At the time of the Hill Building’s construction in 1925, commercial real estate development in downtown DC started replacing pre-Victorian and Victorian residential buildings. These former residences, many of which then housed private and governmental business offices, no longer provided adequate space and did not embody the physical characteristics of a twentieth century city. The Hill Building office building, designed in a “modern” Stripped Classical style by George N. Ray, was the product of a deliberate effort by the city’s real estate industry to create a more physically elegant city that was commensurate with the nation’s capital. The Hill Building, as well as the Barr Building at 914 Seventeenth Street, were the first office buildings on Farragut Square to follow the trend. Later during the late 1950s and 1960s, many of these 1920s office buildings were demolished. However, the Hill Building survives as an important representation of the transition from residential to business district in the city’s downtown.
DC Inventory: December 18, 2014
]]>The B.F. Saul Building, constructed in 1924 at 925 15th Street NW, is a five-story, Classical Revival style building designed by notable local architect George N. Ray for the B.F. Saul Company, a major local real estate firm as a combination bank/office building.
The B.F. Saul Company was established in 1892 by B. Francis Saul as he sought to sell off his family’s extensive landholdings near Brightwood—the site of the former nurseries begun by his father, John Saul, in the mid-19th century. In the process, B.F. Saul established the foundation for the growth of his firm as a mortgage bank which he incorporated in 1903. B.F. Saul specialized in mortgage loans, but also dealt in real estate insurance, fire insurance, automobile insurance, rent collection and estate management.
The firm initially established its offices downtown at 11th and D Streets, but in 1921 moved to McPherson Square, following the northern migration of the city’s financial district to the area. In that year, B.F. Saul built its first McPherson Square office at 14th and I Streets, but within just a few years, built its combined bank/office building at 925 15th Street and the adjacent five-story office building at 923 15th Street NW (later known as the Colonial Mortgage Building). The B.F. Saul Co. likely recognized an opportunity to move its offices to larger quarters and to simultaneously profit from the speculative commercial development. The B.F. Saul Building replaced two earlier dwellings on the site.
Upon its opening, B.F. Saul occupied the first floor banking hall and mezzanine, and rented the upper floor offices. Early tenants included M. & R.B. Warren—a group of realtors and builders specializing in cooperative apartments who worked with B.F. Saul—and the C.H. Small & Company, also engaged in real estate. The growth of real estate companies around McPherson Square contributed to the growing reputation of the area as part of “Washington’s Wall Street.”
DC Inventory: July 28, 2016
National Register: October 4, 2016
Within Financial Historic District
]]>The Peyser Building/Security Savings and Commercial Bank is a five-story office/bank building constructed between 1928 and 1929. Designed by notable local architect George N. Ray, the Peyser Building reflects a reduced Classical Revival style of architecture that was common for small commercial and bank buildings of the period. The building is one of a collection of 1920s office buildings and financial institutions surrounding McPherson Square that illustrates the northern limit of the city’s financial district as it spread north from lower 15th Street NW near the Treasury building. It abuts the Southern Railway Building, another historic landmark of the Financial Historic District.
Constructed in 1929 on the site of a former dwelling, the Peyser Building was built as a combination branch bank by and for the Security Savings and Commercial Bank of Washington, DC, and as a speculative office building intended to cater to the growing financial business interests in and around McPherson Square.
Established in 1913, the Security Savings and Commercial Bank built its headquarters and main bank at 9th and G streets, NW, where over the next decade it grew to become the largest savings bank in the city. At its establishment, the bank’s Board of Directors consisted of a number of prominent businessmen, including Julius I. Peyser after whom the K Street building was named.
DC Inventory: June 28, 2012
National Register: September 10, 2012
Within Financial Historic District
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