law firm and as congressional committee counsel.
John Buchanan, Newark Street
John Buchanan has lived in Cleveland Park since 1987, along with his wife Denise, a former teacher and Director of Admissions at National Cathedral School. Their house in the 3300 block of Newark Street, where they raised their four sons, was built in 1904 and has been shown on the CPHS House Tour. In addition to his service in various capacities for CPHS over the years, John has been active in other Cleveland Park organizations, including St. Albans School, the Cleveland Park Congregational Church and the National Cathedral. John is Senior Counsel at the law firm of Covington & Burling and also serves as an Adjunct Professor at U. Conn. Law School’s Insurance Law Center. Born in Pittsburgh, he is a graduate of Princeton, Oxford and Harvard Law School, where he studied architecture on the side at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
John Chelen, 30th Place
John is an attorney with substantial experience on technology, energy, and environmental matters. He holds degrees from Carnegie-Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. He has worked in commercial, government, and public interest sectors at all levels, including the World Bank, District Government, and Greenpeace. He has directed the development of numerous landmark software, modeling, and communications applications, testified before the US Congress on Internet and environmental issues, and participated in several White House information infrastructure initiatives. Locally, he has lived in Cleveland Park for nearly 40 years, served as President and Board Member of CPCA, served on the Executive Committee of the Ward Three Democrats, and provided legal representation for CPBA.
Ana Tejblum Evans, Ashley Terrace
Ana is a 30-year resident of Cleveland Park, although her interest in historic preservation precedes her move to DC. While her daughters were growing up, she was an active participant in many community organizations, as president of the John Eaton Home and School Association, through various stints on the board of CPHS, as Treasurer of the Cleveland Park Club, and on the board of CPCA. Ana has served on the Architectural Review Committee of the CPHS for several years. Her professional background is in banking and finance. She believes the soul of a city comes out of the diversity of its built environment, and treasures the old and the new in architecture and design.
Patricia Franco, Macomb Street
Patti and her husband Charles Clark have lived in Cleveland Park since 1997 as only the second owners in a 1905 home. They raised three children (and several dogs and cats) in the home; the children attended many schools including John Eaton, St. Albans School, National Cathedral School and Holy Trinity School in Georgetown. Patti is an attorney and has a Masters in Teaching. In addition to her service in various capacities at her children’s schools, Patti has served as board chair at San Miguel School and has taught at Washington School for Girls. She presently teaches English to adults at Washington English Center. She assists in a pro bono capacity at Catholic Charities Legal Network, volunteers with the Holy Trinity Migrant Team and has been active in cases on behalf of the neighborhood before the Historic Preservation Review Board.
Mary Jane Glass, 34th Street
Mary Jane and her husband, Robert, have lived in their Cleveland Park home since 1992. They raised four daughters here, including teaching them to drive backing out onto busy 34th Street. She has been a volunteer with Cleveland Park Church, the Friends of the Cleveland Park Library, John Eaton, and the Cleveland Park Citizens Association. She has also served terms on the board of the Cleveland Park Historical Society, during the first of which she initiated a neighborhood garden tour.
Over the years Mary Jane and Robert have met several former residents of their home, which was a rental group home for many decades. One family during WWII had four children and also rented a room to a single man. In the wild 1960s they mostly seemed to be smoking pot and going to demonstrations on the Mall. One family who rented the house after theirs was burned in a fire discovered a homeless man one day who had been living in the attic for several months. There aren’t too many group houses in Cleveland Park these days, and perhaps it is for the best.
Amanda Hodgdon, Macomb Street
My earliest memories are of Highland Place. Now I live on Macomb St, forty-five years and counting. A third-generation resident of the neighborhood, I feel maybe my love for Cleveland Park, its houses, green spaces and people, is in my DNA. Despite being expelled from St Albans Pre-K, I was allowed into John Eaton, Maret and eventually Drexel, where I earned my nursing degree. Most of my career has been in cosmetic medicine, and while Botox pays the bills, I’ve found the most satisfaction from providing pro bono treatments for patients with disfiguring facial birthmarks, radiation tattoos, and traumatic scars, as well as tattoo removal for formerly gang-affiliated youth through the MD DOH and DC prosecutors’ office. I have also enjoyed being a clinical evaluator of FDA Phase III Clinical trials.
I am passionate about research and all things design. I think the aims of historic protections, nationally and locally, are often misunderstood and that there are many challenges ahead. I am eager to see how my background integrating aesthetics and advocacy, seemingly dichotomous efforts, can support CPHS’s mission and will look for opportunities where the promotion of preservation and social conscience are a natural fit. I am eager to learn.
Kevin Spence Kelso, Connecticut Avenue
Although I have been a resident of Woodley Park for over two decades, I feel I have dual citizenship with Cleveland Park because of the time I spend in the neighborhood. Cleveland Park’s many attractions have me making excursions across Klingle Valley on nearly a daily basis for shopping, dining, or just to stretch my legs. I am the Director of Finance and Operations for The Association of Independent Schools of Greater Washington; two of our member schools are in Cleveland Park, and several more are in adjacent neighborhoods. As a long-time Citizen Forester and Board member of Casey Trees, I have planned and participated in numerous tree plantings in Cleveland Park, including the Tregaron Conservancy and Melvin Hazen Park. I also serve on the National Capital Apple Macintosh Users Group board, which regularly meets (in pre-pandemic times) at the Cleveland Park Library.
Judy Kennedy, Newark Street
Judy and her husband are only the third owners of their 1903 home on Newark Street, where they have lived for 35 years. She is past president of the National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders, representing private capital lending and investing in low- and moderate-income communities. Judy testified frequently on Capitol Hill and before U.S. bank regulators on housing finance and community development. She served on the regulators’ Minority Depository Institutions Advisory Committee, the Treasury/HUD Task Force on Predatory Lending, the Fannie Mae Advisory Committee, and the boards of the National Housing Conference and Women in Housing and Finance. Earlier in her career, Judy worked for Sallie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Congressional Banking Committees, the White House Commission on Housing, and HUD.
Pamela Kurland, Ordway Street
Pamela serves as a Senior Attorney at the US Department of Health and Human Services, providing legal advice on health care safety net provider issues. Pam and her husband, David Marchick, live on Ordway Street and have two children.
Bonnie LePard, Macomb Street
Bonnie LePard is an environmental and historic preservation lawyer. Bonnie is currently the Deputy Director of the National Institute for Civil Discourse. Since 1992, she and her husband Bruce Reed have lived on Macomb Street, where they raised a daughter and a son. As President of Friends of Tregaron for ten years, Bonnie led the successful fight to stop numerous massive housing developments and secure thirteen acres to create the Tregaron Conservancy in 2006. With the help of the Cleveland Park neighborhood, Bonnie and the Tregaron Conservancy worked to restore the lily pond, stone bridges, stairs, meadows, woodlands, and trail system. In 2015, Bonnie stepped down as Executive Director of the Tregaron Conservancy and became Executive Director at Oatlands Historic House and Gardens, a National Trust for Historic Preservation site in northern Virginia. She later served as Executive Director of The Cultural Landscape Foundation.
Karen Lightfoot, Ordway Street
I have always loved this neighborhood for its tree-lined streets, diverse architectural styles, and ability to be both bucolic and urban. We have lived in Cleveland Park for nearly three decades now, but in 2003 bought our 1919 bungalow on Ordway Street. I previously served on the Cleveland Park Citizens Association board and have been a long-time member of the Cleveland Park Historical Society. I greatly respect the CPHS work to preserve our community’s architectural heritage and would welcome the opportunity to play a more active role as it continues its vital work.
Nancy MacWood, Woodley Road
Nancy has lived in Cleveland Park for over 25 years. She and her husband, Bob Brandon, raised three daughters in Cleveland Park where they attended Beauvoir and National Cathedral School. Nancy was an ANC commissioner in Cleveland Park from 2001 through 2022 where she served as the chair of its Planning and Zoning Committee and Historic Preservation Committee. She served as ANC chair twice for multiple years. She served as chair of the Committee of 100 on the Federal City (C100) from 2012 to 2016. While C100 chair, she created an ad hoc Affordable Housing Subcommittee that led to the renewal of the dormant Housing Subcommittee. She is currently C100’s Vice Chair and a member of its Housing, Zoning, Transportation, and Planning Subcommittees. She is also a past chair of C100’s Vision Awards and the Vision Awards Selection Committee. She was on the Steering Committee of the Grassroots Planning Coalition, and a member of the OCFO’s Residential Real Property Tax Advisory Council, and served as a board member of the Rosedale Conservancy and the Tregaron Conservancy. Previously, Nancy served as a Council- appointee on the DC Task Force on the Revision of the Comprehensive Plan and the Task Force on Zoning Regulation Revision. She is currently a member of Ward 3 Housing Justice, a local group that advocates for affordable housing.
Vicky Marchand, Rodman Street
Vicky became a Cleveland Park resident in 1972, attended John Eaton and Maret, and returned to raise her three sons in homes on 34th Street and Rodman Street. She has worked on early childhood education and family support initiatives at the Administration for Children and Families and at several think tanks in Washington, DC. Vicky is currently pursuing her Master of Library and Information Science degree and has interned with the Historical Society of Washington, DC. She has served on the Boards of Directors for Woodley House, Inc. and Friends of the National Zoo (FONZ).
Elizabeth (“Betsy”) Merritt, Devonshire Place
Betsy Merritt serves as Deputy General Counsel for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, where she just celebrated her 38th anniversary on May 1, 2022. During that time, she has been passionately committed to enforcing laws protecting historic properties. She has been actively involved in hundreds of precedent-setting historic preservation cases over the years, in federal and state courts around the country. But she has an even stronger interest in using administrative advocacy to persuade agencies to make more preservation-sensitive decisions in the first place. Locally, Betsy has lived in Cleveland Park and Woodley Park since 1982, and has been a property owner since 1989 in the historic Woodley Park Towers condominium on Devonshire Place, NW. She was actively involved in researching and supporting the successful nomination for the Woodley Park Historic District, designated in 1990. Betsy has also previously served on the board of the DC Preservation League. She is a native of Seattle, Washington, and graduated from Mills College and Harvard Law School.
MaryAnn Nash, Newark Street
MaryAnn Nash is a staff attorney with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency where she works on banking regulations and legislation. She and her husband moved to Cleveland Park in 2000, promptly joined CPHS, and raised their three, now grown, children on Newark Street. In addition to chairing various boards and committees at her children’s schools, MaryAnn has been an active volunteer in the neighborhood, organizing events and leading initiatives with the Rosedale Conservancy, CPHS, and the Cleveland Park Club.
Patricia Norris, 30th Street
I moved to Cleveland Park in 1995 after living in Woodley Park for several years. Over the years, I have enjoyed renovating my historic house, built in 1927, and establishing its garden. I am honored to display the historic marker obtained from the Historic Society on the front of my home which symbolizes the beauty and significance of our community. In the past, I participated in CPHS‘s beautification committee and I am very excited about continuing my involvement in CPHS by engaging in various activities that impact our community.
Lois Orr, 34th Street
Lois has been a member of CPHS for nearly all of the 20 years she has lived in Cleveland Park. She has served in a number of CPHS roles during this time, including president of the board; currently she is a member of our Architectural Review Committee. One of her favorite CPHS activities was chairing the Call Box Restoration Project. Prior to her retirement, Lois was an economist at the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Andrea Pedolsky, Connecticut Avenue
When Andrea Pedolsky and her partner, Nicholas Smith, saw the Broadmoor Cooperative Apartments on one of their where-should-we-live scouting visits to DC in 2002, they immediately knew they had found their new home. In both New York City and DC, Andrea has worked in publishing in various editorial capacities, including as acquisitions editor, executive editor creating new imprints, director of publishing, and literary agent. Andrea currently is providing editorial services to global health organizations. She also volunteers as an ESL writing tutor at the Washington English Center. Andrea served on the Broadmoor’s board of directors for three consecutive two-year terms. During her last term, Andrea served as board liaison to the cooperative’s Ad Hoc Committee on the DC Comprehensive Plan, which reported to the board on such issues as revisions to the Comprehensive Plan, changes in zoning, and streetscape development.
Kak Slick, Sedgwick Street
I have spent my career dedicated to helping communities benefit from their history and cultural resources as a consultant, developer and advocate. I began my preservation career in Dallas on the board of the citywide preservation organization before moving to Las Vegas, NM where I was a partner in the development of a historic hotel that served as an economic catalyst for the revitalization of the historic town and using the federal investment tax credit as an economic redevelopment tool. In New Mexico I served on local and state non-profit organizations, helped establish the statewide Main Street program and was appointed by President Clinton to serve as a Citizen Member of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. I was asked by Governor Richardson of New Mexico to serve as the State Historic Preservation Officer to lead the senior policy agency conducting state and federal project reviews and advising the state of New Mexico, federal agencies, local and tribal governments and the public on historic preservation matters. In 2009 I moved to Washington to become the Executive Director of US/ICOMOS and founded the ACHP Foundation where I currently serve as President. After discovering Cleveland Park, I bought an apartment in Tilden Gardens in 2010 and served on the co-op board for 8 years. I am a National Trust for Historic Preservation Advisor and Trustee Emeritus.
Barbara Zadina, Norton Place
Barbara purchased her 1925 home on Norton Place in 2017, after living in the area since the 1990s. When she discovered a satchel in the attic with old photos and letters, she connected with the granddaughter of the original homeowner who told her stories of growing up in early Cleveland Park, so she feels a deep connection to her house. She loves gardening, and is the current co-chair of the upcoming CPHS Garden Tour which will take place in spring 2022. She previously served on the fundraising board of the Montgomery County MD Habitat for Humanity. Barbara is a policy communications executive who has worked in politics, technology, entertainment, and international development in over 20 countries, and is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School.
Staff
Stephen Hansen, Executive Director
Stephen is an historic preservation specialist, architectural historian, and author. For the past 15 years he has served as principal at Preservation Matters, LLC, an historic preservation policy and architectural history consulting firm, advising organizations and clients on historic preservation policies, and representing positions and cases before the DC Historic Preservation Review Board, Mayor’s Agent, DC Zoning Commission, Old Georgetown Board, Commission on Fine Arts, and the DC Council. He is the immediate past Chair of the Committee of 100 on the Federal City and former chair of its Historic Preservation Subcommittee.
Stephen holds a B.A. from Oberlin College, an M.A. from The George Washington University, and a professional certificate in historic preservation from Goucher College. He is the author of the books: A History of Dupont Circle: Center of High Society in the Capital and Kalorama Triangle: The History of a Capital Neighborhood. He also authors the website Washington Chronicles that focuses on the history of Washington, DC through the stories and images of its people, neighborhoods, and architecture.
