The Warder-Totten House is the only structure designed by the firm of Henry Hobson Richardson (1838-1866) remaining in DC. Commissioned in 1885 by American businessman Benjamin Warder (1824-1894) at 1509 K Street NW, the building was razed in 1923 to erect an office building. However, the Richardsonian Romanesque style house was reconstructed piece by piece at its present site in 1925 by architect George Oakley Totten Jr. (1866-1939). He converted the building into an apartment house.
Although the massing, heaviness, and fenestration are very Richardsonian in character, the detailing shows the influence of 16th century French and Byzantine motifs. Unlike many Richardsonian structures which are of rough granite, the Warder-Totten House is of smooth sandstone.
Eventually, the building housed the National Lutheran Council and the Antioch College of Law until 1986. The house was left vacant for years and placed on DC Preservation’s League’s “Most Endangered Places” list in 1996. Renovated in 2002, the Warder Mansion is now an apartment complex with 38-single and two-bedroom apartments.
DC Inventory: November 8, 1964 (Joint Committee on Landmarks)
National Register: April 14, 1972
]]>Designed by the federal Office of the Supervising Architect of the Treasury -- led at the time by Willoughby J. Edbrooke -- the Old Post Office is one of Washington’s significant Romanesque Revival buildings on a monumental scale. It was the first Federal building erected on Pennsylvania Avenue in the area now known as the Federal Triangle. In 1891, the Office of the Supervising Architect, planned to erect the Old Post Office. At the time of its completion in 1899, the building’s 315-foot-high clock tower was the third highest in Washington, exceeded only by the Capitol and the Washington Monument. The building served as the District of Columbia’s general post office until 1914, when operations moved to a new building next to Union Station. For decades later, the building served a variety of government-related functions. Throughout its history, the building has been threatened with demolition many times. When plans to demolish the building crystallized again in the early 1970s, many protested and lobbied against the demolition, including Don't Tear It Down or what is known today as the DC Preservation League. A nomination to the National Register of Historic Places succeeded in 1973, and plans to demolish the building were replaced with plans to preserve it. Renovation took place between 1979 and 1983. The building expanded between 1988 and 1992, before being redeveloped as a hotel in 2014. DC Inventory: November 8, 1964 (Joint Committee on Landmarks)National Register: April 11, 1973
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