Located in the Georgetown Historic District, this peculiar staircase connects Prospect Street NW to Canal Road NW below. This steep and narrow set of 75 steps is terrifying for more than the risk of falling. Featured in the 1973 film The Exorcist, this site draws horror fans from around the world. But before it made its film debut, the staircase was originally constructed in 1895 adjacent to the Capital Traction Company Union Station as a lightwell and passageway for pedestrians. The Exorcist Steps are not actually considered haunted in the traditional sense, although they do create a creepy atmosphere thanks to their association with the film.
Part of the Haunted History of DC Tour
Within Georgetown Historic District
]]>When The Ritz Apartments was completed in the mid-1920s, Washington was growing rapidly and there was a need for high-density, middle-income housing. Buildings like The Ritz were constructed to meet this demand. This six-story apartment building was designed by Louis T. Rouleau in the Classical Revival style for the Ell & Kay Building & Investment Company, and completed in 1927.
The conventional mid-rise apartment building has four courtyards across its mirrored, E-shaped plan. The building is clad in red brick masonry on the first five-floors and tan stucco on the sixth-floor. The top-floor also includes arched window surrounds with shells, as well as spiraled corner columns, in terra cotta. Cast stone is visible on the first-floor, most notably around the grand main entrance on Euclid Street NW. The main entrance features fluted pilasters with Corinthian capitals and an entablature. Above the entablature are bas relief urns, scroll brackets, and four windows with triangular pediments.
The Ritz is located one block west of 16th Street NW in Adams Morgan, within the historic Meridian Hill subdivision. Rouleau also designed The Mozart, located one block to the north at Fuller Street.
DC Inventory: April 28, 2026
National Register: August 7, 2026
]]>When The Mozart Apartments was completed in 1926, Washington was growing rapidly and there was a demand for high-density, middle-income housing. Conventional mid-rise apartment buildings like this were constructed to meet this need. Thus, The Mozart had the potential to house roughly 60-families.
The five-story, brick masonry clad apartment building was designed by Louis T. Rouleau in the Classical Revival style for the Ell & Kay Building & Investment Company. The building has a U-shaped plan and features cast stone accents, including quoins, belt courses, and sills. Stone masonry can also be found on the main entrance’s door surround, pilasters, and entablature.
The building is located one block west of 16th Street NW in Adams Morgan, within the historic Meridian Hill subdivision. Rouleau also designed The Ritz, located one block to the south at Euclid Street NW.
DC Inventory: April 28, 2026
National Register: August 4, 2026
]]>Journalist Doris Fleeson lived at 3344 P Street NW from 1945 to 1959, giving this property its historical significance. Fleeson was a trailblazing female political journalist, and her time living and working at this Georgetown residence was particularly significant, both professionally and personally.
Fleeson was born in Sterling, Kansas, in 1901 and received a degree in journalism from the University of Kansas in 1923. She later moved to New York and eventually joined the staff of the New York Daily News, once the nation’s most widely-circulated newspaper. She married John O’Donnell, another Daily News reporter, in 1930, and they moved to Washington, DC, in 1932. That same year, Fleeson and O’Donnell started their column “Capital Stuff,” which ran in the Daily News until 1941.
Simultaneously, Fleeson was the only female reporter to permanently cover Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1932 presidential campaign. She had first met (then Governor) Roosevelt during her stint covering New York state politics. The following year, she cofounded the American Newspaper Guild. In 1937, Fleeson was elected president of the Women’s National Press Club. Over the years, Fleeson and her fellow female journalists would fight for admission to the National Press Club.
In 1942, Fleeson and O’Donnell divorced. While single, in 1945, she purchased the semi-detached residence in Georgetown. While living in Georgetown, Fleeson continued to report on presidential and congressional politics – notably, a series of articles on controversial Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin. She became well-known through a syndicated Washington Evening Star column, which started in 1945 and was published in 120 newspapers by 1958.
Fleeson holds particular significance as America’s first woman with a syndicated national affairs column. In addition to her award-winning writing, she appeared on radio and television programs, such as Meet the Press and Face the Nation, and lectured extensively. In 1959, Fleeson and her second husband, Dan A. Kimball (whom she married in 1958), moved out and, in 1960, she sold the Georgetown residence. At that time, Fleeson and Kimball moved into their new home at 2120 S Street NW in Sheridan-Kalorama. Fleeson died in 1970.
The semi-detached residence is one of two buildings (1427 and 1429 34th Street; 1429 is now 3344 P Street) constructed in 1876 at the corner of 34th and P streets in Georgetown. The two residences have a continuous wood cornice with brackets, a common feature of the Italianate style, on the 34th Street elevation. Although the entrance for 1427 is still on 34th Street, the entrance for 1429 was moved to P Street during an early 1930s remodel, giving the historic landmark its current address (3344 P Street NW).
This remodel also resulted in new six-over-six windows, and the removal of the windows’ hood molds and their replacement with flat wood lintels (note the difference between the two residences’ windows and surrounds on 34th Street). These changes gave the residence a Colonial Revival update, a then popular style. The residence has a brick masonry foundation and is clad in wood German lap siding. The entrance is slightly elevated and reached via a short staircase.
DC Inventory: April 23, 2026
Within Georgetown Historic District
]]>The Capitol Power Plant Pump House was completed in 1910 to provide water for the Capitol Power Plant, also completed in 1910, approximately 1 mile north at E Street and New Jersey Avenue SE. The pump house's water was used for the power plant's coal-fired boilers — with coal delivered via the nearby railroad line. This steam power provided electricity and heat for the U.S. Capitol Building, Senate and House office buildings, and Library of Congress (Jefferson Building).
Within a short period of time, new tunnels were constructed, expanding the electricity and heat to additional buildings, including Union Station. Demand for air conditioning in the 1930s led to the construction of an addition to the pump house in 1935, as well as an expansion of the power plant.
Nonetheless, starting in the 1950s, the pump house became obsolete, as the US Capitol Complex opted for electrical power from PEPCO and municipal water. In 1961, the pump house was transferred to the DC Government, where it sat abandoned until the early 1990s.
Since 1993, the former pump house has been used by Earth Conservation Corps (ECC), a non-profit devoted to youth development and protecting the environment, specifically the Anacostia River and other area watersheds. This organization, established in 1989, provides opportunities for District residents between the ages of 17 and 25. In 1993, ECC collaborated with Mayor Marion Barry and his administration to obtain a lease on the building. Prior to ECC moving in, the U.S. Navy Seabees stabilized and rehabilitated the once-industrial building, allowing it to become the community anchor and nature center it is today. At the time, a concrete platform was added. Murals were also added in the 1990s.
For more than 30 years, ECC has engaged youth through its environmental initiatives and programming. ECC members, interns, and volunteers have helped clean up and restore the once polluted and neglected river.
The former pump house, since renamed the Monique Johnson Anacostia River Center (Johnson was a founding ECC member), is a successful example of adaptive reuse along the river. Over the years, the Monique Johnson Center has helped facilitate many public and private partnerships, including with Anacostia Riverkeeper. The building is managed by the DC Department of Parks & Recreation.
The former pump house sits just off shore, above the Anacostia River. The building, which is connected to Diamond Teague Park and the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail by a pier, is supported by pilings encased in a concrete foundation.
The one-story building is constructed of brick masonry and composed of two sections: the original 1910 building facing the river, with a hip-roof clad in terra-cotta tile, and the 1935 addition facing the shore, slightly shorter with a flat-roof. The original building is more ornate than the addition and was influenced by the Mediterranean Revival style.
The 1910 portion also had a tall opening that allowed for machinery and equipment to be taken in and out of the interior space. This former opening is visible on the south elevation, facing the river, and has been replaced by a doorway and two large windows. A hoist system is still visible, illustrating the building's once industrial use.
DC Inventory: March 26, 2026
National Register: May 27, 2026
]]>Francis Junior High School, which opened in 1928, was the District's first purpose-built junior high for African American students. The original building, dating to 1927-29, was designed by DC Municipal Architect Albert L. Harris in a Renaissance Revival style. Many public buildings are attributed to Harris, who is known for his Renaissance Revival and Colonial Revival designs. The school is named for Dr. John R. Francis (1856-1913), who was an African American physician, DC Board of Education member, and Howard University Trustee.
In response to population growth and overcrowded classrooms, new school construction in the District accelerated during the interwar period. This construction was spurred by the Five-Year School Building Program Act of 1925. Just prior to the passage of this federal legislation, in 1920, the DC Board of Education established the junior high school concept, taking two grades from elementary school and one grade from high school.
Following the establishment of junior high schools in the District, Shaw Junior High School — which first occupied the former M Street High School building, followed by the former McKinley Manual Traing School building — opened in 1919-20. Shaw was the first junior high school for DC's African American students. Francis Junior High School, which was completed in 1927 and dedicated the following year, was the District's first purpose-built junior high for African Americans. Two years later, in 1929, Garnet-Patterson Junior High School was completed and became the second purpose-built junior high for African Americans. The DC school system would continue to be racially segregated until the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Bolling v. Sharpe (1954).
Since 2024, the school has been known as the John Francis Educational Campus. This followed school consolidations in the early 21st century, including the closure of Thaddeus Stevens School.
The oldest part of the John Francis Educational Campus, was designed by Harris and dates to 1927-29. It consists of four, three-story wings surrounding a two-story auditorium — all clad in brick masonry. The primary elevation and main entrance, located on the south wing, face N Street NW. The first floor of this elevation is clad in limestone.
The south wing, at three-stories tall; east and west wings, both originally at two-stories in height; and auditorium were completed in 1927. Two years later, an additional floor was added to the east and west wings, and the north wing, at three-stories tall, was completed, enclosing the auditorium on all sides. In addition to its modern auditorium, the school featured vocational classrooms.
School buildings constructed in phases, referred to as "extensible," were common in DC at the time. This approach, which came in three styles/layouts, allowed for additions as needed, due to student population increases, and as funding permitted.
A compatible, two-story addition, connecting to the east elevation of the original building, was designed by DC Municipal Architect Merrell Coe and completed in 1953. Over 70 years later, in 2024, a three-story addition was completed just to the west of the 1927-29 building, and the 1953 addition was expanded. The expansion of the 1953 addition resulted in a new, enclosed courtyard ("outdoor classroom"). At the time, the entire complex was rehabilitated and modernized, and rebranded as the John Francis Educational Campus.
DC Inventory: December 18, 2025
National Register: February 23, 2026
]]>Holy Name College and the James Sherwood Farmhouse sit on 10-acres in the Brookland neighborhood. The two-story, wood-frame farmhouse was completed by farmer James Sherwood in 1886 within what had historically been “Cuckhold’s Delight,” a land patent dating to 1686. The Queen Anne style residence, with its corner tower, porch, and decorative wood shingling, is a remnant of the once rural area, when it was known as Washington County. Sherwood lived and worked at his farm, with his wife and five children, until at least 1910. During these years, James, along with his brother Jesse, were also involved in real estate, constructing many houses in the “Sherwood’s Addition to Brookland” subdivision. The land was purchased by the Franciscans’ Holy Name Province in 1920, but James Sherwood continued to live in Brookland (at another address) and eventually became a bank vice president.
Various Catholic monastic orders and institutions were attracted to the area around The Catholic University of America (1889), giving the area its nickname of “Little Rome.” This included the Franciscan Monastery, Marist College, St. Paul's College, St. Joseph’s Seminary, and Holy Redeemer College, amongst other institutions. Almost a decade after the land's purchase, Holy Name College was constructed by Turner Construction Company for the Franciscans between 1929 and 1930. The building was designed by Buffalo-based architect Chester Oakley in a Romanesque Revival style, with Art Deco detailing. The building is rectangular in shape, with a central cloister (or courtyard) and north and south wings extending from the east elevation. The main entrance pavilion is located on the west elevation.
Holy Name College included classrooms, a two-story chapel, a dining room and kitchen, laundry facilities, and dormitories for students and faculty. At the time of the college building's construction, the farmhouse was moved just to the south of the new building, where it was reoriented and renovated, and connected to the college building by a brick arcade. The farmhouse was converted into a convent for the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, and later provided additional dormitory, meeting, office, and storage spaces.
In 1957, enrollment peaked at Holy Name College with 147 students, and then declined as the structure of Catholic theological education changed. In 1984, Howard University purchased the property and then made some alterations to the historic buildings, most notably infilling the enclosed cloister of the former Holy Name College building. The former Holy Name College building was rededicated as Benjamin E. Mays Hall in 1987. Mays was the first dean of Howard University’s School of Religion. From the mid-1980s until 2015, the buildings housed the university’s School of Divinity.
The former college building is connected to 14th Street NE by a long driveway and allée of trees, which terminates at the building’s entrance pavilion, located at the building’s northwest corner. This driveway also aligns with the building’s tower, at the northeast corner, which is capped by a bronze statue of Jesus Christ. The entrance pavilion includes arched doors and windows in the Romanesque Revival style. The building is clad in textured, polychromatic brick in contrasting bonds. The building’s west elevation is notable for its terra-cotta “Heroic Figures” that stand on brick buttresses. The southwest corner features another pavilion, called the Friar’s Entry (St. Francis Corner).
DC Inventory: October 30, 2025
National Register: January 8, 2026
]]>Pershing Park, which sits in the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue NW between 14th and 15th streets, is a Modernist park plaza designed by landscape architect M. Paul Friedberg and constructed in 1980 to 1981. The construction of the plaza in the early 1980s grew out of efforts to beautify Pennsylvania Avenue in the 1960s and 1970s. This beautification and redevelopment was carried out by the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation (PADC), which operated from 1972 to 1996. Simultaneously, Congress authorized construction of a General John J. Pershing Memorial in 1956 and 1966.
In 1974, the PADC’s redevelopment plan was released and within in it proposed six new plazas and parks fronting Pennsylvania Avenue. In addition to Pershing Park was Freedom (Western) Plaza – directly to the east of Pershing Park – John Marshall Park, Meade Plaza, Market Square, and Indiana Plaza. All six of the new public spaces were designed by prominent architects and landscape architects of the Modern and Postmodern variety.
At the east end of Pershing Park is the General John J. Pershing Memorial, which was designed by architect Wallace K. Harrison, and memorializes General John J. Pershing and the American Expeditionary Forces of World War I. The memorial features a bronze statue sculpted by Robert White and installed in 1983.
Initially successful, Pershing Park became neglected over the years. At the same time, Congress authorized construction of the World War I Memorial in 2014. The park was eventually slated for redevelopment and, in 2021, the park reopened following a rehabilitation. Despite some alterations to the plaza, Friedberg’s original design is largely intact.
Pershing Park now includes a new World War I Memorial on the west end of the public space, across the plaza from the original Pershing Memorial. The most prominent element of the new memorial, designed by architect Joe Weishaar, is A Soldier’s Journey, a sculpture by Sabin Howard, and the Peace Fountain. This bronze sculpture, at 58-feet long, features 38 human figures, including “The Everyman” soldier. The soldier moves through five “vignettes” of World War I: Departure, Initiation, Ordeal, Aftermath, and Return. With the installation of the sculpture in 2024, the national World War I Memorial was officially completed nearly 100 years after the DC World War Memorial (1931) on the National Mall.
National Register: August 6, 2025
]]>Marist Hall began as Marist College and served as a hub of advanced studies for the Society of Mary, one of the earliest Roman Catholic religious orders. The Society of Mary was legally incorporated in DC in 1896 with the goal of training young men in theology, philosophy, canonical law, priesthood, and missionary work. The Society of Mary’s first permanent administrative center and house of studies was Brookland’s historic Brooks Mansion.
Marist College was constructed just four years later, opening in 1900. Along with Holy Cross College (now known as O’Boyle Hall, 1899), Marist College was one of the first purpose-built seminaries to affiliate with the Catholic University of America. It embodies the goals and aspirations of the Society of Mary – to enhance Catholic education in partnership with the Catholic University of America, which was founded in 1887.
Marist College was designed in the Romanesque Revival style by Lemuel W. Norris, an esteemed architect who later worked for the DC Office of the Building Inspector and the Office of the Municipal Architect. Norris was also one of three architects who designed some of the first buildings for the Catholic University of America and its affiliated orders. Many Catholic institutions were established near the campus, giving Brookland the nickname of “Little Rome.” Marist College was sited atop a high ridge directly north of the then-campus.
Enrollment at Marist College grew steadily until the early 1960s, but a sharp decline the following decade left much of the building vacant. The neighboring Catholic University, however, was growing rapidly and needed space. Thus, in 1975, the Marists and Catholic University agreed to a trade. Marist College would be transferred to the university and become Marist Hall in exchange for nearby real estate. Marist Hall became an integral academic building at the university, thanks to its location and legacy as a meeting place for students and faculty. Until the mid-2010s, Marist Hall housed large classrooms and around 70-80 faculty offices. Other than minor exterior repairs, Marist College remained largely untouched between 1900 and 1975. Following its acquisition by Catholic University, the interior of the building underwent extensive renovation.
DC Inventory: July 24, 2025
National Register: September 22, 2025
]]>Like many historic buildings in Chinatown, the present building is comprised of several periods of construction.
The portion of the building viewed from H Street NW was constructed before building permits were recorded. However, a 1980 downtown building survey dates the structure to 1869. This structure consists of brick bearing walls with internal wood post and beam framing. A significant portion of this framing still exists at the second floor and above.
In 1886, the first permit filed for this property was to build five single-family dwellings at the rear of the lot, facing the alley. The 1888 Sanborn Map shows this grouping of dwellings behind the “Cornice Factory” at 623 and 625 H Street. The eastern portion of the lot is labeled as a three-story carpenter shop and the western portion is labeled as a store. Other uses up to the early 1920s included a blacksmith shop.
By 1922, the houses had been removed, and the present concrete frame addition had been constructed and was being used as a garage. Minor alterations were made to the exterior and interior first floor in 1936. That same year, interior partitions were added to the first floor to accommodate an auto showroom.
In 1945, substantial alterations were made to the building. Work included internal reconfiguration and the addition of stone veneer on the front façade. It is also likely that stucco was added to the front upper façade at this time.
In 1987, alterations were made once again, as the building was converted into the Da Hua Market Co., a "multi-use commercial shopping market with grocery store, open mall type shopping area and office space." A faux Chinese roof was added above the existing cornice. In 2006-07, the building was rehabilitated to its present state, by Shalom Baranes Associates for Douglas Development.
This site is a part of the Historic Chinatown digital tour.
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