The Randle Highlands School, built between 1911 and 1912, is strongly associated with the history of the District’s public schools, and its construction in the early 20th century was due to the need for new schools to accommodate the city’s growing population.
Towards the end of the 19th century, there was a movement to improve and modernize schools in Washington, DC, which had undergone significant growth following the Civil War. As part of this movement, the education system was reorganized, and there was also a push for larger schools with better facilities. At the start of the 20th century, the Board of Education in DC constructed and renovated over 30 schools, including the Randle Highlands School and the Alexander Crummell School (1911) — both designed by Snowden Ashford. The school was built only after lobbying by local residents and the Randle Highlands Citizens Association. When the school opened, it only served white students. Efforts to desegregate the schools of Washington started in the 1940s and the Randle Highlands School was finally integrated in 1954, following the US Supreme Court decision Bolling v. Sharpe.
The Randle Highlands School was designed in a Tudor and Elizabethan Revival style by Snowden Ashford, a well-known DC architect and the city’s first Municipal Architect (1910-1920). Ashford was revered for his ability to design complex buildings while sticking to a tight budget. He preferred the Elizabethan Revival style when it came to designing schools, as he felt that it reflected the country’s oldest educational institutions. Therefore, several Ashford-designed schools also feature this style, including Eastern High School, Park View School, and James Ormond Wilson Normal School. Soon after the completion of these schools in the 1910s and 1920s, the Colonial Revival style became the style of choice for the District’s public schools.
The exterior of the three-story Randle Highlands School is primarily made up of red brick, with limestone embellishments around the front entrance and windows. The school features a recessed front entrance with two sets of double-leaf doors, a geometric motif, and transoms above the doors. Above the front entrance there is a three-sided oriel bay window. The roof of the building is flat with a parapet and crenellations along the top of the projecting bay window. There is also a geometric design along the top panel of the roof. The interior of the school was almost entirely modernized in 2020, with the only remaining original features being the wood frame blackboards, transoms, and single-leaf wood doors. The building is now used as a public early learning center for young children.
DC Inventory: January 23, 2025
National Register: May 12, 2025
]]>Eastern High School, located in the Capitol Hill neighborhood on the 1700 block of East Capitol Street NE, was constructed between 1921 and 1923 and designed by Municipal Architect Snowden Ashford in the Collegiate Gothic style. Albert Harris, Ashford's successor, supervised the high school's final design and construction.
Eastern High School has a five-part plan and is four-stories tall. It is clad in red brick and limestone. Its most distinctive features are found at its main entrance on East Capitol Street, which includes a two-story porte-cochère, composed of red brick, limestone trim and quoining, lancet arched windows (with limestone tracery and a lattice design), and an entryway through a Gothic arch. Above the main entrance is a sundial, which is flanked by two crenellated towers. There are crenellated parapets above the main entrance and the two bay windows at the west and east ends of the school. These bay windows are also clad in limestone. The school has paired and grouped, three-sash windows (in a nine-by-nine design) with limestone trim and quoining. The horizontality of the building is emphasized through the series of windows and two limestone belt courses.
The original Eastern High School was established in 1890 near Eastern Market. The DC Schoolhouse Commission, established by Congress in 1906, recommended, through its 1908 report, that a new Eastern High School be constructed in accordance with various design principles popular at the time. In the following years, the site on East Capitol Street was chosen for the new high school. In addition to Eastern High School, the report eventaully led to the construction of Central High School (Cardozo Senior High School) (1916), Dunbar High School (1916, demolished in 1977) — with Dunbar constructed for African American students — and McKinley Technical High School (1929).
Snowden Ashford was DC's first Municipal Architect (1909 - 1921). Ashford designed many public school buildings in addition to Eastern, including Dunbar. Ashford often designed in the Collegiate Gothic and Tudor Revival styles, in opposition to the Commission of Fine Arts, which desired Colonial Revival style building designs. Although not designed by Ashford, Central is Elizabethan in design.
Central High School was designed by William B. Ittner, a St. Louis architect hired by Ashford. Ittner's St. Louis high school designs had been well-liked by DC's Schoolhouse Commission — one of these designs being a Collegiate Gothic style high school. This style and its E-shaped floorplan, with single-loaded corridors and dedicated classroom space for specific coursework, were used in the design of Central. Ittner's designs would certainly shape Ashford's designs for Dunbar and Eastern high schools in the coming years.
With its E-shaped floorplan, courtyards, and single-loaded corridors, Eastern High School, constructed between 1921 and 1923, provided plenty of natural light and air circulation — not unlike Central, which had opened in the previous decade.
Courses offered at Eastern included Latin, English, History, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Botany, Math, Freehand Drawing, Music, Physical Education, Journalism, Drama, Sewing, Food Preparation, and Home Care, in addition to other courses. These courses and subjects corresponded with 100 individual classroom, laboratory, and wood/metal/automobile repair shop spaces. Certain coursework and activities were only available to male students (e.g., Cadets), while other courses were meant for female students (e.g., Home Economics).
In addition to the classroom space for up to 1,800 students, Eastern included a modern auditorium for 1,400, a library, two gyms, handball and tennis courts, a lunchroom, greenhouse, rifle range and armory, printing plant, laundry, and bank, as well as a state-of-the-art steam heating system, an elevator, and more than 3,000 lockers. A stadium and field were completed in 1925, and an addition to the school's rear, housing a gym and classroom space, was completed in 1938.
Following Eastern High School's design and construction, no other public school building in the District would be designed in the Collegiate Gothic style.
After opening in the early 1920s, the neighborhood around Eastern High School continued to grow and, despite a capacity of 1,800 students, Eastern had 3,000 students by 1934. To deal with the overcrowding, students east of the Anacostia River were moved to Anacostia High School.
In 1954, in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka and Bolling v. Sharpe, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered that public schools be desegregated. Bolling, a case specific to DC, ruled that racial segregation in the DC public school system was unconstitutional under the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment. This led to new school boundaries. In the fall of 1954, 1.4% of the student population at Eastern High School was African American. African American students were transferred to Eastern from Cardozo (Central) and Spingarn high schools, and within a decade Eastern was 99% African American.
The school underwent renovations in both the 1980s and 2010s. The most recent "modernization" also preserved remaining, historic interior elements — including original marble, wood, and terra cotta — and restored the exterior to its original grandeur. The two rear courtyards were also enclosed.
Eastern was famous for its choir, which travelled internationally, and The Blue and White Marching Machine, a marching band that has played at major events, including presidential inaugurations.
Eastern alumni include Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam; musicians Gayle Adams, Y'Anna Crawley, and Kevin LeVar; journalist George D. Beveridge; Four-Star General George S. Blanchard; NBA players Jerry Chambers and Jamorko Pickett; Senator Bennett Champ Clark; NFL linebackers Al Chesley, Frank Chesley, and Mike Wilcher; MLB pitcher Vince Colbert; White House Press Secretary Stephen Early; US Army Rabbi Alexander D. Goode, one of the "Four Chaplains," who gave his life when the SS Dorchester was torpedoed in February 1943; nuclear physicist Alvin C. Graves; Admiral Cecil D. Haney; Congressman George Huddleston, Jr.; NFL wide receiver Mike Martin; General Anthony McAuliffe; civil rights activist Franklin McCain; boxer and olympian Charles Mooney (who also taught at Eastern); Judge Edna G. Parker; reporter Eugene Scott; scholar Ibrahim K. Sundiata; DC Councilmember Brandon Todd; and General Earle Wheeler. Actor and comedian Dave Chappelle also attended Eastern High School. DC Councilmember Linda W. Cropp and musician Patrick Lundy taught at Eastern.
The school was first identified as historically and architecturally significant in Public School Buildings of Washington, DC, 1862-1960, a multiple property document.
DC Inventory: August 3, 2023
National Register: October 30, 2023
]]>Constructed from 1901 to 1902, the Congress Heights Firehouse first and foremost provided emergency service to the area, but also had a real estate investment aspect to it that helped further develop the neighborhood. The land donated to build the firehouse came from Colonel Arthur Randle, a real estate developer and speculator who hoped that the firehouse’s construction would ease the concerns of potential buyers, as the area fell outside of the fire call box system and municipal water supply. Designed by Snowden Ashford, the architect would eventually become the city’s first Municipal Architect and is credited with the design of multiple firehouses – and other public buildings – throughout the District. Designed in a Mediterranean Revival style, the firehouse was quite impressive due to its 60-foot observation tower. Because the building sits on a hill, the tower also had a bell installed as an alert system for firefighters to know when an emergency occurred. As the sophistication of the call box system increased, some speculated that the building’s hill-top location was meant to help the horse-powered fire carriages go down the hill easier.
This site is listed in the Firehouses in Washington, DC: 1806-1945 Multiple Property Document.
DC Inventory: July 22, 2004 National Register: June 27, 2007
The Jesse Reno School was built in 1903 for African American children. Designed by municipal architect Snowden Ashford, the school had four rooms on the first floor and four on the basement level. Its formal Renaissance-style design acknowledges the dignity of learning, and its large windows let in air and light, reflecting educational principles of its time.
The Jesse Reno School served kindergarten through eighth grade. The students were residents of Reno City, a community that came into existence during the Civil War, when enslaved people fled their owners and began to congregate around Fort Reno. Reno City was subdivided into building lots in 1869, and African Americans who were already living around the remains of the fort were joined by freed slaves from elsewhere. Reno City became a racially integrated working-class community that was about 75% black and 25% white. By the time the Jesse Reno School was built, Reno City had approximately one hundred buildings, including homes, churches, stores, and a Masonic lodge.
In the 1920s there was pressure by residents of the surrounding all-white, middle-class neighborhoods to remove Reno City and use the land for the construction of Fort Reno Park, Deal Junior High, and Wilson Senior High Schools. The city began to acquire Reno City properties and ultimately condemned those that the owners refused to sell. As black residents of Reno City were displaced, the enrollment at Reno School declined.
The school closed in 1950. The building was later used as a Civil Defense Office, and in the 1970s and '80s it became the Rose School for students with special needs. It had been vacant for many years, and the interior was badly vandalized; however, in 2014 the school was repaired and restored. The front entrance, which had been removed, was recreated. The original floor plan on its main floor has been retained. A connector to Deal Middle School was built and Reno is again serving its original educational purpose as part of Deal. Tenleytown Historical Society created an exhibit, located in the building, on the history of Reno School and the Reno community.
DC Inventory: November 19, 2009
National Register: September 7, 2010
]]>The Fish Market Lunchroom and its associated Oyster Shucking Shed were built between 1916 and 1918, in conjunction with the construction of the Municipal Fish Market in the area now known as The Wharf.
Although they are now attached, the lunchroom and shed were originally distinct structures whose functions were important to the popular Municipal Fish Market. Both the lunchroom building and adjancet shed were likely designed by and constructed under the supervision of DC Municipal Architect Snowden Ashford in a Colonial Revival style. They reflected the growth of the City Beautiful Movement and the increasing intervention of the federal goverment into the regulation and sanitation of the popular Municipal Wharf. Over the years, the lunchroom and shed were extensively altered, losing much of their historic fabric. In fact, the lunchroom was even enclosed within an additional building on its south and west elevations. They were eventually converted to locker room space. The Fish Market Lunchroom and Oyster Shucking Shed underwent an award-winning restoration in 2018. This detailed restoration and rehabilitation was guided by historic documentation (drawings). Today, in a nod to the property's history, they house the Rappahannock Oyster Bar. Sitting at the northwest end of The Wharf, they are a key historic landmark along the DC Waterfront, as the only remaining reminders of the Municipal Fish Market’s heyday in the 1920s and 1930s.
DC Inventory: November 19, 2015
]]>The James Ormond Wilson Teachers' College, originally known as the Washington Normal School, is an Elizabethan Revival brick building with two floors, an attic and basement. Erected between 1911 and 1912, the school sits on a 95,138 square foot site. The ground had been filled on a tributary, and the foundation was designed without regard to the original land contours.
The Wilson Normal School is significant for its contribution to the public education movement in Washington, DC in the advancement of teacher training. Starting in 1839 by such leaders as Horace Mann, James Carter, Henry Barnard, and Tomas Gallaudet, the teacher education movement became a vital part of promoting the United States as the foundation of democracy. The Wilson Normal School is a purpose-built public school building, it is an outstanding example of a public school building designed by the Office of Municipal Architect Snowden Ashford. The building is an excellent example of Elizabethan Revival architecture, lauded at its time for its expanse of windows, as well as technical improvements such as steam heat.
The Washington Normal School changed its name to the James Ormond Wilson Normal School in 1913 to honor the then-superintendent of DC schools.
DC Inventory: November 20, 2014
National Register: March 31, 2015
]]>Engine Company No. 23 is a modest, two-story red brick firehouse in an Arts and Crafts interpretation of an Italian Renaissance Revival style. Designed by prominent architects Hornblower & Marshall and architect Snowden Ashford (1866-1927), the firehouse serves as a visible landmark of Foggy Bottom since its construction in 1910. This firehouse is the smallest of all DC's firehouses, measuring approximately thirty-five feet wide by ninety feet deep. It is also one of only two firehouses in the city intended to accommodate a single piece of apparatus.
The interior plan is unusual among other DC firehouses; rather than having side-by-side spaces inside the firehouse for fire engines, Engine Company No. 23 has two single "stacked" spaces (engine-behind-engine), accessible by single apparatus doors at both the front and rear of the building. This innovative arrangement is symptomatic of the developed Foggy Bottom neighborhood, requiring a firehouse with a narrow width due to limited residential space.
Identified for sale in 1940, the neighborhood protested to save the building for its original purpose. Engine Company No. 23 is still in operation today.
DC Inventory: June 23, 2005
National Register: June 6, 2007
Within George Washington University/Old West End Historic District
]]>In 1911, the quickly developing Park View neighborhood was in need of an elementary school for its 600 children. In 1916, after years of advocacy by the Park View Citizens’ Association, the 16-room school designed by DC Municipal Architect Snowden Ashford was completed. With its Elizabethan Revival style, the school closely resembles Ashford’s high school designs and was a rare departure from the city’s Victorian Era or Colonial Revival style elementary schools.
Also unique to the Park View School is its 700-seat auditorium, which has a rare interior landmark designation. The hall, built well before other elementary schools in DC had auditoriums, was to be used for both school and community functions, and includes a striking wooden truss supporting its roof.
DC Inventory: May 24, 2012
National Register: May 1, 2013
]]>As public education programs expanded in the early 20th century, vocational education became more popular in order to train young people with desirable skills for specific industries. The Margaret Murray Washington School, originally known as the O Street Vocational School, constructed in 1912, taught African American students, particularly women, in various trades and skills throughout its almost century-long history. Designed by Snowden Ashford in the Collegiate Gothic style, the building expanded vocational training programs to include domestic, industrial, and medical programs, in addition to many others. When it first opened its doors, the school had relatively low enrollment, but, with additional advertising, soon became a well-attended school for its African American students. While it originally taught both men and women, the United States’ entrance into World War I forced the school to shift to primarily teaching its female students, with male enrollment rates dropping due to military enlistment and drafting. In its time primarily teaching women, the vocational programs continued to expand and develop, making the school a well-regarded institution. In 1926, the school gained a new name as it continued to grow. Principal Lenora C. Randolph suggested the new name in honor of the recently-passed Margaret Murray Washington, wife of African American activist and scholar Booker T. Washington. With the vocational school model following Booker T. Washington’s philosophy of manual education and training for African Americans, as well as Maragret’s own legacy as an advocate for education and social reform, the new name fit well with the school’s mission. Two years later, the building was expanded into an L-shape by architect Albert L. Harris, who continued the Gothic Revival architecture. Ten years later in 1938, the building underwent yet another addition, bringing it to its final U-shaped form. This addition was designed by noted African American architect Albert I. Cassell, who maintained the original style of the building, allowing the building to look seamless in its expansions. Similarly to the First World War, the arrival of World War II made the school’s training important in educating its students for the homefront. Additionally, the school established its practical nursing program in 1945, which immediately gained attention due to the need for wartime nurses. The program was soon after accredited and well-praised by other medical professionals due to the students’ professional demeanor and abilities in the industry. After the war ended, veterans’ return to the United States meant that the school would once again serve both men and women in its wide-ranging curricula. In one last expansion, the school added a new gymnasium to its campus in 1971, but did not follow the existing architectural style. Throughout the rest of the 20th century, the school continued operating and reformulating its programs, but declined in public support due to changing opinions on vocational schools, as a whole. Over time, the school’s funding and programs were cut and changed, with its doors finally closing in 2008 in a city-wide school consolidation move. Many local residents were saddened by the school’s closure, but its impact on the African American community and its ability to effectively train its students proved that in its time operating it was a well-respected and influential institution.
DC Inventory: November 18, 2010
National Register: November 22, 2011
]]>When Old Engine Company No. 12 was under construction in 1896, both sides of North Capitol Street were in rapid development. By then, Washington, DC, had outgrown its original boundaries and development pushed outside and even well beyond the outskirts of the original city lines. Along North Capitol Street and within the larger Bloomingdale and Eckington neighborhoods, developers constructed late-Victorian, Queen Anne style dwellings that catered to the city's burgeoning middle-class. Built contemporaneously with neighboring row homes, Old Engine Company No. 12 follows this design in the Dutch Revival style by architect Snowden Ashford (1866-1927). Vacated by the Fire Department in 1987, the firehouse was rented for several years by the Salvation Army. It then housed a restaurant. The site was being redeveloped when the historic building was damaged in a fire in December 2023. DC Inventory: May 25, 2006
National Register: June 6, 2007
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