Mary Carolyn Brown is a Partner in the Real Estate and Land Use Practice Groups, focusing on zoning, historic preservation, D.C. regulatory matters and administrative litigation. Ms. Brown has won approvals on a full spectrum of issues for a wide variety of clients, ranging from individual homeowners seeking additions to their houses, to real estate developers looking to construct new mixed-use commercial buildings, or non-profit organizations, institutions or schools wishing to expand their programs. She develops land use strategies for clients and advises them on the intricacies of the design review process for historic properties, zoning and building code compliance, and other local and federal regulatory matters affecting businesses and real estate development in the District. She represents clients before the D.C. Zoning Commission and her work before the Board of Zoning Adjustment, in particular, has led to several pivotal decisions that have helped clarify and solidify long-standing interpretations of the zoning regulations. She also appears regularly before the Historic Preservation Review Board, the Mayor’s Agent for Historic Preservation, numerous D.C. administrative agencies, the city Council, and the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts. She also represents clients in litigation matters in D.C. Superior Court and the D.C. Court of Appeals. Ms. Brown started her career in land use as a historian with the U.S. National Park Service's Historic American Building Survey/Historic American Engineering Record documenting historic industrial structures. She also participated in surveys of historic World War II naval bases in the Pacific under the Department of Defense's Legacy Program. While completing her graduate studies in American Studies and Historic Preservation, Ms. Brown began working with the law firm of Wilkes Artis as an architectural historian to evaluate the potential historic merit of properties proposed for redevelopment and how best to address those issues in design schemes. There she worked on some of the most significant public and private revitalization efforts during the 1980s and 1990s, including the Verizon Center, the Washington Convention Center, expansion of the International Monetary Fund, St. Matthew’s Cathedral, the former Hecht Company Department Store site at 6th and F Streets, N.W., and numerous other mixed-use projects in downtown Washington and residential developments throughout the city. Her exposure to these major projects sparked a broader interest in land use, prompting Ms. Brown to earn her law degree. Ms. Brown has been involved in a number of major developments in Washington, including the addition to the American Pharmacists Association Building, which received the District of Columbia Award for Excellence in Preservation in 2010.
Ms. Brown has taught historic preservation law at Goucher College's Historic Preservation Program since 2005.