Then and Now: Engine Company No. 15

Historic

by Kent Boese • September 22, 2009 4:40 pm

Engine Company 15, located at 14th and V Streets, SE, opened on April 15, 1898. This firehouse was in continuous use until it was razed in 1966. After being temporarily housed at Engine 32 for nearly two years, it was able to move into a new firehouse on the same site. The new firehouse was dedicated on January 6, 1969.

The new Engine 15 was the first D.C. Fire Dept. unit to make its building available for community recreation. DCFD did this to better community relations and hoped it would cut down on hostility to firemen and the number of false alarm calls.

Additional images from the old Engine Company 15 are below.

8 comments — Share	— tags: Anacostia, DC, historic comparison

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Comments

My first reaction here is not to the architecture - it's to how cheap the materials are in the contemporary photo.

by цarьchitect on Sep 22, 2009 4:54 pm

Cheap materials? Looks like brick to me. And the roof and doors, well, those are honest uses of materials, shapes and colors "of their time".

The next time I hear somebody say that making sure a building is "of its time" is the most important part of design, I'm going to link to this post.

I don't object to new ideas and certainly don't think we should only ever build old-style buildings, but this here is proof positive that "honest and contemporary" is absolutely positively not as important as some would have it.

by BeyondDC on Sep 22, 2009 5:20 pm

interesting note on "hostility towards firemen"
I have had a number of family members over the years who have been in the DC fire department- including one cousin who was in the thick of it during the 1968 riots.
He said that for years after the riots it became a sort of ghastly tradition for people to fire on working firemen in DC. He said they would oftentimes cower under the cab of their truck.

Back in the 80's I talked with a neighbor- at that time- who was a DC fire and rescue guy- and he confirmed this. He said that at that time it was still happening.

by w on Sep 22, 2009 5:37 pm

"We don't need no water, let the motherfucker burn."

by Omri on Sep 22, 2009 7:10 pm

The bricks are fine, it's the roof and doors. Saying it's "of its time" as the reason for those finishes is itself dishonest. Other people did better in its time.

by цarьchitect on Sep 22, 2009 9:54 pm

love the old one. hate the new one.... eh, well at least it's brick. can someone call a landscaper?

by Lee on Sep 23, 2009 6:45 am

Saying it's "of its time" was and is usually an excuse for something most people dislike. Everything is "of it's time" or it wouldn't have happened. Hitler was of his time as was Roosvelt, so who get's to decide which one speaks for that time? Modernism was of my time (as a yoot) and it definatley did not speak for me.

by Thayer-D on Sep 23, 2009 7:34 am

Other people did better. Fair enough. They did better with buildings that have something going for them other than simply being contemporary.

Simply being contemporary isn't enough. If the best an architect can say for his building is that it's of its time, then the building probably sucks. Designs should succeed or fail on their own terms.

"Of its time" means nothing except that a building conforms to the precedents of the current establishment. This nonsense of constricting architectural creativity by demanding buildings be so constructed is just that: nonsense.

by BeyondDC on Sep 23, 2009 9:44 am