Shops at Georgetown Park 'Changed DC'

For better or worse, the Shops at Georgetown Park changed DC architecturally, according a recently published list of the 10 buildings that changed the city.

A post on "Parchment: Writings on Architecture," a blog run by the team at David M. Schwarz Architects, took inspiration from a recent PBS documentary “Ten Buildings that Changed America” to develop a list of 10 notable buildings in DC.  
 
Through an informal survey of the firm's team, they came up with a list of the "top ten architectural forms that because of—or, perhaps, regardless of—design, changed the fabric of Washington, DC."

The Georgetown mall made the list for the impact it had on Georgetown and the DC landscape.

The blog post lobbed criticisms at the property that were not unlike descriptions many Georgetowners have offered during the mall's renovations. Calling it "a largely characterless, enclosed labyrinth" that "sucked the vitality out of Wisconsin Avenue" the blog post says the mall "radically altered" Georgetown — for the worse.

The Vornando/Charles E. Smith team currently undertaking the mall's renovations have called the process "de-malling the mall."

Still some Georgetowners object to the largely big-box tenants the team has secured to take over the de-malled mall. One resident with more than a bit of sarcasm posted a complaint on "See, Click, Fix" that the proposed tenants, which we now know will include a Home Goods and a DSW, are a "threat to public safety."

The writers at Parchment acknowledged this tension between chain retail and Georgetown's many boutiques. 

"The tension between chain-store retail and the distinctive shops along the former main thoroughfare of Wisconsin Avenue insured that neither would survive.  It wasn’t a good mall and it wasn’t a good fit. What succeeds it will need to be thoughtfully and imaginatively planned to offset a hugely negative impact," the writers at Parchment opined. 

What do you think? Would you have picked a different building in Georgetown? Tell us in the comments.