03/12/2025
Today's Washington Post features an op-ed by National Civic Art Society president Justin Shubow and Victoria Coates, a vice president of the Heritage Foundation, on the need to demolish the Brutalist Forrestal building, headquarters of the Department of Energy in Washington, D.C.:
The massive James V. Forrestal Building, home of the Energy Department, is rightly a feature on “ugly architecture” tours of the nation’s capital. Buses full of tourists pull up in front of its hulking, stained exterior and gawk at the overpass that acts as a barrier between L’Enfant Plaza and the Smithsonian Castle, as well as the windowless concrete block addition that obscures the National Mall across the street.
The real problem with the building, though, goes well beyond architectural aesthetics. The Forrestal’s decrepit systems, labyrinthine footprint and dank, cavern-like interiors are physically preventing the Energy Department from playing a critical role in the emerging U.S. confrontation with China.
Like the department itself, the building has aged poorly. It requires $500 million in must-do repairs, and bringing it up to class A office space would be even more costly. Due to its state of disrepair and low occupancy, it costs $130,000 to maintain and operate for each actual building user. By contrast, commercial office space costs $10,000 per occupant.
Last month, the Public Buildings Reform Board, which was created to shrink the federal government’s real estate portfolio, indicated that the building was ripe for demolition. The National Civic Art Society and others have proposed that it would be best to use the site for two new, congressionally authorized Smithsonian museums rather than wasting taxpayer dollars on Forrestal. . . .
Forrestal was never a suitable home for the Energy Department, and it is now a material and unfixable barrier to maximizing the agency’s potential. Constructing a brand-new, purpose-built, cutting-edge and, yes, aesthetically pleasing campus along the recommendations of Trump’s 2020 executive order promoting beautiful federal civic architecture would enhance and support the department’s vital modern mission as effectively as the Forrestal Building undermines it.
