Will you help save one of Reston’s architectural treasures?

Reston’s American Press Institute (API) building is under the threat of demolition.

A local developer has submitted an application for rezoning the property in order to build townhouses and condos. He’s not interested in adaptive reuse of the historical and architecturally significant building, which is located at 11690 Sunrise Valley Drive.

A local petition has been signed by more than 1,518 individuals, representing Reston, the rest of Fairfax County and Virginia, 39 other U.S. states and territories, and dozens of countries around the world. We encourage you to sign it:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/breuer

The API building is the only building in Virginia designed by the internationally acclaimed architect Marcel Breuer, a master of Modernism. Breuer also designed the Whitney Museum of American Art (now the Met Breuer) in New York City, UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, the U.S. Embassy in The Hague/Netherlands, and the HUD, Robert C. Weaver and Hubert Humphrey buildings in Washington, D.C. Many of his buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places.

In addition to its architecture, the building also has historical significance: Tens of thousands of journalists and newsmedia executives — representing a “Who’s Who in Journalism” — attended leadership seminars, conferences and industry summits in the nonprofit’s headquarters from 1974 to 2012. It was the showcase of North American newsmedia training.

In addition to signatures, a distinguished coalition is growing, including the Reston Citizens Association, American Institute of Architects (as well as its Virginia and Northern Virginia organizations), Fairfax County Architectural Review Board, Fairfax County History Commission, and Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Historic Resources. (Please see the petition for the complete list of supporters.) Add to that citizens, community leaders, architects, historians and preservationists, journalists and other newsmedia executives across North America, former staff, and others who believe that Breuer’s building should be preserved.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors soon will hold a public hearing on the developer’s application. (Meeting date: TBD). We encourage you to sign the petition now, so that all signatures can be shared with the supervisors in advance of the meeting.

Please help us save the API building. It deserves a second life, not a demolition permit.

LEARN MORE:

• AIA letter of support
• Letter of support: Robert Gatje FAIA, former partner of Marcel Breuer and Associates
• ARB Letter and Motion to County Officials (May 24, 2016)
• Letter from David Edwards, Architectural Historian for the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Historic Resources (May 17, 2016)
• Letters Fairfax County ARB and History Commission (Oct. and Nov. 2015)
• API Building History