Peyser Building (Security Savings and Commercial Bank)

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The Peyser Building/Security Savings and Commercial Bank building is a five-story office/bank building constructed between 1928 and 1929. Designed by notable local architect George N. Ray, the Peyser Building reflects a reduced Classical Revival style of architecture that was common for small commercial and bank buildings of the period. The building is one of a collection of 1920s office buildings and financial institutions surrounding McPherson Square that illustrates the northern limit of the city’s financial district as it spread north from lower Fifteenth Street near the Treasury building.

Constructed in 1929 on the site of a former dwelling, the Peyser Building was built as a combination branch bank by and for the Security Savings and Commercial Bank of Washington, DC, and as a speculative office building intended to cater to the growing financial business interests in and around McPherson Square. Established in 1913, the Security Savings and Commercial Bank built its headquarters and main bank at 9th and G Streets, NW, where over the next decade it grew to become the largest savings bank in the city. At its establishment, the bank’s Board of Directors consisted of a number of prominent businessmen, including Julius I. Peyser after whom the K Street building was named.

DC Inventory: June 28, 2012
National Register: September 10, 2012