Pennsylvania Ave 1957
27 11 2007
This photo from 1957 looking down Pennsylvania Ave NW shows a downtown that doesn’t look that different than it does today.
At the end of the 1950s most of the cities streetcar tracks were being phased out, but these tracks connecting the Capital to the White House remained.
The all glass building on the left at 15th and Penn was only a year old at the time of the photo, and still looks modern even today. It is amazing how some architecture is timeless and fits into almost any era, while others (like the FBI building near by) look dated almost as soon as they are built! What other old buildings downtown do you think are ready to be updated/replaced?
The DC Courts building near the national building museum is soooooo ugly! It needs to go!
I would go with the new Washington Convention Center. It looks dated already. A good example of compromised Architecture. A huge missed opportunity. And the new ATF HQ. In a word a travesty.
I’d disagree about the new Washington Convention Center. What it replaced was the horrible tragedy, which was just 20 years old and looked like (and felt like) a prison.
Convention Centers are notoriously difficult architectural problems because you have to have oodles of space, most of which is vacant and various times.
I think the new Convention Center designers and architects did an amazing job of creating a modern, “open” space with lots of vistas and views on the inside and a respectable facade on the outside. The fact that there are road passages on L & M Street keep it from feeling totally monolithic and from the inside provide even greater additional light and view passages for attendees.
Plus, I think it’s aging well. The stone and glass facades are impressive and aging well, and the interior spaces are pleasant and even grand - for example, I love the extensive wood detail in the main front lobby.
It’s just hard for me to imagine a more successful design that serves as a realistic convention center in a logistical sense. I’ve seen a lot of convention centers across the country and it’s by far my favorite. San Diego, mainly due to the ocean front views, is a close second. But that’s because of the views more so than the building. But it is another example of a convention center that did alot to create a sense of openness and light in a large footprint.
Of additional note, however, I agree completely with the ATF headquarters. It practically screams “hands off” in much the same way the brutalistic FBI headquarters on Penn Ave does. If security is the issue, I wish they’d just build campuses far from public eyes (like the CIA) rather than break up any sense of urban space by planting themselves in a downtown grid.