Rutherford B. Hayes School
This public school from 1897 was one of the city's first to be designed by private architects rather than a city office.
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The Rutherford B. Hayes School is a large red brick school building constructed in 1897. It was designed by Charles E. Burden in a unique Italianate style characterized by twin entry towers and round-arched openings.
The Hayes School was one of the first of the city’s public school buildings to be designed under the system of private architects working under the supervision of the Building Inspector, as part of a program to improve the appearance of the city's public schools. Previously, the Office of the Inspector of Buildings had been responsible for designing all public schools in DC, and by the mid-1890s, the Inspector's simple pattern for a Romanesque Revival style four-room school, constructed out of red brick, was widely regarded as ugly. In response to criticism, the Building Inspector began hiring private architects to design the schools instead. The Hayes School was among the first products of this shift.
The Hayes School now houses the DC Office on Aging's Hayes Senior Wellness Center.
DC Inventory: December 18, 2003
