Capital Losses - 9781588341051

Before the passage of critical preservation legislation in 1978, the Nation's Capital lost an irreplaceable assembly of architecturally and culturally significant buildings. Wanton destruction in the name of progress - particularly in the decades immediately following World War II - resulted in a legacy forever lost, a cultural heritage destroyed by the wrecker's ball.
In originally documenting 252 of these historic losses, the publication of Capital Losses a quarter century ago created a clarion call for preservationists. By reminding us of things lost, James Goode's magisterial and poignant study represented a comprehensive call for action, a mandate for responsible stewardship of the architectural legacy of Washington, D.C. In the decades since, rising public awareness and the passage of the Historic District and Historic Landmark Protection Act in 1978 have slowed the pace of thoughtless destruction. But as this completely new and updated edition of Capital Losses demonstrates, vigilance remains the watchword, especially as pressures for urban growth continue to intensify.
Capital Losses reveals the Washington that was and how it became what it is today. This updated edition includes eighteen more treasures lost - among them Rhodes Tavern and Valley View - and ninety additional historic photographs. The 270 buildings featured here range from the earliest Georgian plantation house to the latest art deco commercial structure and include private houses, hotels, apartment houses, office and government buildings, schools, hospitals, churches, and fire stations.
Both the familiar public Washington of official landmarks and the private city of residential neighborhoods are paid tribute in this volume, dedicated to the vanished. A foreword by noted architectural historian Richard Longstreth brings the preservation story up to the present.