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Most Endangered Places
2003

Old Engine Company 6
Rutherford B. Hayes School
911-919 New Jersey Ave., SE
Carter G. Woodson House
Woodlawn Cemetery
Martin Luther King, Jr. Pub. Library
Anne Archbold Hall
St. Elizabeths
DC World War I Memorial
Uline Arena/Washington Coliseum
Corcoran Hunting Lodge
Capitol Park
Western Telegraph Company

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Most Endangered Places for 2003

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR, PUBLIC LIBRARY

901 G STREET, NW

OWNER: DC City Government

UPDATE: The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library was awarded Landmark status by the Historic Preservation Review Board in June of 2007. Long-deferred maintenance has started to take place and, for now, the building seems to have a brighter future. DCPL will continue to monitor this important modernist DC Landmark.

HISTORY
The District of Columbia’s central public library, designed by Modern master Ludwig Mies van der Rhode and completed in 1972, is the only building in Washington, DC by any of the ‘big three’ Modernist architects. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library has stood as the only monument to Dr. King in the nation’s capital for the past 30 years. It holds special significance to the millions of Washingtonians who have come to the library over the past decades to participate in a wide variety of programs and activities, and is a center of community life in the District. The library, the only one ever designed by Mies, was constructed with a flexible interior plan and the capacity to add a fifth story when needed. These measures were taken to ensure the building could continue to serve its intended purpose for approximately 150 years.

WHAT IS THE THREAT?
But because of three decades of lack of preventive maintenance and system upgrades, and despite a concept plan for an extensive renovation that would cost half as much as a new building, the District government is pursuing plans to replace the current library with a new, smaller building on the site of the old convention center one block to the north.

DCPL’S RESPONSE
The League supports landmark status for the building and its renovation so that it can continue to serve as DC’s central public library. In the event the decision is made to build a new library, the League will work to ensure that the building is not demolished or substantially altered.

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