When the Atlantic Building was completed in 1888, it was the largest commercial structure in the city and one of the first with a passenger elevator. Located on F Street in the heart of downtown, the speculative office building was designed in a Romanesque Revival style by James G. Hill, who had served as Supervising Architect of the U.S. Treasury and was also the designer of numerous fine private buildings in Washington. The eight-story building featured two large assembly rooms, the location of numerous important public meetings, including one at which the National Zoo was founded. In 1889, the top floor office space served as the home of President Benjamin Harrison's inaugural committee, while the US Forest Service was headquartered here from 1905 to 1940.
Towards the end of the 20th century, the DC Preservation League's offices were located within the Atlantic Building, and, in 1980, the 9:30 Club began on the first floor of the original building, taking its name from the 930 F Street address. Many Washingtonians have fond memories of attending concerts here in the 1980s and 1990s.
Unfortunately, redevelopment brought about the demolition of all but the detailed red brick masonry and terra cotta facade. The current Atlantic Building is a 10-story office complex completed in 2006. It includes the facades of several historic buildings, including the original Atlantic Building.
DC Inventory: November 8, 1964 (Joint Committee on Landmarks)
Omitted on July 24, 1968; redesignated on August 28, 1973
Within Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site and Downtown Historic District
]]>Built between 1878 and 1880, the Auditor’s Building was the first facility designed and constructed by the federal government for the U.S. Department of the Treasury Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The complex housed the necessary materials for the engraving and printing of the currency that was to replace sterling as the universal standard of exchange by the middle of the twentieth century.
Architect James G. Hill’s (1841-1913) design reflects the different stylistic trends of the period. The Auditors Building shows restraint in its Romanesque Revival style, mixing contemporary English influences and elements of the Italianate style. The restraint imposed on the normally exuberant Romanesque Revival is also more clearly understood in the light of the conservative architectural taste in DC at the time of the Auditors Building’s construction. The Italianate had enjoyed widespread popularity from the 1840s through the 1860s. While this style of building was waning in most parts of the country by the mid-seventies, its characterizing elements still manifested in new DC constructions. Thus, the symmetrical massing, the bracketed cornice and the shallow pavilions of the Auditors Building can be seen as the late presence of the Italianate. The connection between work in England and the work of the architect of the Auditors Building can be more firmly established by the specific motifs used. The Queen Anne style manifested in architecture the dictates of the Aesthetic Movement, a precursor of the Art Nouveau.
An addition to the complex was built in 1891 but demolished in 1988. Another addition was built between 1900 and 1901. The main building of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing was built in 1914.
DC Inventory: February 26, 1974
National Register: April 27, 1978
]]>The Washington Loan and Trust Company Building is prominently situated across from the Old Patent Office. It was home to the city's first trust company, originally organized in 1889 by Brainerd H. Warner, and acquired by Riggs Bank in 1954. The building is one of the city's first skyscrapers, built prior to height limitations.
The building, designed by James G. Hill and completed in 1891, boasts a Romanesque Revival facade of rock-faced granite with arched windows, and a mixture of stone masonry bearing walls and cast-iron construction. The influence of H.H. Richardson can be seen in the building's rock-faced stone masonry and Romanesque features. Some original interior features remain, including ornamental cast-iron stairs. The main banking room was enlarged and remodeled in the Classical Revival style in 1911‑12. The Corinthian columns are still visible. An addition, designed by Arthur B. Heaton, was constructed in 1926‑27, which expanded the building's presence along F Street.
In more recent years, the building has served as a hotel, first as a Courtyard Marriott and currently as the Riggs Washington DC (the name being a reference to its former use), which opened in 2020 following a major rehabilitation project led by the architecture firm of Perkins Eastman.
DC Inventory: November 8, 1964 (Joint Committee on Landmarks)
National Register: May 6, 1971
Within Downtown Historic District and Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site
]]>The National Bank of Washington was organized under the name “Bank of Washington” in 1809. It was the first Washington bank of purely local origin and interest, being preceded only by a branch bank of the First Bank of the United States. Throughout its long history, the bank has proved itself an institution of exceptional strength and stability, playing a leading role in the growth of the city. Noteworthy early depositors include James Monroe, Bushrod Washington, Chief Justice John Marshall, Francis Scott Key, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, Eli Whitney, Daniel Webster, Henry Clay and Davy Crockett. A permanent bank was erected in 1810 on the east side of New Jersey Avenue between B and C Streets SE. In 1829, the bank, following the northwesterly development of the city, moved to offices in the National Hotel at Sixth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW. A decade later, the Bank of Washington purchased the present site near the intersection of Indiana Avenue, Seventh and C Streets NW. A three and a half story gable-roofed brick building located here served as offices for the bank until it was demolished and the present marble and granite banking house erected. Built in 1889, following the designs of architect James G. Hill (1841-1914), the National Bank of Washington remains one of the finest examples of Richardsonian Romanesque architecture in DC. The Bank of Washington later renamed themselves as The National Bank of Washington. After suffering from bank failure in 1990, the bank was acquired by Riggs Bank. DC Inventory: July 24, 1968 (Joint Committee on Landmarks)
National Register: May 8, 1974]]>Built in 1908 to accommodate both Engine Company No. 21 and Truck Company No. 9, the Lanier Heights Firehouse is still in operation to this day. Erected at the outskirts of the city in 1908, the firehouse was equipped with a chemical engine for use when water was unavailable. The new firehouse also received the city's longest hook and ladder truck to reach the multistory apartment buildings being contemporaneously erected nearby, like The Ontario. The design of the firehouse is attributed to Appleton P. Clark (1865-1955), whose name appears on the building drawings. However, based upon strong similarities with the nearby apartments, there could have been some collaboration between Clark and James G. Hill (1841-1913), the architect of The Ontario. At the time the firehouse's construction, The Ontario was among the few buildings in the immediate vicinity. While this collaboration is undocumented, there seems to be a conscious attempt to make the Spanish Colonial Revival firehouse compatible in style with The Ontario. Due to its deteriorating state, Engine Company No. 21 was slated for demolition in 1975. However, the neighborhood successfully halted the demolition, petitioning the city to rehabilitate the building instead. The exterior of the firehouse was restored, and the building survives as a notable and familiar neighborhood landmark today. DC Inventory: June 23, 2005
National Register: July 27, 2007
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