Every week, or so it seems, another DC building gets added to the list of places threatened by a potential bulldozer or ambitious developer who wants to cram in as many apartments as possible. The list of old buildings with people fighting to defend them reaches into the dozens but there are always some that rise to the top of the list. Here is our Preservation Heat Map of the ones that are the most contentious right this second. Got any others that everyone is fighting over? Send 'em into the tipline or leave a suggestion in the comments.
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Preservation Watch: Mapping Historic DC Buildings That Might Be Razed Or Modernized
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Old Post Office Pavilion
The Old Post Office is getting remodeled into a fancy hotel by none other than team Donald Trump (with his daughter, Ivanka, taking charge of the project). Everyone is expecting the exterior to be painted in gold leaf trimmings.
Corcoran Gallery of Art
The Corcoran muckety-mucks are making moves to sell the building as a cost-cutting measure, so preservationists have filed to have it nominated as a local architectural landmark so a developer can't come in and totally transform the interior (by squeezing in hundreds of apartments, for example). See also: http://www.dcpreservation.org/2012/10/preservationists-file-to-protect-corcoran/
Union Station
Union Station is going to get a huge expansion, including an underground area, that has preservationists worried. The $7Billion project looks too contemporary and will require messing with the existing historic structure, some say.
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Third Street Church of God Row Houses
The Third Street Church of God owns these three row houses, but would really prefer to turn them into a parking lot. The HPRB said they could demolish the rear of the building, but that decision was appealed once. So far the Church of God hasn't gotten their wish.
K Street & 11th St
Douglas Development Corporation owns this building and was paying regular taxes on the building, until a DC blogger pointed it out to DCRA that is should really be paying the rate for a blighted building. Up went the taxes and in went an application for a raze permit.
McMillan Reservoir Filtration Site
The former water treatment site is a huge expanse of green space with the District that no one can agree on what to do with. Should it be play fields, a rec center, a museum site?
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