The J. Edgar Hoover Building: Requiem for a Nightmare

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Hat tip, DCist

Requiem for a Nightmare

....
Even though the move will cost the city thousands of jobs, D.C. may be better off in the end with the FBI putting its 2.1 million-square-feet building and its astonishing 350-foot security setbacks—a fortress behind a moat—somewhere else.

Most importantly, from the perspective of thousands of D.C. residents, the District will finally be rid of the FBI's dark architecture. I will be sad to see the building go, as the city will almost certainly demand. Not only could it still potentially be put to good use, but whatever replaces the FBI Building will be regular, orderly, safe, and worse.

"There is no government building that more accurately reflects the soul of the bureaucracy housed inside," wrote Benny Johnson, easily Brutalism's most viral critic, for Buzzfeed. Shortly after, he was deposed for plagiarizing other writings, but no matter: This was a deeply original thought. It is an awesome building, unrivaled in stature and authority. Were future civilizations to judge ours by our architecture alone, they would surely pick the FBI Building as the seat of power, not the White House.

You can't say it was inappropriate, as this commenter so aptly notes:

roac • an hour ago

Having been around while the FBI Building was being built gives me a perspective on the building that may be of value. In the context of the time, it was intended to send a message, and did. The intended recipients of the message: communists, Reds, pinkos, subversive elements, hippies, revolutionaries, radicals, Yippies, Black Panthers, Students for a Democratic Society, Black Muslims, Black Nationalists, unaffiliated uppity black people {extend list yourself}. The message: We have the guns, we have the tanks, we have the wiretaps, we know what you're up to, so don't try anything. The congruence between the medium and the message would have delighted Marshall McLuhan.

As for the general controversy: Architects have the idea that architecture exists for architects. Leaving aside the startling arrogance of that notion, the rest of us think it exists for us. There are many more of us than there are of them, so I expect our will to prevail in the end.

[elleng]

1. One of my former offices is in this pic,

right across the street! HUGE building, interesting to see what happens to it, and glad I won't be there to watch the messy process!