It wasn t easy, but the then 93-year-old Adas Israel Synagogue building was relocated to make room for Metro on December 18, 1969. (Photo source: Wikimedia Commons)
As many realtors will tell you, the first three rules of real estate are, “location, location, location.” Well, in the late 1960s, location presented a very serious problem for transit planners. Construction of Metro’s Red Line was getting underway and WMATA had acquired the block bounded by 5
th, 6
th, F and G Streets, NW to serve as a staging area and, eventually, the home of Metro’s headquarters.
There was only one problem. The block was also the home of Washington’s first synagogue building, which had been standing on the site since 1876. While the Adas Israel congregation had moved out of the building in the early 1900s, it still held historical significance and preservationists did not want to see it demolished.