Fort McNair’s 140-year-old building slated for renovation

By Leah Rubalcaba

Bldg. 17, located on the Fort McNair portion of the base, is one of the three oldest Bldgs. on Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall and is slated for a well-deserved renovation this year.

This 1 ½-story brick structure was constructed in 1881 using reclaimed brick from the former Washington Penitentiary that was built between 1825 and 1831. The only part of the penitentiary Bldg. that remains today is Fort McNair’s Bldg. 20.

Bldg. 17 first served as the guardhouse of the Washington Barracks — today’s Fort McNair. Fort McNair originated as a military post in 1791, when Pierre L’Enfant designated 28 acres of what was then known as Greenleaf Point as a military post, named the Washington Arsenal. The post was transferred to Quartermaster Corps in 1878, becoming the Washington Barracks, and in 1948, the barracks was named for Lt. Gen. Lesley J. McNair.

The Washington Arsenal Explosion:

Civil War Disaster in the Capital

 Paperback

The only Washington Barracks buildings that exist on Fort McNair today include Bldgs. 17 and 20, along with Bldg. 21, known as the Model Arsenal, built in 1832.

From its beginnings as a guardhouse, Bldg. 17 was converted to housing around 1900 and served as officers’ quarters.

After Fort McNair opened a 9-hole golf course in 1972 in the field just north of Roosevelt Hall, between C and D Streets, Bldg. 17 housed the golf pro-shop for many years. According to Andy Finnerty, a recreation specialist with Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation, when he arrived at Fort McNair in 1995 to serve as the golf course manager, Bldg. 17 still housed the pro-shop and included a deli that was frequented by golfers and National Defense University students alike. The golf course eventually closed in 2003.

The Africa Center for Strategic Studies moved to Fort McNair in 2004 as a regional center affiliated with NDU. Some of the center’s personnel were housed in Bldg. 17 and, in April 2009, the building came to be known as the Africa Center for Strategic Studies Annex.

The nearly $3 million design-build contract for the Bldg. 17 renovation was awarded to XL Construction LLC.

According to project engineer Elihu Hirsch, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District, interior demolition work has already begun to expose the original ceiling of the building.

“The 1 ½ story of the building is based on the fact that, historically, the building had an exposed structure that allowed for natural interior lighting through the use of clerestory windows,” said Hirsch.

In architecture, a clerestory is a high section of the wall that contains windows above eye level to admit light and fresh air.

“We are planning on restoring the interior of the building, much as it looked originally, by removing much of the interior ceiling to expose the building roof structure and benefit from natural light from the three arched windows,” said Hirsch. “We are now above a drywall ceiling.”

Hirsch added that while the original windows will remain, damaged wood trim at the windows will be replaced. The floor and wall finishes will be updated, with the finishes inside the building restored to the way they existed in the 1800s.

Renovation work will also replace the building’s HVAC and electrical systems, including lighting. Bldg. 17 will benefit from a new access ramp installed at its entrance, as well as an Americans with Disability Act of the 1990-accessible restroom and a secure room for classified communication.

“We will also be removing a non-historic addition on the east side of the building that is being used for a storage room,” said Hirsch.

When asked if he had any reservations about working on the 140-year-old building, Hirsch replied, “We do not anticipate any issues with historical preservation. We are working closely with Kelly Whitton (cultural resources manager for Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall), and it is our intent to provide minimal exterior changes and restore the interior to look like it did historically.”

The anticipated completion date is Jan. 23, 2022.

NOTE: Leah Rubalcaba  is the  Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall Community Relations Officer

OVER 200 HISTORICAL IMAGES, MAPS & ILLUSTRATIONS

The book, Images of America – Fort Lesley J. McNair contains over two hundred historical photographs, images, and illustrations that chronicle the two hundred plus years of history among the acres of this US Army Post.

The book “Images of America – Fort Lesley J McNair”  is “a walk down memory lane” as one reader called it after he turned the last page.  Go beyond

We Need Engineers

General Lesley J. McNair:

Unsung Architect of the U. S. Army

(Modern War Studies (Hardcover))

ABOUT THE BOOK:

George C. Marshall once called him “the brains of the army.” And yet General Lesley J. McNair (1883-1944), a man so instrumental to America’s military preparedness and Army modernization, remains little known today, his papers purportedly lost, destroyed by his wife in her grief at his death in Normandy. This book, the product of an abiding interest and painstaking research, restores the general Army Magazine calls one of “Marshall’s forgotten men” to his rightful place in American military history. Because McNair contributed so substantially to America’s war preparedness, this first complete account of his extensive and varied career also leads to a reevaluation of U.S. Army effectiveness during WWII.

Born halfway between the Civil War and the dawn of the twentieth century, Lesley McNair–“Whitey” by his classmates for his blond hair–graduated 11th of 124 in West Point’s class of 1904 and rose slowly through the ranks like all officers in the early twentieth century. He was 31 when World War I erupted, 34 and a junior officer when American troops prepared to join the fight. It was during this time, and in the interwar period that followed the end of World War I, that McNair’s considerable influence on Army doctrine and training, equipment development, unit organization, and combined arms fighting methods developed. By looking at the whole of McNair’s career–not just his service in WWII as chief of staff, General Headquarters, 1940-1942, and then as commander, Army Ground Forces, 1942-1944–Calhoun reassesses the evolution and extent of that influence during the war, as well as McNair’s, and the Army’s, wartime performance. This in-depth study tracks the significantly positive impact of McNair’s efforts in several critical areas: advanced officer education; modernization, military innovation, and technological development; the field-testing of doctrine; streamlining and pooling of assets for necessary efficiency; arduous and realistic combat training; combined arms tactics; and an increasingly mechanized and mobile force.

Because McNair served primarily in staff roles throughout his career and did not command combat formations during WWII, his contribution has never received the attention given to more public–and publicized–military exploits. In its detail and scope, this first full military biography reveals the unique and valuable perspective McNair’s generalship offers for the serious student of military history and leadership.

The Engineers and Washington Barracks

It was in 1901 when the engineers left Willetts Point for their new home at Washington Barracks in Washington DC.  That marked a complete revamping of the acreage of what was Washington Arsenal and Penitentiary during the Civil War.  The building included housing for officers and NCOs but most prominently the iconic Roosevelt Hall that was designed by McKim Mead & White the noted architects from New York.

Army War College – Roosevelt Hall

Here Comes World War I

World War I or the First World War, often abbreviated as WWI or WW1, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. It wasn’t until 1918 that the United States got involved in the war. The United States initially remained neutral, though even while neutral it became an important supplier of war materiel to the Allies. Eventually, after the sinking of American merchant ships by German submarines, the declaration by Germany that its navy would resume unrestricted attacks on neutral shipping, and the revelation that Germany was trying to incite Mexico to initiate war against the United States, the U.S. declared war on Germany on 6 April 1917. Trained American forces did not begin arriving at the front in large numbers until mid-1918, but the American Expeditionary Force ultimately reached some two million troops.

We Need Engineers

The involvement of the United States meant several things to the situation, primarily the building/rebuilding o the infrastructure in France… railroads, communications, roadways, camps, storage buildings, and ENGINEERS!

Recruitment began with an engineer poster like the ones below that were used to bring the talent to Washington Barracks,

The success of the engineer poster campaign helped to modernize the infrastructure in France while providing the Army a great supply of engineers.

OVER 200 HISTORICAL IMAGES, MAPS & ILLUSTRATIONS

The book, Images of America – Fort Lesley J. McNair contains over two hundred historical photographs, images, and illustrations that chronicle the two hundred plus years of history among the acres of this US Army Post.

The book “Images of America – Fort Lesley J McNair”  is “a walk down memory lane” as one reader called it after he turned the last page.  Go beyond