Old Post Office Building, Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, 1971.When this photo was taken th
Old Post Office Building, Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, 1971.When this photo was taken the future of the building was uncertain. The Post Office Department had abandoned it (or was about to). It was semi-functional in an age of air conditioning and mainframe computers, and its Richardsonian Romanesque style was seen by some to clash with the predominantly neoclassical style of other buildings in the Federal Triangle. Given the horrors of the nearby buildings built in the1970s and 80s, it was fortunate the building was not demolished and instead was converted to modern offices with a shopping area and food court on the ground level. Unfortunately, almost a half century later, the future of the building has once again been in doubt as the food court has not been popular and the offices are now semi-functional in the age of WiFi and obsessive security concerns.Today we learn that the redoubtable Trump organization, noted for its fine casinos in Atlantic City among the other wonders of architecture, ones exquisitely sensitive to community needs and standards and impeccably maintained, it has created, acquired a long lease and will convert the building to a luxury hotel. See today’s New York Times:http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/28/realestate/commercial/finally-washingtons-old-post-office-gets-a-new-life.html?ref=business&_r=0 -- source link
#buildings#historic preservation#hotels#post office#pennsylvania avenue#washington dc#1971