Missing the Tower for the Trees

Photos
Stealth Towers
As wireless sites pop up in unlikely places, companies are finding ways to hide their towers in plain sight.

In cities, antennas are typically placed on top of buildings, where they seldom attract attention. But in historic areas like Northwest Washington's Federal Triangle, cellphone companies have had to find ways to deliver service without marring important vistas and landmark buildings.

To help improve coverage at the White House South Lawn, the massive limestone facade of the nearby Commerce Department is adorned with a string of antennas spaced to echo its balustrade and smeared with a mixture of paint, soot and bird droppings to match the aging exterior.

The idea is to hide as much as possible to mute the inevitable clashes between people who want better service and those who cannot bear to see their views marred.

Still, controversy is inevitable. The house on Military Road in Arlington was no exception, though even its opponents acknowledge that Verizon went to great lengths to match the mostly 1930s homes that line the street and cost $800,000 and up. The house is so realistic that newspapers are often tossed onto the driveway even though no one is inside to read them.

"If you put a for-sale sign in front, I am sure there would be people out here that would want to buy it -- tower notwithstanding," Burton Bostwick, who lives down the street, said with a laugh.

Kathi Reidy, who lives directly across the street, was "appalled" when she learned that Verizon planned to take down a 60-foot cell tower on the site and build one nearly twice that size.

Four years after the new tower and house were completed -- at a cost that Verizon puts at roughly $1.5 million -- her horror has faded into resignation.

"They did build an attractive house, and they do take good care of the grounds," she said, but the 110-foot tower clearly still rankles. "We have sort of trained ourselves to ignore it," she said, wincing.

Digital Design & Imaging Service Inc. in Falls Church has worked on about 75 stealth sites in the region, including the antennas on the Commerce Department, the artificial tree on the Virginia side of Great Falls and the Verizon house in Arlington.

Company President Curt Westergard said his basic approach is to try to find the patterns in the surrounding area -- whether a federal building downtown, a suburban street or the forest at Great Falls -- and replicate them "so that ultimately people don't see the break in the rhythm," he said.

The Military Road site could have been a precast, concrete box with some pine trees around it. Instead, work went into making it look as nice as possible.

"You've got a tower in your back yard. There is no denying that," he said. "But at least you have got the front yard. It's not the Cleavers' house. It's telecom central . . . but it really fits in."

Staff researchers Robert Lyford and Madonna Lebling contributed to this report.