This evening, Mayor Vince Gray and other city officials will celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Its predecessor, the similarly named Washington Convention Center, occupied the space between H Street and New York Avenue NW that later became a parking lot, bus pickup location, and trapeze school, and is now home to the steadily rising buildings that will become CityCenterDC.
So now’s as good a time as any to look back and what was and what is.
What was—-the Washington Convention Center during demolition in January 2005:
What is—-the Walter E. Washington Convention Center:
And a bonus fun fact: In 2008, the convention center earned its place in the Guinness Book of World Records for largest silver-service dinner when it hosted 16,206 Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority members at their centennial dinner.
