Standard Material Company/Gyro Motor Company

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The Standard Material/Gyro Motor Company building consists of an early 20th century, two story, brick industrial building located at 770-774 Girard Street NW in the Pleasant Plains section of the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The building was constructed in two principal phases in 1902 and 1910-11, with a rear addition dating to 1945. The original 1902 section of the building is the two-story, five-bay eastern section, constructed for the Standard Material Company for operations related to improving the flat disc record for sound recordings. The entire building is set back from Girard Street with a large asphalted area in front. The 1910-11 western wing and the 1945 addition extend to the rear of the lot with frontages on the alleyway.

The Standard Material/Gyro Motor Company building is significant for its improvement to and production of the flat disc record. The Standard Material Company operated in the eastern wing of the building from its construction in 1902 until 1920 when the Gyro Motor Company took over the entire building. The Standard Material Company was reorganized to produce this composition and negotiate the patent rights to the leading disc record manufacturers throughout the world. The Standard Material Company building at 770-774 Girard Street was a primary site of these innovations that ultimately improved the quality of the reproduction and recording of sound. This remained the predominant material used to produce flat disc records until after the Second World War.

Today, the building operates as residential condos.

DC Inventory: June 26, 2014
National Register: August 4, 2014