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

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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

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Built in 1921, the University Club of Washington, DC, is a still-standing testament to the ever-evolving social scene of Washington. Originally constructed for the Racquet Club (organized in 1919), and a prime example of the Classical Revival style, the University Club was designed as an athletic club for men and included state-of-the-art athletic facilities, such as a swimming pool, bowling alley, and squash courts. Over the years, the Racquet Club – and later, the University Club, following a merger in 1936 – would see many prominent members, including General John G. Pershing, honorary member President Warren G. Harding, honorary member Vice President Calvin Coolidge, and William Howard Taft when he was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Private clubs, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, were established to improve the social standing and physical appearance of American cities. At the time, most of them were exclusive to wealthy white men, many of whom were prominent figures in politics, government, business, and the military.

Private clubs offered them space for conversations that centered around social and civic reforms, as well as science, literature, and art. The first social club that formed in Washington was the Metropolitan Club, which was established in 1863, and others followed shortly thereafter: the Washington Club (1872), the Cosmos Club (1878), and the Alibi Club (1884). Members of clubs were also provided with lodging.

The Racquet Club was organized in 1919 as a professional club that offered athletic opportunities for businessmen. At an organizing meeting in February 1920, 200 men became lifetime members for a due of $1,000. This, as well as the membership fees of the following year’s new members, enabled the construction of the current clubhouse at 1135 16th Street NW. Chartered in January 1920, Col. Henry May was elected as the first President of the Racquet Club, and his vice president, Jules Henri de Sibour, would be the one to design the new club building. De Sibour is known for other major commissions in Washington, such as the McLachlen Building, McCormick Apartments, and Hamilton Hotel.

The building, when planned, was estimated to cost approximately $500,000. It was constructed by Harry Wardman, a prolific developer in early twentieth century Washington. His notable accomplishments included the construction of over 400 apartment buildings, numerous rowhouses, and the Carlton (1925) and Hay-Adams (1927) hotels. Completed in 1921 at a sum of $1,000,000, the Racquet Club’s new building was considered one of the finest clubhouses in the United States.

In 1936, amidst financial troubles during the Great Depression, the University Club merged with the Racquet Club, moving into its current location in December 1936. The University Club had been founded in 1904, when 40 university and college alumni organizations in Washington, DC, came together to create a clubhouse for college-educated men to socialize with one another. Its first president was future president and chief justice William Howard Taft, then the Secretary of War. The University Club’s first building was designed by famous local architect George Oakley Totten Jr. and completed in 1912. It still stands today on the west side of McPherson Square, and later served as the headquarters of the United Mine Workers of America.

In a moment of outreach and to acknowledge the suffragette movement, the University Club allowed women to dine in the main dining room (only on Sundays). In 1929, women were invited to participate in educational programs. Prominent members of the University Club included Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court Melville Fuller, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institute Charles Walcott, and Totten Jr.

In the mid-1980s, a round of renovations were proposed to provide facilities for women, who were allowed to join the club beginning in 1984, following a vote to amend the bylaws. The first female member was Jo Anne Murphy, an architect, and the daughter and granddaughter of club members. The club would elect its first female president, Susan Neely, then Special Assistant to the President and the Director of Communications for the Department of Homeland Security.

Designed in a Classical Revival style, the University Club building on 16th Street NW includes many key details, such as the limestone string courses, overhanging cornice, and engaged columns. Its facade is clad in red brick and includes limestone detailing. At the center, above the entrance marquee, is a large room that is faced with paired ionic pilasters supporting an entablature. Above the limestone entablature is a medallion adorned with the letters “UC” for University Club.

DC Inventory: January 25, 2024

National Register: April 4, 2024

Within Sixteenth Street Historic District

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Designed by architect Daniel H. Burnham, who also designed Union Station, and constructed from 1910 to 1912, the Southern Building was part of a larger building trend of banks and other financial institutions in downtown DC. One of many buildings designed by notable architects, the Southern Building added to the growing financial center of the city. Many of the buildings that would make up the Financial Historic District emulated the Beaux Arts style popular during the City Beautiful movement of the early 20th century. As the Chairman of the McMillan Commission, Burnham was a proponent of this style and movement. The Financial Historic District consists of numerous buildings along and near 15th Street NW and McPherson Square that housed financial institutions in the early 20th century. Their architectural styles emulated classical building styles of earlier centuries and within Europe, creating a unified look in the area. These buildings signaled a more “sophisticated” and “cosmopolitan” landscape, and were often at the forefront of new technology and services within office buildings. Like other buildings nearby, the Southern Building exemplified these traits.

DC Inventory: November 8, 1964 (Joint Committee on Landmarks)

Within Financial Historic District

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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 

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For over 100 years, the American Theater (also known more commonly as the Sylvan Theater) operated as an entertainment hub and community anchor in the Bloomingdale neighborhood of DC. Designed by prominent local architect Nicholas T. Haller, the Neo-Classical Revival style building is located adjacent to the intersection of Rhode Island Avenue and First Street NW.

The American Theater opened in 1914 in response to national and local desires for spaces built intentionally for viewing films. The motion picture business had grown immensely since the first theater in the District opened in a former storefront in 1906. In the years between 1909 and 1914, fifty-eight new movie theaters opened in the nation’s capital.

In 1930, the company rebranded as the Sylvan Theater, named for manager Sylvan V. Dietz, a prominent local deeply connected to the decade’s film scene. Outside of providing a space for films, the theater hosted local community activities (Boy Scouts events, fundraisers, civic rallies, etc.) from its earliest days.

The Sylvan survived the local decline of movie theater popularity in the 1950s, but closed in 1965 due to a succession of untenable mortgages. The property was sold at bankruptcy auctions in 1967 and 1969 before the renovation of the space by the Back Alley Theater (BAT). Begun in a Capitol Hill garage and literal alleyway, the BAT offered theater programs and educational workshops in playwriting for audience members. Established in 1967, the BAT formed in response to the complete lack of a suitable Black theater program or physical location. With the help of a $5,000 grant from the Institute for Policy Studies, the Back Alley Theater Company renovated the run-down Sylvan theater and offered its first production in 1971.

While the Sylvan had been built for the explicit purpose of viewing films, BAT members reimagined the space, breaking down barriers between audience and performers through the construction of a rough-hewn stage close to seated attendees. The energy was entirely unique and described as such:

“The sound of gospel music fills the air, and from that point on, the audience is as active as any sanctified church congregation during a revival meeting. Foot-patting and hand clapping, this black audience shows its appreciation by participating…It has been said that to be successful black theatre must encompass all the ‘pleasure and passion’ of the church.”

The BAT left the Sylvan by 1973, but the influence it had on the surrounding community was enormous. Research indicates that the BAT’s productions may well have been some of the earliest stage shows in DC to showcase cultural expressions of Black pride that accompanied the political empowerment of the African American community in the 1960s and 1970s. The Back Alley Theater was Washington’s first African American theater company that possessed its own commercial theater, and operated it as a center of community pride and cultural regeneration.

After the BAT’s departure, the Sylvan Theater became a rental space once more. A series of businesses have occupied the building and it continues to hold various stores and restaurants inside its walls today.

DC Inventory: April 25, 2019

Within Bloomingdale Historic District

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In 1921, Congress approved $10,000 of funding for the construction of the Southeast Branch Library. With the additional support of Andrew Carnegie’s monetary donation, the Southeast Branch Library was dedicated a year later with the expectation to serve approximately 40,000 people in Eastern Washington. After its first seven months of operation in 1922, the library had circulated 86,822 books and registered 3,904 patrons. The branch offered a very popular children’s story hour, and increased its resource collection (including books, periodicals, and newspapers) over the following decades. In 1937, the library circulated 1,777 books in one single day.

The library itself was designed with the intention of providing community services with a special focus on educating children. The organization hired a children’s librarian, coordinated book purchases with school’s educational needs, and offered a safe space for after-school activities. From the start, the library primarily served women and children—yet at the onset of World War II, the branch began to provide books on welding, metallurgy, and drafting due to the branch's proximity to Navy Yard, an industrial hub in the city.

The space stayed in touch with community needs and desires, providing adult education courses, poetry readings, and art installations throughout its history. In addition to providing historically significant community and educational services, the Southeast Branch Library is architecturally significant as an example of Classical Revival design. The building’s symmetry, large semi-circular windows on the main floor, shallow hip roof, and entrance portico are all indicative of the Classical Revival influence, and demonstrate the work of Edward L. Tilton, who designed many Classical Revival libraries across the Northeast.

Today, the Southeast Branch Library continues to serve the Capitol Hill community from its original location on 7^th Street SE, and still provides the well-known children’s story hour around the original fireplace.

DC Inventory: March 25, 2021

National Register: June 14, 2021

Within Capitol Hill Historic District

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Originally located in Colonial Beach, Virginia, the Episcopal Home for Children (EHC) got its start as a convalescent home for children between the ages of six and sixteen. Initially known as the Bell Home for Children, daily programs involved recreational activities, prayer services, and free time. From 1895 to 1907, facilities in Anacostia housed around 50 children during the school year, who spent their summers in Colonial Beach.

In 1907, the home officially changed its name to the Episcopal Home for Children. Consistent issues of obtaining appropriate funds plagued the organization until a slew of donations in the late 1920s. Plans for expansion of the organization into Northwest Washington resulted in a building project began on January 28, 1930. Designed by Appleton P. Clark Jr., the original home consists of three main buildings (two residential, one primarily educational) oriented around a central plaza (for communal gathering). The Classical Revival style design is accompanied by notable Georgian and Colonial influences. EHC represents a significant architectural example of a children’s home in this period of progressive efforts to care for neglected, underprivileged, and emotionally challenged children.

In 1957, an organizational decision was made to close the orphanage and provide educational and residential services for emotionally challenged children. In 1959, the new program launched and provided treatment for eight girls and fifteen boys. By the 1960s, the organization added a day treatment program through additional funding from the DeVore Foundation and the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation. In 1960, the name changed from Episcopal Center for Children and began to offer integrated services to all children, regardless of race.

In 2002, the EHC stopped providing residential care to instead focus on educational and child treatment services. In 2019, the center shut down the K-8 therapeutic school for emotionally challenged children, but continues to provide certain after-school programs.

This property is significant as an example of Progressive Era movements that sought to improve society through public reform efforts. In addition, the structure is valuable for its design by Appleton P. Clark Jr., a renowned architect who left a notable mark on the nation’s capital.

DC Inventory: February 25, 2021

National Register: August 5, 2025

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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.

Substation No. 13 was the company’s first substation outside the city’s core. DC architect Frederick B. Pyle was asked to design a more domestically scaled building suited to the new neighborhood. He came up with a low, broad-eaved building, a combination of Arts & Crafts and Classical Revival styles, to mask the industrial use. The only standout industrial features are a couple of rooftop ventilators, like one might see on a barn, used to cool the equipment. The building set a standard for sensitivity of design that carried through the 1950s.

DC Inventory: February 1, 2018

National Register: June 3, 2019

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The Brightwood area was originally part of a rural, sparsely populated county when DC was established. Built in 1832, Emory United Methodist Church demonstrates the growth of the Brightwood community spanning over 180 years. Emory was the only southern Methodist church in DC that had been founded before the Civil War.

During the Civil War, union forces demolished the congregation’s first church on the site to incorporate its high vantage point into Fort Stevens. The church played a pivotal role in the Civil War, as the church stood on the eastern section of Fort Stevens, one of a network of sixty-eight forts, ninety-three batteries, and over twenty miles of rifle trenches that protected DC during the Civil War. Fort Stevens was the only fort ever to be directly attacked and the site of the only significant military engagement within DC. Of all the city’s military Civil War sites, this one has the greatest national significance because it was here that the only credible military attack launched on the nation’s capital was repulsed. It was on this spot that President Abraham Lincoln, during the Battle of Fort Stevens, became the only sitting U.S. president to directly come under enemy fire.

Following an appeal to local authorities, a small group associated with the church was given permission to temporarily utilize the public school building on Military Road, known today as the Military Road School, for worship. The church slowly reorganized and its membership gradually expanded between 1865 and 1866. In 1867, under the leadership of Reverend W. H. D. Harper, the church formally reorganized under the authority of the Baltimore Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church and incorporated into the Bladensburg circuit. Plans to construct a stone chapel were completed by 1867. Construction of the chapel began in 1870 and was led by Charles Vance, a member of the Methodist Church in Bladensburg, who donated his time and labor to the project. The chapel was constructed just south of the church’s former brick structure demolished during the Civil War.

Church membership continued to grow as Brightwood’s population rapidly increased throughout the 1890s and early 1900s with the advent of the streetcar. As the church continued to grow, so too did its influence in the community. However, hit by the devastation of war again in 1917 with the United States’ entrance into World War I, Emory lost several congregants to the military and through its services during the war. After the war ended, church leaders ministered to an overwhelming number of soldiers treated at Walter Reed General Hospital in the early 1920s. During this time, Emory’s minister, Dr. Forrest J. Pettyman saw the need for a larger church to better serve the growing neighborhood and needs of the congregation.

By 1922, the modest stone chapel was demolished and replaced with a new structure. The elegantly fashioned Classical Revival church’s most striking features include its pediment portico, dentilled cornice and frieze, massive Doric columns, granite walls, and terracotta trim. The church commissioned the prominent architecture firm of Milburn, Heister and Company to prepare plans for the new church and upon completion, the design was lauded to be “one of the handsomest churches in the city.”

DC Inventory: February 12, 2014

National Register: August 28, 2015

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