Brutalist Historic Landmark

[DOXXP29 5]

Can you believe this monstrosity is a church?!? Check this building out: http://3rdchristiansciencedc.com/images/photos/church-view-t-button.jpg

This bunker-like concrete building is only 36 years old, and the Historic Preservation Society has voted to give it historic landmark status. What's unusual about this? Well, it has been granted landmark status to preserve it because the church hates the building so much they want to tear it down! "It's totally dysfunctional" said one church officer. It costs thousands of dollars to change one light bulb due to the fact that scaffolding must be installed in the four story high ceiling. The acoustics are terrible and there are no windows except for the one in front. The building itself is an octogon. Church members hate the building so much that membership has declined to 40 - 60 people for the Sunday service.

One thing that really enrages the church about this decision in addition to the hatred for the building is simple economics. The building sits at 16th and Eye Streets NW. (That's the letter "i" for those not familiar with DC) which is about two blocks from the White House. Property values are worth a fortune, and the church planned to knock down the building and either sell some land or build a complex of buildings and lease them out. But the landmark status means they're stuck with the building which, of course, nobody wants to buy.

But that's typical of DC. And besides, where else is there an example of Brutalism that has been given landmark status?

[BurroDiablo 222]

Wow, looks like it was built buy somebody who wanted a place to pray when the Commies started dropping bombs

I thinks thats what most Brutalist architecture was for to be honest... to survive Nuclear Blasts during the Cold War... come on, your little Wooden Panel clad house isn't going to do much and your not going to fit 5000 Apartment dwellers into a Bomb Shelter... lol.

[patriots_1228 51]

gov will probably make it a landmark, built secret tunnels from important government buildings, and have bush and friends go there if DC ever gets bombed or under attack.

[Duke87 1,070]

That has got to be the most god-awful (pun slightly intended) thing ever constructed. I'd say that makes it pretty historical.

....two things about Washington's street grid confuse me:

1) Why "Eye"? Why is the letter not good enough when it's good enough for all the others? It's not "Ay Street", "Bee Street", etc...

2) Why is there no J Street? Skips right from "Eye" to K, and the block isn't double length either.

These, combined with the fact that the grid is rather sloppy since blocks often don't quite line up has led me to the conclusion that whoever laid it out must have been drunk.

[Mulefisk 15]

They preserved it because ugliness is subjective. It doesn't matter wether the church is happy about it or not. It is still a representative of the brutalist architectural period. Also it's in a fantastic location. Knocking it down for the simple sake of money would be a terrible shame.

[hamsterTK 93]

I actually like it.

growing up I would visit my grandmother at her job in a brutalist building. I loved playing on the concrete stairs and climbing on the walls of the sunken plaza.

Of course the people who actually use it hate it so maybe it would be for the better if it went.

[DOXXP29 5]

That's funny, ElBurro! A bunker church for when the bombs rain down!

Duke, the reason for writing "Eye" Street is because the post office is less likely to misread the letter " I " as the numeral " 1 ". Considering there's an "Eye" Street NW, NE, SE and SW just as there is a First Street NW, NE, SE and SW, the post office needed all the help it could get.

The reason for no J Street? Two reasons are commonly cited. First, there was already a Jay Street and it would be confusing. Second, the letter "J"  didn't exist in the colonial alphabet for many years. When it did appear, it was decided that it looked so similar to the letter " I " that the letter "J" was omitted to avoid confusion when reading a written address. From time to time you'll hear the rumour that L'Enfant or one of the presidents hated John Jay and that's why J Street was omitted. Being D.C., there has to be a conspiracy theory for everything, even something as simple as a street name.

[mayormommy 8]

That thing is such a local landmark I'm actually glad to see it stay. So many of the buildings in DC are so bland. Here's another pic I found on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/army_arch/253419829/

[Mike the Mayor 51]

That's a very interesting church. Then again St Peter's and Paul's Cathedral in Clifton, Bristol is also brutalist and it actually looks quite good!

[Geronimo 4]

Hi. 

Oh, thats one ugly church! Sorry if Im sort of out of topic here, but speaking of ugly architecture, here are some excamples from my hometown, Oslo: 

and

Just some horrible example of riddiculous architecture, but hey, I say lets conserve them to show to  the coming generations this masterpiece of crap!