There are very few industrial historic landmarks in the nation's capital due to it being primarily focused on government work as opposed to heavy or light industry. Despite this, community organization D.C. Preservation League (DCPL) believes that one particular factory in Washington, D.C. should be designated a historic landmark and recently filed an application with the city's Historic Preservation Office in order to do so. The Anderson Tire Manufacturing Co.is located between the southern end of the 11th Street Bridge and the west side of Anacostia High School's athletic field and was built in c. 1916. Currently, the tire factory is being used as a garage for food trucks, reported The Washington Post. While originally utilized as a tire factory, Anderson was sold in 1922 before later being adapted for industrial laundries and then an ice-making facility.
In the DCPL application, the organization argues that the one-story "daylight factory" building is "a particular unique symbol of industrial development 'east of the river.'" The application further states that:
"... the Anderson factory is an early example of the modern trend for factories to be single story, to facilitate the movement of goods along a continuous production line without wasting space on hoists." It is also "the best surviving representative of the architectural and technological features which underlay this new conception of the heavy industrial manufactory and its role in the development of the city."
DCPL Manager for Outreach and Grants Tisha Allen told The Washington Post that there is currently no timetable for the landmarking process, which has the potential to take a few years.
For more information on the history of the tire factory, be sure to check out The Washington Post's article here or the DCPL's application here.
Curbed readers, what do you think? Are you on the D.C. Preservation League's side? Or do you think the factory doesn't need to be designated a historic landmark? Let us know in the poll below.
· D.C. Preservation League seeks protected status for former tire factory [The Washington Post]
· Application for Historic Landmark of Historic District Designation [D.C. Office of Planning]