FREE RIDE

D.C. Board Declares Brutalist Church a Landmark

Washington Post file photoTHE THIRD CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST at 16th and I streets NW has been called lots of things, many of them derisive. Add to the list a designation it received Thursday from the Historic Preservation Review Board: landmark.

Reports The Post's Paul Schwartzman:

While several preservation board members expressed reservations about the church's modernist appearance, they said the building is among the city's most significant examples of Brutalism, an architectural movement of the 1950s and 1960s that espoused the use of roughly cast concrete.
The move to protect the building, designed in 1971 by architect Araldo Cossutta, came over the objections of members of the church's congregation, who say its stark exterior turns away worshipers. As it stands, only about 40-60 attend services at the church on Sundays. A friendlier structure, they say, could draw in a stronger crowd.

Others share that sentiment. The Post's Marc Fisher wrote in an Oct. 31 column:

What the preservationists don't get is that the Christian Science complex — there's also a small office building across the courtyard — is a failure, a design flaw that begs to be blown to bits.
Schwartzman reports that church congregants have not yet decided whether to appeal the review board's ruling.

» "Church Gets Landmark Status Over Congregation's Objections" [WaPo]

EARLIER:
» "Which D.C. Building Deserves to Be Demolished?" [Free Ride/Express]
» "A Place Unfit for a Congregation, Much Less a Historic Designation" [Marc Fisher/WaPo]

Washington Post file photo

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COMMENTS (3)

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    i hope for this congregation (and for our eyeballs) that this abomination (and yes, i'm using a religious term here on purpose) can be demolished.

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