In the shadows of the world we build with intention and design there is an accidental architecture that can enrich and humanize our surroundings. The cities we admire, the qualities of the urban environments that we celebrate, often give some license to this architecture rooted in the passage time, neglect or purely pragmatic interventions. The Penn Quarter of Washington DC, literally a stone’s throw from our national monuments, has had a unique and often rocky history. These photographs, taken in the first few years of the new millennium, document a time when this part of the capitol city was on the verge of being overtaken by a storm of redevelopment. A substantial record of history, once imprinted on street fronts and alley walls, has been replaced. The glass walls of new storefronts and office building lobbies now reflect a Penn Quarter with a robust economic and cultural footing as well as the new faces on its sidewalks. The very scripted quality of this new urban fabric will do its best to resist the workings of chance, at least for a while.
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