WASHINGTON — In 2018, he got a statue in his image. But this year, former D.C. Mayor Marion S. Barry was awarded a whole building named after him.
On Monday, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser signed and designated 441 4th Street NW -- commonly called One Judiciary Square -- as the Marion S. Barry Building.
"Mayor Barry embodied the Washingtonian spirit: One that time and time again gets back up and keeps on moving," Bowser said in her tweet as she signed the designation.
The office building above the Judiciary Square Metro station currently houses the D.C. attorney general’s office, the D.C. zoning office, and various other government agencies. It also serves as a popular polling place during local elections.
During summer 2010 through winter 2012, the building underwent a $7.5 million project to reduce energy consumption throughout, resulting in a new building management system, digital controls, and upgrades to the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system.
Barry, who died in 2014 and has a complicated legacy, remains beloved in many neighborhoods across the District, particularly in Ward 8, for which he called home for decades and represented as a councilmember.
In 2018, Bowser unveiled an 8-foot-tall bronze statue of Barry, honoring his legacy in the District.
"After Martin Luther King had a dream. Before President Barack Obama gave us hope. It was Marion Barry who brought opportunity to Washington D.C.," Bowser said.
Barry served four terms as D.C. mayor, and three 16 years on the city council. That time did not come without setbacks.
In the middle of it all, in 1990 he spent six months in prison for cocaine possession after an FBI drug bust caught him on camera.
"We all have a past and he or she without sin cast the first stone," explained Rosco Grant Jr., who worked in government with Barry for years. "If he did anything, he hurt himself. Nobody else."
The statue was crafted by artist Steven Weitzman and now sits outside of the John A. Wilson Building.