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Happy Birthday {October 18}, Frances Perkins Building
Happy Birthday Frances Perkins Building
Happy Birthday!
Forty-four years ago today, on October 18, 1974, President Gerald R. Ford and Secretary Peter J. Brennan laid the ceremonial cornerstone of the new Frances Perkins Department of Labor building. In February 1975 the first wave of employees moved in.
....
Inner Beauty
The Frances Perkins building was named one of “The 15 Brutalist Buildings Every D.C. Resident Should Know.” Brutalism is a concrete-intensive and controversial building style favored in government and other builders from the 1950’s to the mid-1970’s (as anyone who rides the Washington Metro knows), supposedly because of the low cost of concrete.
But not everyone loves brutalist architecture. The Perkins building was named the fifth ugliest government building in Washington DC by Buzzfeed News in 2014. And that’s from the outside. The inside is far worse. Because the building is in need of costly infrastructure upgrades, including modern heating, electrical, plumbing and elevator systems, there was a move to renovate or relocate the Department of Labor during the latter days of the Obama administration, but the Trump administration scotched the idea.
Despite its problems, I have affectionate feelings for the old building as I’m sure many of my former colleagues do. After all, despite its alleged physical ugliness, its heart beats for American workers. And there’s a lot of beauty in that.
....
So enjoy. Or not.
Happy Birthday!
Forty-four years ago today, on October 18, 1974, President Gerald R. Ford and Secretary Peter J. Brennan laid the ceremonial cornerstone of the new Frances Perkins Department of Labor building. In February 1975 the first wave of employees moved in.
....
Inner Beauty
The Frances Perkins building was named one of “The 15 Brutalist Buildings Every D.C. Resident Should Know.” Brutalism is a concrete-intensive and controversial building style favored in government and other builders from the 1950’s to the mid-1970’s (as anyone who rides the Washington Metro knows), supposedly because of the low cost of concrete.
But not everyone loves brutalist architecture. The Perkins building was named the fifth ugliest government building in Washington DC by Buzzfeed News in 2014. And that’s from the outside. The inside is far worse. Because the building is in need of costly infrastructure upgrades, including modern heating, electrical, plumbing and elevator systems, there was a move to renovate or relocate the Department of Labor during the latter days of the Obama administration, but the Trump administration scotched the idea.
Despite its problems, I have affectionate feelings for the old building as I’m sure many of my former colleagues do. After all, despite its alleged physical ugliness, its heart beats for American workers. And there’s a lot of beauty in that.
....
So enjoy. Or not.
