1438 U Street, NW
Ed. Note: For those who don’t recall, horse’s ass award nominees are building that have fallen into disrepair and appear neglected abandoned.
This beautiful building has been vacant for SOOO long:
Waaay back in May 2010 we learned that the former space of Station 9 was for sale. In 2011 there was a little movement. Back in 2013 we heard that the Indian Cultural Center was coming here. It is now 2024.
Stay tuned.
Update for the history buffs:
“The M.A. Winter Building was constructed in 1908/09 at an estimated cost of $50,000 by “Colonel” Mahlon Adolphus Winter and George W. Faris to house Colonel Winter’s patent medicine business, which he called “proprietary medicines.” Today, we might call him a “Snake Oil Salesman” and consider his remedies of questionable medical value.
In 1912 Winter and Faris built an addition to the M.A. Winter Building (now known as 1438 U Street) which was built to the specifications of the US Postal Service. The estimated cost of the addition was $46,000. It was the first substation built as a post office in Washington up to that time. It operated as Post Office Station 9 until 1940. A description of the new building appeared in a Washington Post article of April 7, 1912:
“The Post Office Department intends that this shall be a model substation and in the future the same plans will be used where-ever a substation is erected.”
Washington Post April 7, 1912
By 1915 other offices including the Winter Manufacturing Company, a toilet paper specialties manufacturer, the American Funding Corporation and the Freight Audit and Adjustment Company also occupied the Building.
In 1918 the Building was commandeered by the US Army for use by the War Risk Insurance organization a US Congress chartered agency established to ensure the availability of marine insurance during World War I.
In 1920 the Building was the home a several storage companies: first, Winter Building Storage and in 1923 the National Capital Storage and Moving Company.
Col Winter sold the Building in 1936 to Freda Levy who owned it until 1943. During her ownership the Building was occupied by the Railroad Route Board.
From 1936 through 1942 the Building was leased to the U.S. Postal Commission as a part of the U Street Station. In 1943 the US Maritime Commission was listed as an occupant of the Building.
In the 1960ies records show conflicting information regarding the occupants of the Building. Both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Veteran’s Administration Supply Department are listed as occupants.
The last known use of the Building was as a retail outlet for the St Vincent de Paul Catholic Charity in the early 1970ies.”