The twin nine-story Modernist buildings of Town Center East, designed by I.M. Pei, face each other across a landscaped yard. The complex is mirrored by Town Center West on the opposite side of the original Town Center Plaza retail center.
The buildings represent one of Pei’s first forays into the use of structural concrete as an exterior material. The slender columns and carved slab-ends render a ponderous material into a surprisingly delicate frame for the extensive glazing, so that the whole appears like an almost weightless curtain wall. The towers are unusual in their inward orientation: end-on to the major street, they give the impression of towers in a park while maximizing courtyard views.
DC Inventory: June 27, 2013
National Register: January 15, 2014
]]>Designed in the International Style, the William L. Slayton House is one of only three houses known to have been designed by world-renowned architect I.M. Pei. Pei, primarily a corporate architect but best known for municipal buildings and art museums, consented in 1959 to design a house for his friend and colleague Slayton, who was an active part of the Southwest urban renewal project.
The house was completed in 1960 and features a triple-vault, poured-in-place concrete roof as its most distinguishing feature. The front and rear elevations are all glass, resulting in a house that is largely transparent and open in plan. The Slayton House is significant not only for its architecture but also for its structure. The poured-in-place concrete arched roof was an important technological innovation, and its use in the Slayton House still represents one of its few applications in the United States.
The house has an interior designation — one of the few DC residences with this protection.
DC Inventory: May 22, 2008
National Register: October 2, 2008
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