Fifteenth and H: 1923

Washington Post, Mar 9, 1990

Court Bars Demolition of Woodward Building

Preservationists Hail Curb on "Special Merit"

Preservationists hailed a major victory yesterday when the D.C. Court of Appeals stopped plans to tear down a turn-of-the-century office building in the Fifteenth Street Financial Historic District.

The decision, the first to use the city's historic preservation law to overturn a demolition order issued by the mayor, placed new limits on the city's power to find that the "special merit" of a development justifies destruction of a historic site.

"Virtually every historic building will now have to pass a tougher standard in order to be torn down. It will effect every single historic building," said Cornish F. Hitchcock, who represented the Committee of 100 of the Federal City, a private planning body that argued for yesterday's decision.

The stakes in the case were grander than its subject; The Woodward Building, a U-shaped beaux arts structure at 1426 H. S. NW. ....

...if people in the 1920's lived happier lives overall than people do today. Look at that picture. The streets seem clean and pleasant. I bet that area is a mess now.

[It's not. - Dave]