After the clearance of thousands of rowhouses and viable corner businesses, the modernists came in and built their apartment towers in the their place. Erasing the grid and creating superblocks, the oldest portion of DC, the waterfront of Southwest, began to transform into a whole other world. Update: As of Summer of 2020, I dislike…
Month: December 2009
Column of Trajan
The Column of Trajan represents the pinnacle of Roman monumental architecture; in one single, long comic strip-like spiral, the emperor Trajan’s architects and sculptors tell the story of the conquest of Dacia by Roman legions in the 2nd Century AD. The next four pictures show a progression of the column. The monument has inspired many…
The Demolition and Rebirth of Southwest, Washington, DC
Imagine an entire neighborhood, strong but a little worn on the edges, completely demolished for what would become an outdoor Modernist architectural workshop. It exists, in the smallest and least explored quadrant of Washington, DC. We’ll look at the vision of the 1960’s and 1970’s, when a blank slate became a real, new and totally…
On the Wrong Side of the Tracks, Southwest, Washington, DC
Crossing underneath the railroad viaduct to the Southwest quadrant of Washington, DC, the visitor enters another world. See more of this huge example of urban renewal in the next week.
Highway 40: The Emperor Has No Clothes
So I’m confused, how is the new I-64 better than the old one? All the old curves are still there, the road is still three lanes through the most congested portion around I-170, and traffic is actually worse than it was two years ago. My parents told me they ended up in stopped traffic going…
The Loggia of Union Station, Washington, DC
Many a time I would be looking for a cab out in front of Union Station and I would be accosted by gypsy cab drivers instead. Hey, they are cheaper, but you have to give them directions the whole way home. I have more memories of this loggia shrouded in darkness, as I waited for…