The Old Swedish Ambassador’s Residence, completed in 1924, was the home of 12 Swedish ambassadors between 1950 and 2019. The mansion was originally constructed for David Lawrence, owner and founder of U.S. News and World Report, and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Nixon in 1970. Located at 3900 Nebraska Avenue NW, the Old Swedish Ambassador’s Residence is known for its iconic Spanish Colonial Revival style as designed by Arthur B. Heaton, as well as the important role it played in the international relationship between the United States and Sweden.
The land, just south of Tenleytown, on which the Old Swedish Ambassador Residence would be located was purchased, first, in 1922 by David Lawrence, a prominent, controversial, and looming figure in both Washington and the nation’s political and news spheres. He hired architect Arthur B. Heaton to design the home for the Lawrence family, which was constructed between 1923 and 1924. The home was built in the Spanish Colonial Revival and Mission styles, which were popularized by the 1915 Panama-California Exposition in San Diego.
The picturesque home consists of an asymmetrical, L-shaped plan, and is two-stories tall with a basement that is not visible from the front facade. Heaton’s design of the residence included many characteristics of the Spanish Colonial Revival and Mission styles, such as low pitched roofs covered with clay tiles, stucco wall cladding, and carved wooden doors similar to those found on early Spanish missions in California and the Southwest. The front facade of the house includes the most ornate details, such as the arched, double-leaf paneled wooden door with an elaborate and decorative cast stone surrounding it – which is reminiscent of Plateresque and Churrigueresque styles. At the top is a shield that originally included the monogram “ELD” for David Lawrence and his wife Ellanor, but is now the shielded crest of the Swedish national emblem. The residence is only the second building that Heaton designed in the Spanish Colonial Revival style.
There was also a large and extensive plan for the landscape of the 11-acres that originally made up the property. It was designed by female landscape architect Ruth Bramley Dean (1889-1932), but very little of her original design – which included a formal garden for the southeast side of the house with access to a pool garden, a tennis court on the north side of the house, and a greenhouse and orchard – would be implemented. What remains of Dean’s design are the entrance drive, stone terraces, and service court (partial).
As the home of David Lawrence (1888-1973) and his family from 1924 to 1945, the residence would be used for meetings of the Princeton Alumni’s Triangle Club, as Lawrence was a member and president of this collegiate organization. Both of Lawrence’s daughters hosted their large wedding receptions at the residence, and the house would also be leased for 10 months to wealthy heiress Elinor Ryan. Lawrence’s daughter, Nancy, was a debutante and hosted many events, such as teas and evening soirees; and in 1940, a formal debutante party was held there for Nancy. The family left the residence in 1945, having purchased a large estate near Centreville, Virginia in 1935 that had previously been used as a country retreat.
The residence was then owned by Madana Real Estate for a short period of time between 1946 and 1950. Madana advertised that the building would be suitable for a “Private home, Embassy, private school or other institution. ”A fire that started in the basement oil heater extensively damaged the 20-room house in December 1946, causing $50,000 of damage to a house supposedly valued at $100,000. Despite this destruction, the home was soon repaired for future use. The residence was bought in early 1950 by the Swedish government, and the Swedish Ambassador, Erick Boheman, moved in that spring with his family. They moved from the previous Swedish Ambassador’s Residence at 2249 R Street NW, opposite Sheridan Circle (this property is now the Embassy of Kenya). The new residence soon became well known for its extensive and elaborate receptions, with an ever-evolving cast of visitors to the residence who would often compliment the beauty of the property, with its surrounding green space, and the similarities it had to the American Embassy in Stockholm. One such celebration held there was the 70th birthday of King Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden in 1952, which was attended by several hundred guests, including diplomats from around the world, U.S. government officials, and Supreme Court Justices. The Bohemans were the force behind the residence’s reputation as a venue for high society events.
The residence was not without scandal, however, as Gunnar Jarring, the new Swedish Ambassador to the United States in 1958, was entangled by two. The first scandal involved an embassy aide who was indicted for embezzling embassy funds, and the second scandal was in 1963, during the height of the Cold War, when a former attaché to the Swedish embassy admitted to sharing intelligence with the Soviet Union about Swedish and American military plans. Nonetheless, the 1960s also saw a brief lull in tension and a rise in American infatuation with Swedish royalty, after several members of the Swedish royal family toured the country and attended events at the residence.
The next decade brought on the peak of tensions between the American and Swedish governments. A rift generated between the two nations over the actions committed by the American government during the Vietnam War, particularly because of Sweden’s opposition to the entire conflict. In turn, the Nixon Administration advised Sweden not to send another ambassador to the U.S., and the residence would sit vacant from 1972 to 1974. During this absence, the residence was broken into and portraits of major Swedish leaders were stolen and never replaced.
The relationship between the U.S. and Sweden rekindled in the early 1970s. Following President Nixon’s resignation in August 1974, the new Swedish Ambassador, Count Wilhem Wachtmeister, was welcomed. The Wachtmeisters are known for the subsequent “Party venue years,” and are estimated to have hosted more than 65,000 guests over the 15 years that the ambassador served – making him also the longest serving ambassador in Washington. The Wachtmeisters hosted the Swedish king at this residence, and held an annual “Opera Ball” with famous celebrities and Washington’s elite in attendance. These events saw the likes of Joan Kennedy and Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, and were declared a “who’s who” of Washington. Along with these festivities, the following decade would also see controversies, such as demonstrations and strikes that were held at the residence.
The residence has sat vacant since 2019, when the Swedish Ambassador relocated to the House of Sweden, a modern building that was completed in 2006 and is located at 901 30th Street NW on the Georgetown Waterfront. With this move, the curtains closed on an era teeming with elegant galas, tea parties, royal guests, and controversies. The home and surrounding property was purchased in 2023.
DC Inventory: December 21, 2023
National Register: April 11, 2024
]]>As more people moved to DC in the early 20th century, newly-established neighborhoods, like Chevy Chase, drew local businesses, including banks to deposit and withdraw money, to support the neighborhoods’ local residents. Many banks were located downtown, but as more people moved to suburban areas of the District, neighborhood savings banks became more convenient for those living farther away from the city center. The Chevy Chase Savings Bank was one such neighborhood bank, meant to provide services for families and the local businesses.
The Italian Renaissance Revival style building designed by Arthur B. Heaton is the only surviving bank of two that he designed in this particular style (the other, now demolished, was the Washington Loan & Trust Company’s West End Branch at 17th and G streets NW). The Chevy Chase neighborhood — which is located along the state line and encompasses residential blocks in both the District of Columbia and Montgomery County, Maryland — dates back to the 1880s and its establishment as a streetcar suburb. Because of limitations on commercial use, the commercial strip along Connecticut Avenue NW evolved in a unique way. Due to different ownership along Connecticut Avenue’s west side — the east side being owned by the Chevy Chase Land Company, which was bound by these limitations — a commercial strip was able to develop along the corridor’s west side blocks, within Connecticut Avenue Terrace. The east side of Connecticut Avenue, on the other hand, would not gain its commercial character until the early 1950s. Unfortunately, banks, like other businesses at the time, practiced and promoted discriminatory policies and tactics. These practices also extended to racially restrictive covenants in housing, which were found throughout the city’s neighborhoods, including in Chevy Chase.
The Chevy Chase Savings Bank opened in 1921 in an office located at the southwest corner of McKinley Street and Connecticut Avenue. However, only one year later, the bank purchased the property (one block south at Morrison Street) that the current bank building stands on, expanding their offices as the neighborhood grew. Its new, larger location, which was built in 1926, worked well for private clients and small businesses, rooting itself as a trusted institution in the neighborhood and city. The new bank building, with its sandstone and granite exterior, featured medallions of Pierre L’Enfant, George Washington, and the 1920s Peace Dollar (both the obverse and reverse), hinting at a wave of nostalgia for American history during the time of construction.
The building was constructed one year after the completion of the adjacent Chevy Chase Arcade, further establishing the Chevy Chase commercial strip. These and other businesses along the Connecticut Avenue corridor, such as the Chevy Chase Theater (Avalon Theater), built in 1922, supported the surrounding residential neighborhoods, which were quickly developing. However, in 1933, as the Great Depression continued to intensify, a national bank “holiday” was declared and banks were closed throughout the country. The bank soon reopened as a branch of Riggs National Bank. The consolidation helped stabilize the bank, and allowed its customers to return without fear of losing their money.
The continued trust in the bank led to an expansion of the building in 1958. This expansion added three additional bays to the western portion of the bank building, forming an arcade of six arched windows along Morrison Street. The architectural firm, Mills, Petticord, and Mills matched the exterior of the addition to the original designed by Heaton, but records indicate that the interior of the bank was extensively renovated. Christian Wohlgemuth, Jr., constructed both the original building and the addition.
It continued as a Riggs Bank branch until 2005, when Riggs was sold to PNC Bank, a Pittsburgh-based company. It continues to operate under PNC.
DC Inventory: January 26, 2023
National Register: April 27, 2023
]]>This warehouse complex is composed of two main buildings: the Schlitz Brewing Company building (1908) on Randolph Place NE (the northern portion of the block) and the National Geographic Society Warehouse (1924) on R Street NE (the southern portion of the block). Two additions were constructed in 1913 and 1920, and a final addition (a garage) was built in 1937.
These buildings illustrate the evolution of the Washington warehouse type, as well as industrial architecture and construction more generally. Following the McMillan Plan of 1902, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad was pushed northwards towards Eckington, and the streetcar suburb became a center of industry. In 1920, the neighborhood was zoned for "industrial" use in the city's first zoning code.
Located adjacent to the railyard — and separating the residential portion of Eckington from the railroad tracks — the warehouse complex was a critical link in the distribution of products. Goods arrived from around the nation, via the railroad, and were then transported locally — first by wagon, then by truck. With these innovations in transportation, national brands started to flood the local market.
This commercial development is represented particulary well by Milwaukee-based Schlitz Brewing Company, whose arrival in the city posed a threat to Washington's homegrown brewing industry. This two-story building, designed by Charles L. Lesser of Milwaukee, brings to mind a "brewer's castle." It consists of a steel-frame and concrete-slab structure, as well as load-bearing brick masonry walls, and housed both production and distribution facilities.
DC's National Geographic Society constructed their warehouse with reinforced concrete, brick curtain walls, and multi-light steel sash windows. At four-stories high, the warehouse was multi-purpose, with storage, mailing, subscription, and administrative capabilities. The building was designed by local master architect Arthur B. Heaton, and includes beautiful brick and stone masonry cladding. One of its most notable features is its owl sculptures above the entrance on 3rd Street NE.
DC Inventory: July 28, 2022
National Register: January 3, 2023
]]>Founded in 1888 by a group of high-level scholars, scientists, and adventurers, the National Geographic Society (NGS) has become a well-recognized scholastic and journalistic source for stories, maps, and photographs about science, exploration, and conservation. The four-building complex inhabited by the NGS has served as an exhibition space and publication office for over 40 years. Each of the buildings has a significant organizational, architectural, and local history that together forms the broader story of the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C. Hubbard Hall: Designed by architects Hornblower & Marshall, this Classical-Revival style building was constructed in 1904 through funding from the Bell and Hubbard families. As the first headquarters building for the NGS, Hubbard Hall was created with the intention of being both a functioning office and a comfortable communal meeting space for academic discussions. The building is an iconic structure on 16th Street, distinguished by its hipped roof with terracotta tiles, large arched windows, and a stone surround with a cross setting that reads “National Geographic Society.” 16th Street Administration Building: Designed by prominent Washington architect Arthur B. Heaton, this Classical-Revival style structure is clad in limestone with double-leaf brass doors and rusticated stonework. Constructed in 1912, the style is indicative of larger architectural trends in D.C. during the early 20th century. The administration building is connected to Hubbard Hall via a paved brick courtyard with granite steps. Additions were added to the building in 1931 and 1949. National Geographic Society Headquarters: Internationally prominent architect Edward Durell Stone designed this memorable Modern building in a New Formalist style with reinforced concrete hung with white marble. Constructed with minimum ornamentation, clear lines, and vertical orientation, the building was completed in 1963 and dedicated in 1964 to much fanfare. M Street Addition (Non-Contributing): This office and auditorium building does not reflect the historical and architectural design of the aforementioned structures included in the National Geographic Society Headquarters. Designed by Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, and constructed in 1984 with pale pink concrete panels and a mechanical penthouse, this non-contributing structure serves a function in the NGS, but does not contribute to the historic significance of the campus. Today, the National Geographic Society continues to utilize the headquarters as a museum exhibit space, working offices, and community education center.
DC Inventory: March 24, 2022
National Register: June 5, 2023
Hubbard Hall & Administration Building Located Within the Sixteenth Street Historic District
]]>Founded in 1891, the Potomac Electric Company merged with the Washington Railway and Electric Company to become the Potomac Electric Power Company (PEPCO) in 1902. In 1907, PEPCO established a new central generating power plant along Benning Road, and a series of substations to distribute the electricity throughout the city. Mostly, the substations are responsible for reducing the voltage transmitted from the generating plants and feeding the power to transformers near customers. Much of the sensitive equipment had to be placed under cover to protect it from the weather, while providing additional security and visual screening.
The styles of PEPCO’s substations reflected popular architectural philosophies of the time. For example, the earliest stations, built before 1928, were generally utilitarian buildings, or extensions of existing streetcar barns. But as PEPCO erected independent substations in the city’s expanding neighborhoods, it developed a policy of designing them with architectural sensitivity to the surroundings. This policy emanated from a 1906 proposal for this substation at Harvard Street and Sherman Avenue, which initially met community opposition.
In the period between 1929 and 1939, PEPCO hired architect Arthur B. Heaton (1875-1951) to design its buildings. Heaton elevated the company’s architectural standards and introduced a consistent Art Deco/Industrial Classicism, unifying them with a sort of corporate branding. This new aesthetic commenced with Heaton’s designs for PEPCO Substation No. 16 (1929; demolished) and No. 25 (1930) and continued through the decade.
As the development of suburban areas added to the demand for electrical distribution, PEPCO increasingly sited and designed substations to fit their neighborhoods. With World War II looming, the company showed a new sensitivity to system security. From 1939 to 1960, PEPCO architects designed substations to blend in architecturally with their surroundings and to decrease public awareness of them through the art of deception. Often designed to look like houses, substations might even have curtains and blinds in the windows, making it appear as if they were occupied by families. Commercial look-alike buildings, such as the Harrison Street substation, had display windows with changing displays advertising PEPCO, appliances, holidays, or the war effort. PEPCO constructed substations that blended into their surroundings throughout World War II and into the Cold War.
After 1960, PEPCO-designed substations no longer followed any prescribed aesthetic. The company continues to consider location, the character of the neighborhoods, and the technical requirements for delivering reliable electrical service in its design of new buildings.
DC Inventory: November 16, 2017
]]>Founded in 1891, the Potomac Electric Company merged with the Washington Railway and Electric Company to become the Potomac Electric Power Company (PEPCO) in 1902. In 1907, PEPCO established a new central generating power plant along Benning Road, and a series of substations to distribute the electricity throughout the city. Mostly, the substations are responsible for reducing the voltage transmitted from the generating plants and feeding the power to transformers near customers. Much of the sensitive equipment had to be placed under cover to protect it from the weather, while providing additional security and visual screening.
The styles of PEPCO's substations reflected popular architectural philosophies of the time. For example, the earliest stations, built before 1928, were generally utilitarian buildings, or extensions of existing streetcar barns. But as PEPCO erected independent substations in the city's expanding neighborhoods, it developed a policy of designing them with architectural sensitivity to the surroundings. This policy emanated from a 1906 proposal for this substation at Harvard Street and Sherman Avenue, which initially met community opposition.
In the period between 1929 and 1939, PEPCO hired architect Arthur B. Heaton (1875-1951) to design its buildings. Heaton elevated the company’s architectural standards and introduced a consistent Art Deco/Industrial Classicism, unifying them with a sort of corporate branding. This new aesthetic commenced with Heaton's designs for PEPCO Substation No. 16 (1929; demolished) and No. 25 (1930) and continued through the decade. As the development of suburban areas added to the demand for electrical distribution, PEPCO increasingly sited and designed substations to fit their neighborhoods. With World War II looming, the company showed a new sensitivity to system security.
From 1939 to 1960, PEPCO architects designed substations to blend in architecturally with their surroundings and to decrease public awareness of them through the art of deception. Often designed to look like houses, substations might even have curtains and blinds in the windows, making it appear as if they were occupied by families. Commercial look-alike buildings, such as the Harrison Street substation, had display windows with changing displays advertising PEPCO, appliances, holidays, or the war effort. PEPCO constructed substations that blended into their surroundings throughout World War II and into the Cold War.
After 1960, PEPCO-designed substations no longer followed any prescribed aesthetic. The company continues to consider location, the character of the neighborhoods, and the technical requirements for delivering reliable electrical service in its design of new buildings.
On the north elevation of the substation was the Unity Mural (1982), which was significant to DC's Latino community. In summer 2026, it was demolished, as part of a modernization and expansion of the substation.
DC Inventory: February 1, 2018
National Register: June 6, 2019
]]>Built in 1900, The Augusta Apartment Building was a part of DC's first wave of construction for apartment buildings, with Arthur B. Heaton as its main architect. Its mansion-like appearance allowed it to conceal its true purpose as an apartment building, and was built with unique Jacobethan Revival features, such as a tower and tapestry brickwork. In 1901, the building underwent an expansion under a different name, the Louisa, but the building retained its original name afterward.
With many DC residents hesitant to embrace apartment-style living in the late 19th century, the Augusta exemplifies early attempts to bridge the gaps between residents who wanted the look of a single-family home, while also creating a more functional building to house the city's growing population. Additionally, the Augusta appealed aesthetically to potential residents with its exterior design elements. Middle-class residents and those moving into the city found that buildings like the Augusta blended their aesthetic and economic needs, all while having the ability to live closer to where they worked. While it took time for residents to fully embrace apartment-style living within DC, the Augusta's influence as one of thirteen remaining purpose-built apartments constructed from this time was key to future housing developments within the city.
DC Inventory: January 17, 1990
National Register: September 9, 1994
This site is included on the D.C. Apartment Buildings tour as an example of a Mansion-type apartment building.
]]>Built in 1912 and designed by local architect Arthur B. Heaton, the Babcock–Macomb House was built for Kate Woodman Babcock, the widow of former Wisconsin Representative Joseph W. Babcock. She never lived in the home, instead selling it to Tucker Sands, vice president of the National Metropolitan Bank, in 1917. Sands, in turn, sold the house to the Macomb family in 1919; the house remained in the family until 1982, when it was purchased by the Republic of Cape Verde to serve as their embassy in the United States.
DC Inventory: February 1, 1989
National Register: February 10, 1995
]]>The Washington Railway and Electric Company (WRECO) Garage contributed to the development of mass transit systems in the District and surrounding commercial development of the area around the intersections of Seventh Street, U Street, Georgia Avenue, and Florida Avenue NW. The facade containing the primary public entrance to the garage has approximately 240 feet of frontage on the western side of the 2100 block of Georgia Avenue NW. The garage’s south wall stretches along V Street NW from Georgia Avenue to Eighth Street. Its west façade runs approximately 240 feet north along Eighth Street NW, terminating at the south wall of the Bond Bread Factory, which occupies the northern section of the square.
Designed by local architect Arthur B. Heaton, the Central Bus Garage built by the Washington Railway and Electric Company was the city’s first such facility for public transit. Heaton varied the roof line and the major walls with muscular piers and stepped parapets in the prevailing Art Deco style, and he used red, yellow, green, and blue-black brick to achieve greater texture and interest in long expanses of wall.
Built in 1930, the garage is a visual landmark on Georgia Avenue and one of a few remaining large service buildings that catered to local needs.
DC Inventory: May 23, 2013
National Register: February 5, 2014
]]>Established in 1883, Bunker Hill Elementary School's first building, a one-room brick structure, was used to educate white students before being reassigned to the city’s “colored” school division. A slightly larger building, erected in 1911, quickly proved inadequate for the growing Michigan Park community. After years of advocacy and a switch back to the segregated white division of the District’s schools in 1926, the current building was erected in stages through funding provided by the New Deal.
"Extensible" schools, which were popular in the District from the late 1920s to the mid-1940s, were designed to allow for incremental additions as needs arose. The first section of this school building was completed in 1940, and subsequent additions were made through the 1960s.
The Colonial Revival style building exemplifies the chosen style of school architecture then mandated by the DC Office of the Municipal Architect. Accomplished local architect Arthur B. Heaton worked with the office in executing the school's design.
Today, the Bunker Hill Elementary School building remains in operation as part of the Brookland Education Campus.
DC Inventory: April 26, 2012
National Register: May 5, 2014
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