RSS FeedFake Facades On 8th Street?
Jason emails us with an interesting topic: What are the awful concrete facades on 8th Street, across from Cafe Atlantico and the Lansburgh? We’ve noticed them when walking around the farmer’s market that takes place in front of the facades.
Jason wrote the question to the City Paper, and they found the answer: Pepco substations.
Scattered throughout the city and nearby suburbs are six buildings with false fronts made to look like residential or commercial locations. Often located in prime spots—like Penn Quarter or Chevy Chase—the false fronts mask Pepco substations.
Rather than hiding behind a barbed wire fence, the substations blend into the neighborhood—even with signs reading “Danger—High Voltage” hanging outside the concrete doorways and Pepco trucks driving in and out.
A quick look at the property record for 422 8TH ST NW reveals that it is indeed owned by POTOMAC ELECTRIC POWER COMPANY.
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Comments
Does anyone know, does this pose any health concerns? if i saw a substation with barbed wire in front i wouldn’t move across the street from it, but this is clearly more disguised.
Anon: It seems as though these camouflaged power stations are a necessary evil in cities. It was probably built at a time when the neighborhood was not as vibrant as it is today.
Anon #2: Good question.. it’s kind of like the question about living in a house near the high voltage lines in suburbia. Maybe we could do the “light bulb test” the next time we walk by the sub station. 
it was quite a time ago when that street was pretty damn desolate.
you should be glad you have a sub station, if you want electricity.
have you had brown outs and block outs during recent storms? much of the city has.
“you should be glad you have a sub station, if you want electricity.”
Are you a complete idiot!! There are six, count them six, and only six, substations in all of DC. That includes Anacostia, Columbia Heights, Shaw, SW, Northern SE, Congress Heights, and every other ghettoized place in the city. To say we, in one of the wealthiest and up and coming places in DC should “be glad” is ridiculous. Let them put their ugly station somewhere where the people (and the property values) won’t mind!!! If only 6 substations are required to power the whole city, then let those 6 substations go where they will go unnoticed.
That location should be the host of some upscale or hip restaurant, cafe, club, bar, or anything else that this neighborhood could use more of…not a waste of space, hosting an incompetent monopoly!!!
One could only hope that in the terrorists next attempt at DC, they miss anything of importance and hit that damn thing.
Sub-stations are not easily picked up and moved. But, your point about the “prime real estate” is totally valid. We suspect that the proximity to the federal government’s land has something to do with the sub station location.
I believe those facades were rescued from downtown dc buildings that were torn out for new developments. I think PDAC might have forced them to preserve the facades, and came up with the idea to use them to cover the substation. Clearly, it would have been best to not tear down the old buildings in the first place, but oh well. I wonder if there are small storefront businesses which could survive with just a few feet of space behind the facade – kiosk-like businesses selling newspapers, flowers, etc, assuming even a few feet might be available behind the walls.
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What a shameful lack of foresight. The substation could be a couple blocks away over by the court building or the freeway, where no one would notice its ugliness, but now it’s in the middle of a vibrant and increasingly residential neighborhood. I hope this means our power never goes out!