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| View of the White House from Lafayette Square, March 2012. |
Arrival
It could have been scene from the film Grand Hotel, except that blue denim, not fur, was the most common fashion statement. The lobby was bustling with activity. Duffel bags, suitcases, rugs,
lamps, books – all the items that typically populate a college student’s
room – stood in great piles at the elevator doors, awaiting their trip to the upper floors. I waved goodbye to my parents at the curb and returned to the lobby. Smiling vacantly at no one in particular, I surveyed the confusion. “What have I done?” I mumbled. I felt lost.
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| Thurston Hall, 1964. Courtesy of Special Collections Research Center, Melvin Gelman Library, The George Washington University. |
At eight stories, Mable Thurston Hall was known to many as the “Superdorm” of George Washington University. I came to GWU for my junior year, having transferred from a small women’s college in upstate New York. Thurston was the dorm to which all women transfer students were assigned. Our fellow residents were students of the upper classes who had opted to remain on campus for the duration. All told, there were over 1,600 teen-aged women housed in that dorm, more than the total number of students in my hometown high school. Its well-earned nickname was “The Zoo.”
I didn’t stay in Thurston long. The following semester, my two roommates and I left the Zoo for a one-bedroom apartment in a nondescript but functional apartment building near 17th and P Streets, N.W. We had to walk the mile or so to Foggy Bottom each day for classes, but it was a real neighborhood. It had a grocery store, a cheap restaurant, and its share of eccentric locals. It was preferable to living downtown where, just beyond the boundaries of the campus, the city consisted of little else but block-long, concrete buildings filled with government offices.
Revolution
I arrived in Washington in 1968, on the heels of the anti-war demonstrations at Democratic National Convention in Chicago. It was during the last few months of President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s term of office and the end of the Great Society. The city was populated by thousands of earnest bureaucrats and dedicated civic activists who either served in or were served by these new programs. Although it may have made for good public policy, the city was not very exciting for a 20-something college student.
In January 1969, Richard Nixon became President. Overnight, the workers of the Great Society seemed to go underground. An administration of a very different flavor had taken their place. The city became more subdued, internal – perhaps reflecting the introverted nature of Nixon himself. There was no exuberance, no glamour, no artful eccentricities anywhere, that I could see. Everyone was government, guarded.
Ten months after Nixon’s swearing-in, I saw Washington radically transformed in a very different direction. The Moratorium against the War, which began on November 15, 1969, was one of the first successful mass demonstrations against the Vietnam War. Some 500,000 demonstrators converged on DC for protest marches and other actions. Beards and long hair were everywhere, temporarily displacing the short, military haircuts of the reigning Republicans. Tear gas wafted through the crowds at Dupont Circle, which, until then, was a quiet neighborhood of students and political activists. The Moratorium, and the May Day demonstrations of 1971 that followed it, filled the city with students, Boone's Farm Apple wine, and copious bowls of brown rice and vegetables. After that, the town was never the same for us.
In 1972, J. Edgar Hoover died and Nixon won his second term of office. I stayed in DC until January 1973. I followed my future husband to New Jersey after his graduation from law school, just as the Vietnam War was ending and the Watergate scandal was reaching a fever pitch around Nixon's head. I returned to Washington rarely after that. Things were too busy to be thoughtful about it when I did, what with young sons to raise, graduate studies, and finally my return to work.
Evolution
I recently attended a workshop in the Old Post Office Building, located in the Federal Triangle on the other side of the White House from the campus of GWU. The trip gave me the opportunity to update the memories of my old haunts.
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| Main Entrance, Old Post Office Building |
I was struck by how the Federal Triangle had changed since I last saw it. This should not have been surprising; 40 years had passed, after all. Hubris had tricked my subconscious into believing that DC would always remain the city I knew when I was 25.
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| View from the clock tower of the Old Post Office Building. Ronald Reagan building at lower left; Treasury Department and White House at center; Freedom Plaza at lower right. |
When I left the city, I remember the Federal Triangle as being rather bleak. It was a mere tangent on the outer edge of my usual sphere of activity. I was a law student, caught up in swirling life of politics and culture - the city fabric was interesting, but somehow irrelevant to the critical issues of the day as I saw them. Now, after decades immersed in art, architecture, and history, I found my vision of the city had grown less myopic, less ephemeral. No longer focused exclusively at DC's chameleon-like political persona, it now included the buildings that play such an important role in the zeitgeist of that city.
In October 1972, anticipating the impending Bicentennial celebrations and an influx of millions of tourists, Congress formed the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation to help redevelop and improve the Federal Triangle. Substantial investment has since been poured into the area. A number of talented architects have added of good designs to the streetscape. It is no longer the dismal passage from the Capitol Building to the White House I remember from the 1960s. Instead, there are buildings imbued with “New Classicism,” like the Ronald Reagan Building (1990-1998; Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, Archs.). This enormous building, second in size only to the Pentagon, disguises its immensity behind a colonnaded corner and domed rotunda. It is well-proportioned to the street and the surrounding buildings. It sits in reasonable harmony with the Beaux Arts District Building (1904-1908; Cope and Stewardson, Archs.) at 14th Street and the Avenue, now called the James A. Wilson Building, where caryatids still keep their vigil along the cornice.
In October 1972, anticipating the impending Bicentennial celebrations and an influx of millions of tourists, Congress formed the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation to help redevelop and improve the Federal Triangle. Substantial investment has since been poured into the area. A number of talented architects have added of good designs to the streetscape. It is no longer the dismal passage from the Capitol Building to the White House I remember from the 1960s. Instead, there are buildings imbued with “New Classicism,” like the Ronald Reagan Building (1990-1998; Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, Archs.). This enormous building, second in size only to the Pentagon, disguises its immensity behind a colonnaded corner and domed rotunda. It is well-proportioned to the street and the surrounding buildings. It sits in reasonable harmony with the Beaux Arts District Building (1904-1908; Cope and Stewardson, Archs.) at 14th Street and the Avenue, now called the James A. Wilson Building, where caryatids still keep their vigil along the cornice.
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| The John A. Wilson Building (formerly the District Building) |
Two historic hotels also thrive in this area, adding style and patina. The venerable Washington Hotel (1917-1918; Carrère and Hastings) at the corner of 15th Street across from the Treasury Department has been fully renovated and reopened as a “W Hotel.” At the corner where an elegant patio restaurant with red umbrellas is now installed, I was crushed breathless in the clutch of humanity that lined the sidewalk watching Richard Nixon's inaugural parade.
At the corner of 14th Street and the Avenue, stands the Willard (1904; Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, Arch.), which many call Washington's first skyscraper; some 100 rooms were added to it in 1925. Limousines are parked in front of the Willard these days, in what in the 1970s would have been an unheard-of display of affluence. I doubt that I would have even been allowed up the front stairs during the days of the Cultural Revolution.
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| "W" Hotel - Washington DC, 15th and Pennsylvania Avenue. |
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| Entrance to the Willard on Pennsylvania Avenue |
Just a block away from the panache of the Willard and the W hotels, the forces of "Occupy Washington, DC" have pitched their tents and posted their placards at Freedom Plaza, formerly Western Plaza (1981; Venturi, Rauch and Scott Brown, Archs.). This is one of two "Occupy" locations I saw downtown during my brief stay, the other being in the park where, tired and hungry after a long day demonstrating, my friends and I stopped to rest our feet and enjoy a late afternoon picnic of wine and cheese. (Let it never be said that during the Revolution I lost perspective as to what was really important.)
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| "Occupy DC" encampment, Freedom Plaza. |
The Old Post Office Building (1892 – 1899; Willoughby J. Edbrook, Arch.) remains a prominent landmark on the Pennsylvania Avenue. The original 1972 redevelopment plans threatened to demolish it, leaving only the tower. Fortunately, the plans were overcome by preservation advocates, led by Nancy Hanks, then Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts. Today it houses the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, a spectacular interior court, food vendors, and several souvenir shops. The building also offers breathtaking 360-degree views of the city from the top of the old tower.
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| Old Post Office Building, Pa. Ave. & 12th Street |
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| One of the Congress Bells, Old Post Office Building |
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| Interior light court, Old Post Office Building |
Complexity and Contradiction
Washington is our national stage, where all the complex, interwoven plots and subplots of our narrative unfold. Far from the staid, white city I knew, Washington today is a vibrant metropolis with its share of Starbucks and young, political idealists bearing messenger bags and IPods. It has a confidence and urbanity that perhaps reflects the personality of the current administration.
The challenging economic times facing us, however, may ultimately leave DC a sadder, poorer capitol city. Already hovering at the edge of the political core and just few steps from the Willard, placards of "Occupy DC" call for the end of the spectre of corporate greed. A few blocks away at Lafayette Square, banners spelling out "J-O-B-S" march across the colonnaded facade of the building that houses the conservative U.S. Chamber of Commerce, facing the general direction of the White House. These signs evidence two facets of the same Recession - albeit from opposite sides of the political divide.
Washington is ever thus: a stage set for actors in national drama. Here, antithetical forces vying for influence duel against the backdrop of DC's buildings and neighborhoods. It was comforting to see that, even after my long absence (over nine administrations), most of the grand buildings once so familiar to me are still beautiful and continue to serve, even if their uses may have changed over time. Worthy new buildings and parks have added their voices to the architectural conversation.
I hope it doesn't take another 40 years to get me back to this remarkable city. I figure I'll have to come back at least to check on the Donald's new hotel. I've already picked out my room.
The challenging economic times facing us, however, may ultimately leave DC a sadder, poorer capitol city. Already hovering at the edge of the political core and just few steps from the Willard, placards of "Occupy DC" call for the end of the spectre of corporate greed. A few blocks away at Lafayette Square, banners spelling out "J-O-B-S" march across the colonnaded facade of the building that houses the conservative U.S. Chamber of Commerce, facing the general direction of the White House. These signs evidence two facets of the same Recession - albeit from opposite sides of the political divide.
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| Chamber of Commerce Building (1922-1925; Cass Gilbert, Arch.), 16th & H Sts |
I hope it doesn't take another 40 years to get me back to this remarkable city. I figure I'll have to come back at least to check on the Donald's new hotel. I've already picked out my room.
Resources:
"Family of Ducks Visits the White House." NBC Washington. URL accessed 2 October 2012: http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Family-of-Ducks-Visits-White-House-143726946.html#>
DePillis, Lydia “Housing Complex -Going Postal: Donald Trump wants to turn D.C.'s Old Post Office into a viable enterprise.” Washington City Paper. URL accessed 31 March 2012: http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/housingcomplex/2011/08/11/going-postal/ . Posted Aug. 11, 2011, 7:24 am.
“Donald Trump: Old Post Office Building Project Will Bring Greatness.” The Huffington Post. Website. URL accessed 31 March 2012:
Ganschinietz, Suzanne, Arch. Historian, National Capitol Planning Commission. “Federal Triangle.” Nomination to the National Register of Historic Places (June 19, 1973).
Pearlstein, Steven. “What D.C. doesn’t need: a Trump Tower.” Washington Post.. Internet edition. URL accessed 31 March 2012: http://www.washingtonpost.com/what-dc-doesnt-need-a-trump-tower/2012/02/06/gIQAROBP7Q_story.html (Posted 11 February 2012).
“Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site.” Washington, DC: A National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary. Website maintained by the National Park Service. URL accessed 31 March 2012: http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/wash/dc41.htm
Special Collections Research Center, The Melvin Gelman Library, The George Washington University. “Thurston Hall.” The George Washington University and Foggy Bottom Historical Encyclopedia. Website. URL accessed 31 March, 2012: http://encyclopedia.gwu.edu/gwencyclopedia/index.php?title=Thurston_Hall
“The Willard.” Washington, DC: A National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary. National Park Service website. URL accessed 31 March 2012: http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/wash/dc36.htm
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