Located at the intersection of Independence Avenue and 7th Street SW, immediately south of the National Mall, these two rectangular office buildings, Federal Office Buildings (FOBs) 10A and 10B, were designed in the International Style and completed in 1963 to house the Federal Aviation Agency (later Administration) (FOB 10A, FAA) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (FOB 10B, NASA). In 2004, the two federal buildings were named for aviation pioneers Orville and Wilbur Wright.
Constructed by J.W. Bateson Company, FOBs 10A and 10B were designed by two architectural firms: Holabird & Root & Burgee and Carroll, Grisdale & Van Alen. Stylistically, the two office buildings were heavily influenced by New York City's Lever House (1952) and Seagram Building (1958), as well as the then-popular suburban corporate campus. Sitting at the southeast corner of the intersection, 10B (approx. 1.95 acres) is located on a smaller lot than 10A (approx. 3.6 acres), which sits at the southwest corner. 10B (six-stories tall) is also shorter than 10A (ten-stories tall). Both buildings have flat roofs.
FOB 10A is clad in white marble with fixed-sash, bronze-framed windows, and FOB 10B is clad in white marble with fixed-sash, anodized aluminum-framed windows. 10A's first and second floors are recessed behind a perimeter colonnade. 10A's main entrance faces Independence Avenue, while 10B's faces Maryland Avenue. Additionally, 10A has concrete plazas adjacent to its north and south elevations, while 10B only has a plaza on its south elevation (at its main entrance). A tunnel connects the two buildings.
Despite the buildings' Modernist design, this site has a long history. In particular, FOB 10A is located on the site of the infamous Yellow House, a 19th century slave pen where Solomon Northrup, who authored Twelve Years a Slave, was imprisoned. Later on, this area became a dense, vibrant neighborhood, and by the early 20th century, approximately 35,000 Washingtonians resided in Southwest DC. By the 1940s, the neighborhood was viewed as "blighted" and isolated, and was targeted for urban renewal.
Therefore, these two federal buildings, like others in Southwest Washington, resulted from postwar urban renewal. During this time, the federal government (through the General Services Administration) constructed — while hiring private architects — many buildings in Modernist architectural styles, particularly in relation to the Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture (1962). The government also took a new interest in public art and site design, including plazas. Finally, the federal government wanted to move federal workers out of "tempos" (temporary office buildings that had sprung up on and around the National Mall during World Wars I and II).
The Redevelopment Land Agency purchased the sites for FOBs 10A and 10B in 1957, and transferred them to the federal government three years later. During this time, most of the sites' existing buildings were demolished. Construction on 10A (FAA) and 10B (NASA) started in 1961, with federal employees moving in by 1963. The new office buildings included a garage, cafeteria and snack bar, and clinic.
With the creation of the Department of Transportation (DOT), the new department secretary and undersecretary used FOB 10A, starting in 1967 (DOT is now located in Southeast Washington). Simultaneously, the Federal Aviation Agency became the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). NASA used 10B until 1992. The FAA now uses both 10A and 10B.
DC Inventory: October 24, 2024
National Register: October 11, 2024
]]>This house was the residence of Dr. Ralph Bunche, the distinguished African American political scientist, diplomat, and scholar, from 1941 to 1947. Bunche is chiefly remembered for his mediation in the Arab–Israeli conflict in Palestine in the 1940s, work for which he was recognized with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950. He was the first African American to be so honored. Key in the early development of the United Nations, including in creating and adopting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and a member of the first American delegation to the UN General Assembly in 1946, Bunche was honored for his years of peacekeeping work with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded to him by John F. Kennedy, in 1963. From 1928 to 1950, Bunche chaired the Department of Political Science at Howard University. He was also an active supporter of the Civil Rights Movement, participating in both the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery.
In addition to honoring Bunche's historical contributions, this house is also notable for its association with Hilyard R. Robinson, the noted African American architect who designed the house in the International Style.
DC Inventory: April 29, 1975
National Register: September 30, 1993
]]>The Martin Luther King Memorial Library (MLK Library) is a four-story steel and glass International-style building in downtown DC, designed by world-famous German-born architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) and completed in 1972. The modern building, designed for use as the city’s central library, is the only example of the architect’s work in the District of Columbia, and is the only library designed by Mies van der Rohe ever constructed. The building, completed after Mies van der Rohe’s death in 1969, is also one of the last buildings designed by him. Ground was broken on the building in 1969, one year after the death of its internationally-acclaimed architect, and the building opened to the public in 1972, after some construction delays.
Designed by one of this century’s most renowned and internationally recognized modernists, the publicly funded building is also an important landmark of International-style architecture in DC, a city known stylistically for its monumental federal architecture reflective of the Beaux Arts classical tradition.
In 2020, the library completed a three and a half year renovation project that included the construction of a rooftop garden, a kid's slide, and a recording studio. The external facade remains intact, and the original yellow brick and a large mural of Martin Luther King Jr remain untouched in the interior.
DC Inventory: June 28, 2007
National Register: October 22, 2007
]]>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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