Crystal Heights
The project would have been built on one of the largest remaining undeveloped tracts in the city, known as the Oak Lawn estate or Temple Heights, on the edge of the Adams Morgan and Dupont Circle neighborhoods.One version of the design called for 2,500 hotel rooms, small apartments, parking for 1,500 cars, shops, and a 1,000-seat theater – a diversity of uses almost never seen in structures of the time – all within a complex consisting of a broad base covering the whole site topped by 15 towers.[1][6] In August 1940 a syndicate led by developer Roy C. Thurman acquired the estate, which at the time was described as "the last great undeveloped piece of property close to the center of the downtown area.[7] The following month Thurman hired noted architect Frank Lloyd Wright to design a massive $12–$15 million project, an early example of a mixed-use development.The Masons had experienced difficulties in the 1920s with zoning officials due to their planned complex being too tall, and despite convincing President Herbert Hoover and Congress to grant them a religious exemption, the NCPC had the final say and denied the project."[8] His plan for Crystal Heights received a mixed reaction and his attitude toward local officials that were concerned with his design also may have played a part with its eventual rejection.[13][14] Zoning officials were open to allowing commercial businesses on the property, but were opposed to have stores along Connecticut Avenue and a theater in a residential area.When Wright learned that the project had not been approved, he wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post lambasting the decision: "I had supposed our strength and greatness as a nation...not to lie in a leveling-off process characteristic of totalitarian government."A few years later Percy Uris hired William B. Tabler to design the Washington Hilton, which stands on the Crystal Heights site."[26] Had Crystal Heights been built, it would have been the largest project designed by Wright and according to scholars, "it might have been the supreme achievement of an achievement-packed career, forerunner of a kind of architecture that the country embraced only decades later."[5][10] The director of the city's Office of Planning said Wright's mixed-use ideas would be welcomed by local officials in the 21st century, but that the height limit would still apply.
Frank Lloyd WrightWashington, D.C.Oak LawnAdams MorganDupont CircleColumbia RoadConnecticut AvenueFlorida Avenuenorthwestquadrantrising more than 110 feetNational Capital Planning CommissionWashington HiltonOak Lawn (Washington, D.C.)Treaty Oak (Washington, D.C.)FederalTreaty OakNacotchtankSecond EmpireMasonic1929 stock market crashGreat Depressionmixed-use developmentVersaillesUsonianWashington MonumentNew York Citybuilding heightHerbert HooverWyomingHighlandsWorld War IIThe Washington PostWashington Times-HeraldPercy UrisWilliam B. TablerMarden HousePope–Leighey HouseRobert Llewellyn Wright HousePrice TowerArchitectFolger Shakespeare LibraryJefferson MemorialThomas JeffersonMuseum of Modern ArtNational Building MuseumList of Frank Lloyd Wright worksList of worksAdams, M.Adams, W. and J.AdelmanAffleckAllen–LambeArnoldBachman–WilsonBaldwinBartonBazettBeachyBeckerBlossomBoulterBoyntonBradleyBrandesBroad MarginBuehlerBulbulianCharnleyCheneyChristieCoonleyCopelandCrimson BeechDana–ThomasDavidsonDeRhodesDobkinsFabyanFallingwaterFawcettForestFosterFountainheadFreemanFredrickFrickeFriedmanFukuharaG. FurbeckR. FurbeckGale, L.Gale, T.Gale, W.GilmoreGillinGlasner Goetsch–WincklerGordonGraycliffGridleyHanna–HoneycombHaynesHellerHendersonHeurtleyHickoxHoffmanHollyhockJacobs IJacobs IIJohnsonKelandKentuck KnobKinneyLambersonLaurentLewis, L.MansonMardenD. D. MartinW. E. MartinMcBeanMcCarthyMillardMiller