5686642 ACR 21-104, 50th Anniversary of the Dedication of the Watergate Complex Recognition Resolution of 2015  

  • A CEREMONIAL RESOLUTION

    21-104 

    IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

    September 22, 2015

     

    To honor the Watergate Complex on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of its dedication, 1965-2015, and to declare October 27, 2015, as “Watergate Day” in the District of Columbia.

     

                WHEREAS, on October 27, 1965, something special happened in Washington, D.C.: the city’s newest cooperative, Watergate East, opened its doors and the Watergate Complex was dedicated;

     

                WHEREAS, on February 23, 1964, an Italian engineer and a Hungarian financier quietly invaded the sleepy Foggy Bottom neighborhood with the groundbreaking on the site of the abandoned Washington Gas Light plant for the future Watergate Complex;

     

                WHEREAS, Watergate was the first to utilize the 1958 D.C. Zoning Code’s Planned Unit Development (“PUD”), whose purpose was to establish incentives for large-scale, mixed-use urban developments, curbing trends toward suburbanization by providing public amenities within large complexes;

     

                WHEREAS, Watergate was the first and largest private-initiative PUD at the time in the history of Washington, D.C. and remains the oldest intact PUD in Washington, D.C.;

     

                WHEREAS, between 1965 and 1971, the construction of the Watergate Complex transformed the Foggy Bottom neighborhood into one of the luxury addresses in the city;

     

                WHEREAS, Watergate was the first large housing and commercial project to contract directly with a public utility (Washington Gas Light) in the Washington, D.C. area to furnish and operate the heating and cooling plant;

     

                WHEREAS, Watergate embodies exceptional architectural significance as an outstanding and innovative example of the Modern Movement in Washington, D.C.;

     

                WHEREAS, Watergate is the only representative example in the United States of the work of Italian Modernist and master architect Luigi Moretti;

     

                WHEREAS, Watergate is one of the earliest green roof projects in Washington, D.C., designed by master landscaper Boris Timchenko, one of the top landscapers in Washington, D.C. in the mid-1960s;

     

                WHEREAS, execution of the curvilinear design precipitated the use of a computer to efficiently calculate measurements of building elements, making Watergate one of the earliest known examples of computer-aided design in the country;

     

                WHEREAS, the concrete polychrome sculptural frieze in the lobby of Watergate West was created by noted sculptor and muralist Pietro Lazzari; and

     

                WHEREAS, Watergate recognizes and honors 11 staff employees who each have worked at the complex for over 20 years.

     

                IT IS HEREBY RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, that the Council of the District of Columbia is proud to honor the Watergate Complex, a true Washington institution, and declares October 27, 2015, as “Watergate Day” in the District of Columbia..

     

    Sec. 2. This resolution may be cited as the “50th Anniversary of the Dedication of the Watergate Complex Recognition Resolution of 2015”.

     

                Sec. 3.  This resolution shall take effect immediately upon the first date of publication in the District of Columbia Register.