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Most Endangered Places
2002

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Most Endangered Places for 2002

Uline Arena (Washington Coliseum)
Between 2nd & 3rd and L & M Streets, NE

This building is located on Third Street, NE, directly adjacent to the railroad tracks just north of Union Station and bounded by L and M Streets. It was built in 1941 and operated by Miguel L. “Uncle Mike” Uline for the Washington Lions of the Eastern Hockey League. The building would seat 9,000 people. This concrete vaulted building was the site of the Beatle’s first North American performance (before the Ed Sullivan Show) and also noted as the home of Go-Go music where noted local musicians such as Chuck Brown, Trouble Funk and Rare Essence performed. Political rallies and speeches were a tradition in the Arena including a rally staged by Fight for Freedom, Inc. in support of the US involvement in WWII a month before Pearl Harbor and a speech by Nation of Islam Founder Elijah Muhammad in 1959. Since its construction in 1941, the arena, later known as the Washington Coliseum, has been a place for figure skating, jazz, wrestling, ballet, basketball, Washington’s Go-Go music style, midget auto racing, rock, hockey, karate, politics, tennis, boxing, and Indian ragas.

Currently, the building is used as a trash transfer station. A DC statute taking effect in 2002 will establish a 500-foot buffer zone between a transfer station and the nearest residential property -- more than twice the distance between the Uline site and the nearest residential property, according to public records. The building is threatened by incompatible use and deterioration.

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