Where are they now?
Photos of a few interesting stucco buildings in the Washington, DC area, revisited.
SAD NEWS
My home page back in March, 2002 had a picture of this incredible ornate lath and stucco ceiling in Arlington, Virginia. With colored cement and colored terrazzo inlays, This ceiling was a true masterpiece.
Sadly, it was torn down and a modern addition was built in it's place.
What is sad to the point of pathetic is this horrible work that someone pawned off as stucco. Some inexperienced person slopped cement on the blocks and wiped it with a brush.
This sloppy mess is already falling apart. The morons slopped this on between all the windows right at eye level. Note how the design allows for excess water infiltration. Doesn't this make you want to puke ?
Another sob story: The Outer Circle theater on Wisconsin Ave. in Washington DC was torn down. The wild stucco facade is now just a memory.
Not in my 2002 column, but equally pukeworthy is this beautiful hand done stucco cupola in Washington, DC. Everything was hand tooled, with elaborate corners and columns. A few little cracks, and a few crooked lines, the natural color cement finish still looks impressive. What is pukeable, is that the plan to tear this off and build some flimsy metal stud and EIFS substitute.
Here is the building from my last issue showing the bronze Formstone plaque. Sad but true, they are tearing off the Formstone, and the plaque is gone.
BTW, if you are in the Washington, DC area, the building is on the corner of Rhode Island Ave. and New Jersey Ave., NW.
The good news is that they restored the brick work and did an excellent job. This is because the lath was nailed into the mortar joints so the brickes weren't damaged.