With a continually expanding population, the Office of the Building Inspector saw an increasing need to build school buildings to accommodate students. Constructed from 1879 to 1880, the George Peabody School exemplified shifting architectural trends in school buildings in accordance with the population growth. The school was one of the largest ever built by the Office of the Building Inspector, and was influenced by earlier school designs by Adolf Cluss (see Franklin School and Sumner School). The building has served as a school since its construction, and is still part of the DC Public School System as the George Peabody Early Childhood Education Center. The school, named after the “founder of modern philanthropy,” offers early childhood education services to local children. To modernize the building for future generations of students, the building underwent extensive renovations that updated the building’s technological capabilities.