L'Enfant Plaza Entrance to Close Until July '08

Map It:  L'Enfant Plaza 

ALTHOUGH L'ENFANT PLAZA is often derided for being a soulless quarter of massive federal office buildings, it does have its aesthetic charms. One of those has been ascending the escalator bank into the courtyard of the former U.S. Department of Transportation headquarters at 7th and D streets SW. Emerging from the perpetual twilight of the busy Metrorail transfer station below, not only did the gleaming white marble exterior of the Nassif Building, as it was called, instantly greet you, but the sound of the fountain in the center of this old photo from Vornado Charles E. Smith added ambience. The building was designed by Edward Durell Stone, who also designed the Kennedy Center.

But no more. The Nassif Building is being gutted and its exterior is being stripped as if vandals from the Dark Ages were attacking a giant monument from imperial Rome. Soon, the new glass and steel Constitution Center office building, a project developed by JBG Cos., will take shape.

The move means that yet another Edward Durrell Stone building is biting the dust. There was a nasty preservation fight to preserve the marble neo-Venetian skin of the the Stone-designed 2 Columbus Circle building in New York City when it was slated to bite the dust. But here, nobody seems to notice. (Disclosure: This writer used to work in the Nassif Building in a former professional life.)

In the meantime, the escalator bank leading into the courtyard will close on Tuesday to accommodate construction; it'll be shuttered through July 2008. One can only wonder whether commuters will be blinded by sunlight reflected off gleaming glass when they re-emerge from the escalator bank next year. We shall see.

» "One Entrance at L'Enfant Plaza Metrorail Station to Close Temporarily During Construction Project" [WMATA]
» "Nassif Building" [Vornado Charles E. Smith]
» "Nassif Building Secures New Life After DoT Moves On" [WBJ]
» "The 2 Columbus Circle Game" [NY Mag]