government | HISTORIC SITES

J. Edgar Hoover Building

Posted on May 11, 2017 by historicsitesig

Location: 935 Pennsylvania Ave NW D.C.

Year: Completed in 1975

Dedicated by: President Gerald Ford

Architecture firm: Murphy and Associates

Architecture: Brutalist

Historic Bite/TL;DR: The Hoover Building takes its name from John Edgar Hoover. Since its planning began in 1962, the site was formally selected to be the headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States. However, throughout the years it has been criticized for its cost, design, lack of maintenance, and urban planning. Today it is barely functional.

Often maligned as downtown D.C.’s ugliest edifice, the Hoover building was praised in its early days. The planning began with the Kennedy administration after JFK took notice of the state of ruin marked in Pennsylvania Ave by its deteriorating homes, shops, and office buildings as juxtaposed to the pretty Neoclassical Federal Triangle next door. A proposed spending of $60 million was allocated for the headquarters of the FBI, along with a recommendation to build more, new federal structures to accommodate a growing government (almost no new office buildings in the city had been constructed since the Great Depression). The budget passed and the preliminary design phase began.

“[The FBI Building is] ‘gutsy and bold’ …masculine, no-nonsense architecture appropriate for a national police headquarters. It is a promising beginning for the new Pennsylvania Avenue.” – Wolf Von Eckardt, 1964. Washington Post architectural critic.

Originally designed in a similar monumental fashion to its neighbor agencies, the approach was rejected by the Government Accountability Office for “wasting space” and being too “lavish” for us, taxpayers. So after many changes and delays, the structure took a Chicago school design style, but final Brutalist touch with its poured concrete cover. The delays due to changes, back-and-forths, and funding led not only to a slow construction, but also raised the total cost to $126.108 million… How’s that for lavish!

“The building is Orwellian, alien to the spirit of the capital, and an overly dramatic and utterly miscarried play of forms. [The interior is] a drab factory with harsh light, endless corridors, hard floors and no visual relief.” – The same Wolf Von Eckardt after the completion of the building, 1975.

For the past years, the Hoover Building has been suffering from deterioration due to deferred maintenance and mediocre design, and it’s now up for potential replacement. It is in such bad condition that in 2013, the FBI, General Services Administration (GSA), and Government Accountability Office agreed that the building is no longer appropriate for the FBI and announced a call for proposals from developers. After receiving enough interest from viable projects, the FBI will be vacating and relocating somewhere in Virginia or Maryland, and the Hoover Building …well, who knows 😦

+ Fun Facts:

Having led the FBI for nearly half-century, J. Edgar Hoover was born and resided in D.C. his entire life.
The Hoover Building is highly secured with tight access points, has numerous amenities, has three floors below-ground, and is bomb-proof in its first few stories. Some incredible amenities to highlight:
- Automobile repair shop
- Two-story basketball court
- Film library
- Firing range
- Morgue
The FBI immediately closed the second-story pedestrian observation deck for security reasons when the building opened in 1975.
- It has not been reopened to the public since (Booo!).
The agency suspended the only public tours of the Building in the wake of the September 11 attacks. The tours remained suspended as of November 29, 2016.
Back when Donald Trump was just a real estate developer, he was one of the many that expressed interest in redeveloping the Hoover Building. Of course, it was a long shot for his firm which had never constructed any kind of secure federal campus.
The structure is eight stories high on the Pennsylvania Avenue NW side, and 11 stories high on the E Street NW side. Two wings connect the two main buildings, forming an open-air, trapezoidal courtyard. Here’s the lego model to prove it:
FBI mid- and low-level managers were said to have meddled extensively in the building’s details, even while working drawings were being completed. No wonder the structure is falling today.
Parts of the building have been covered in netting to prevent falling chunks of concrete from hitting the sidewalk.
Current agency’s employees are scattered among about two dozen annex buildings in the Washington region because the building is inhospitable.
Not to be Debbie Downer, but the White House has also not nominated anyone to lead the General Services Administration, which oversees federal property. So, the years-long effort to build a new headquarters for the Federal Bureau of Investigation faces infinite delay.

The John A. Wilson District Building

Posted on May 7, 2017 by historicsitesig

Location: Across from Freedom Plaza, 1350 Pennsylvania Ave., NW D.C.

Architecture: American Beaux Arts/ English Renaissance classical revival

Architects: Cope & Stewardson

Year: Completed in 1908

The John A. Wilson Building was specifically build as the home to the mayor and the 13 members of the Council of the District of Columbia. The original site was a streetcar power station that had been destroyed by a fire in 1897. With the “Public Building Act” of 1902, the United States Congress authorized funding for the construction of a new District municipal building called “the District Building”. This one would occupy the entire block between 13th and 14th Streets NW and later be renamed to commemorate former Council Chair John A. Wilson in 1994.

Hanafi-Hostages-Crime-Scene-e1421271138220

In 1977, a total of twelve gunmen took around 150 people hostage for nearly 40 hours at three D.C. sites: B’nai Brith’s headquarters, the Islamic Center of Washington, and particularly, the District Building.

During what came to be known as the 1977 Hanafi Siege, the situation grew tense and violent here. Two of those gunmen held about a 12 hostages inside the council chambers on the last floor of the District Building and shot 3 people. The gunmen killed WHUR Reporter Maurice Williams as he stepped off an elevator. They shot and wounded then-city councilman, Marion Barry by a stray shotgun pellet. And, shot and wounded Mack Cantrell, an officer with D.C. Protective Services, which guarded the city facility (though he survived the shooting, he passed a few days later from a heart attack).

The siege was prompted by a personal, and in part political, vendetta of Hamaas Abdul Khaalis, the leader of the group. He wanted to draw attention to the murder of his family in 1973. But made demands too for those convicted of killing Malcolm X and requested the cancellation of the film-premier of Mohammad, Messenger of God on sacrilegious grounds.

This year marks the 40th year anniversary of the siege.

On a lighter note, here’s some + Fun Facts:

Anyone can visit inside the building!
The structure was completed during the administration of President Theodore Roosevelt.
During World War II, the building housed the United States Department of War 200 visiting servicemen.
Two-thirds of the Wilson Building were leased to the Federal government due to the District’s inability to pay for needed repairs in 1995.
- For a period 20 years the offices of the mayor and council were temporarily relocated to One Judiciary Square.
- The fully renovated Wilson Building reopened with all of the District’s government in September 2001.
The press room at the Wilson Building is named in memory of Maurice Williams, the 24-year-old reporter killed during the domestic terrorist incident.
There is a photo exhibit currently on display at the Wilson Building, in commemoration of 40 year anniversary of the siege.
- A number of the photos have not previously been published. While some are displayed in the exact location they depict inside the building.

Historic Bite/ TL;DR: The five-story Wilson Building is a contributing structure to the history of D.C.. It holds the municipal offices of the District’s local government and was sadly one of the three sites of the 1977 Hanafi Siege.