Historic photoblog Shorpy recently showed this view of the Corcoran as it was in 1921:

And to show how much the area has changed in the last 90 years since that shot, just this morning Tom got this updated photo of the same scene, from the same spot (kudos, by the way, for getting the angle with such uncanny precision):

A few more windows in the marble walls, and a few more buildings right around the structure, but largely unchanged on the outside. Of course, at one point, we could have had a Gehry Crumpled Metal Corcoran Annex, but for better or worse, that’s probably not going to happen anymore.

Paulo Ordoveza

Roving Asian mendicant, can occasionally be seen wandering the streets of downtown Washington, muttering unintelligible gibberish to passers-by while pushing a “bag lady” shopping cart full of old blankets, American flags, soda cans, and healthy secondhand snacks from organic food shop dumpsters. Used to live in a cardboard box at 16th and K but the rent was too expensive.