Neighborhood Vernacular -- How Palisades Got That Way

Palisades denizen Mike Dolan will share his research on houses in the Palisades. He will demonstrate how a mix of styles, scales, eras, looks, and blends of mostly ordinary structures has become something extraordinary, setting the neighborhood apart enough to constitute its own form of “vernacular architecture.”

Michael Dolan, a DC native, has lived in the Palisades since 1981.  In his varied career, he has been a journalist, writer, editor, and documentary TV producer. His work has appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Times, the New Yorker, the New Republic, and other print and digital outlets. He is the author of The American Porch: An Informal History of an Informal Place (which will be available for purchase at the April 16 salon). He co-authored The Nation’s Stage, a history of the Kennedy Center. He wrote and produced scores of programs for such clients as the Discovery Channel, the National Geographic Channel, and the National Institutes of Health.