Capitol Park
In the Southwest Waterfront area of Washington, D.C. lives a community of townhouses and apartment buildings that were designed by Chloethiel Woodard Smith and Dan Kiley as part of the urban renewal of this area in the 1950鈥檚 and 60鈥檚.
The project truly lived up to the 鈥減ark鈥 in its name by nestling townhouses in a green oasis of courtyards and gardens between the much larger apartment buildings on the edges of the site. Currently, a developer is planning to destroy the largest open space of the original master plan by infilling two large apartment buildings and covering all the leftover space with surface parking.
History
In 1950, Southwest Washington contained an estimated 22,539 people living in 113 blocks south of the National Mall and northeast of the Washington Channel. Hundreds of the houses in the area at the time did not have indoor plumbing and were in serious disrepair. The Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA), an agency independent of the District government, was created to redevelop the area. Capitol Park (which is bounded by the Southwest Expressway, 4th St., I St., and Delaware Ave. on the east) was the first development of this large experiment in urban renewal and in many ways set the tone and precedents for the rest of the residential developments in the community and across the country in other urban renewal projects.
The lease for Capitol Park was signed on July 2, 1956 at the White House under President Dwight D. Eisenhower and his administration. The first building of this project was built at the corner of 4th and I streets, SW and was named Capitol Park Apartments (now known as Potomac Place). This was the first integrated building financed using FHA money and subsequently received numerous design awards after it was completed in 1959.
Capitol Park was Dan Kiley鈥檚 22nd commission and his only large scale private residential project. Key features of the project are a pavilion sculpted with a curved concrete roof on steel columns in front of a shallow reflecting pool behind Capitol Park Apartments. One is led through the water by a path of brick steps leading to a 24鈥 x 8鈥 high tile mosaic by the highly recognized graphic artist Leo Lionni. The original 鈥淗鈥 Street of the old southwest wa