DC Architects To Know Series: Part Three
This interactive map shows the buildings designed by the five architects featured in Part Three of the DC Architects To Know Series, which can be found on the DC Preservation League website. These buildings are historically-designated and are on the DC Inventory of Historic Sites and/or the National Register of Historic Places.
Adolf Cluss (1825 - 1905): Smithsonian Castle (reconstruction), Franklin School, Old Masonic Temple, Sumner School, Eastern Market, Old Patent Office (reconstruction and remodeling), Arts and Industries Building
— Cluss' designs for the Franklin and Wallach schools won awards at international expositions and the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition.
Jules Henri de Sibour (1872 - 1938): McCormick Apartments, Hamilton Hotel, Riggs Building (Keith-Albee Building), Clarence Moore Residence, McLachlen Building, Hibbs (Folger) Building (with Bruce Price)
— De Sibour trained in architecture in both the United States and France before settling in DC.
Arthur B. Heaton (1875 - 1951): Washington Railway and Electric Company (WRECO) Garage, Equitable Cooperative Building (with Frederic B. Pyle), Babcock-Macomb House, Chevy Chase Savings Bank, The Augusta, Corcoran Hall, Stockton Hall, Administration Building at the National Geographic Society Headquarters, National Geographic Society Warehouse, Washington Loan & Trust Company (addition)
— Heaton was greatly inspired by historic cathedral architecture throughout Europe.
Hilyard Robinson (1899 - 1986): Langston Terrace Dwellings, Ralph Bunche House
— Robinson designed the first government-funded housing complex, Langston Terrace, in DC (second in the US).
B. Stanley Simmons (1872 - 1931): The Oswego and The Exeter, National Metropolitan Bank, The Wyoming, Barr Building, Davidson Building
— Simmons was passionate about automobiles and designed the first purpose-built automobile showrooms in DC.
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Smithsonian Institution (Smithsonian Castle): Built between 1847 and 1855, this building represents the early history of the Smithsonian Institution.
The Smithsonian Institution Building was designed by prominent New York architect James Renwick, Jr. and erected between 1847 and 1855 on the Mall. It was built to house the Smithsonian Institution,…
Benjamin Franklin School (and Interiors): This award-winning public school building is an important landmark of DC's public school system.
Built between 1865 and 1869, the Benjamin Franklin School was the flagship of a group of seven modern urban public school buildings constructed between 1862 and 1875 to house, for the first time, a…
Old Masonic Temple: Erected between 1867 and 1869, this fraternal-commercial building is of rare architectural merit.
Designed by Cluss and Kammerheuber, the Old Masonic Temple enjoyed early prominence due to its important location across 9th Street from the old U.S. Patent Office. In scale and dignity it complements…
Charles Sumner School: Named for the famed abolitionist, the Sumner School was one of DC's first buildings dedicated to Black public education.
The Sumner School is one of three post-Civil War Black schools in DC and is named in honor of Charles Sumner, a Massachusetts Senator and ardent abolitionist who attempted, unsuccessfully, to ban…
Eastern Market (and Interiors): Eastern Market is the longest-running remnant of the old market system, which supplied DC residents with produce, meat, and more in the decades before grocery store chains.
Although Capitol Hill had hosted a neighborhood market for decades, established by a presidential proclamation by Thomas Jefferson in the early 1800s, it wasn’t until 1873 that a dedicated building…
Old Patent Office: One of the finest Greek Revival structures in the nation, the Patent Office is now home to the National Portrait Gallery and National Museum of American Art.
While it’s currently the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Old Patent Office reflects an era when scientific invention propelled the American economy and began to…
Arts and Industries Building: Constructed between 1879 and 1881, this is the nation’s best-preserved example of nineteenth-century world’s fair architecture.
Designed by Cluss & Schulze and built to house the international exhibits left over from the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876, the Smithsonian Institution's Arts and Industries Building…
McCormick Apartments: The McCormick Apartments is most notable for one of its tenants, Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon.
The McCormick Apartments is a landmark apartment building on Embassy Row whose inhabitants once included Andrew W. Mellon. It consists of four stories, a mansard, and a raised basement. The top-floor…
Hamilton Hotel: This hotel looms large in the history of the labor movement in DC from the 1920s through the 1960s.
Designed by noted local architect Jules Henri de Sibour (1872-1938), the Beaux-Arts style Hamilton Hotel opened in 1922. The eleven-story limestone and terra cotta building offered out-of-town guests…
Riggs Building (Albee Building): This site's Keith-Albee Theater became a notable vaudeville and motion picture house, prominent in the entertainment industry in DC.
Erected in 1912, the Riggs or Albee Building and the adjoining theater were built on a site formerly occupied by the Riggs House, a large hotel demolished in 1911. Originally, the building was known…
Clarence Moore Residence (Old Canadian Embassy): This Beaux Arts-style house, built in 1906, now serves as the Embassy of Uzbekistan.
The Clarence Moore Residence exemplifies the Beaux Arts style of architecture popular at the turn of the century in the houses built on Massachusetts Avenue. The house was built in 1906 for Clarence…
McLachlen Building: The McLachlen Building is a Beaux-Arts Classical Revival style building, influenced by Chicago commercial precedents.
The McLachlen Building is a significant work of noted and socially prominent Washington architect Jules Henri de Sibour, illustrating the influence of the McMillan Commission Plan on the business…
Hibbs Building (Folger Building): The Hibbs Building once housed a stock brokerage firm connected to the New York Stock Exchange.
Established in 1889, the stock brokerage firm W. B. Hibbs & Co. was the only member of the New York Stock Exchange headquartered in DC at the time. By 1908, W. B. Hibbs & Co. moved into this new…
Washington Railway and Electric Company (WRECO) Garage: The WRECO Garage is Washington DC’s first purpose-built garage for servicing and storing transit buses.
The Washington Railway and Electric Company (WRECO) Garage contributed to the development of mass transit systems in the District and surrounding commercial development of the area around the…
Equitable Co-Operative Building Association (and Interior): This 1912 bank building, with a protected interior space, was the longtime headquarters of a significant local financial institution.
The Equitable Co-Operative Building Association is a monumental, one-story bank building in the Classical Revival style located on F Street NW in the Downtown Historic District. Designed by both…
Babcock–Macomb House: Built in 1912, this house in the Embassy Row neighborhood now serves as the Embassy of Cape Verde.
Built in 1912 and designed by local architect Arthur B. Heaton, the Babcock–Macomb House was built for Kate Woodman Babcock, the widow of former Wisconsin Representative Joseph W. Babcock. She never…
Chevy Chase Savings Bank: This community savings bank, an Italian Renaissance Revival style building, served clients in the Chevy Chase neighborhood.
As more people moved to DC in the early 20th century, newly-established neighborhoods, like Chevy Chase, drew local businesses, including banks to deposit and withdraw money, to support the…
The Augusta Apartment Building: The mansion-like Augusta was an early attempt to improve the stature of apartment living for DC's middle class.
Built in 1900, The Augusta Apartment Building was a part of DC's first wave of construction for apartment buildings, with Arthur B. Heaton as its main architect. Its mansion-like appearance allowed it…
Corcoran Hall, George Washington University: Corcoran Hall represents an important period in the development of a George Washington University campus.
Corcoran Hall is one of two buildings constructed after a 1922 plan by architects Albert Harris and Arthur B. Heaton for a Georgian Revival quadrangle to house George Washington University. Completed…
George Washington University, Stockton Hall: Like Corcoran Hall, Stockton Hall was part of Albert Harris' early plans for the George Washington University quadrangle.
Stockton Hall is the sister building to Corcoran Hall, and is one of two buildings constructed after a 1922 plan by architect Albert Harris for a Georgian Revival quadrangle to house George Washington…
National Geographic Society Headquarters: This building complex has a varied and unique history that is intertwined with that of the renowned National Geographic Society.
Founded in 1888 by a group of high-level scholars, scientists, and adventurers, the National Geographic Society (NGS) has become a well-recognized scholastic and journalistic source for stories, maps,…
Schlitz Brewing Company Washington Branch / National Geographic Society Warehouse: This warehouse complex illustrates the evolution of the Washington warehouse type.
This warehouse complex is composed of two main buildings: the Schlitz Brewing Company building (1908) on Randolph Place NE (the northern portion of the block) and the National Geographic Society…
Washington Loan and Trust Company: This 1890s office building is one of DC's most impressive Romanesque Revival buildings.
The Washington Loan and Trust Company Building is prominently situated across from the Old Patent Office. It was home to the city's first trust company, originally organized in 1889 by Brainerd H.…
Langston Terrace Dwellings: Designed by Hilyard Robinson, Langston Terrace was the first federally-funded public housing complex in DC.
Named for John Mercer Langston (1829-1897), the Langston Terrace Dwellings was the first of eight housing projects designed by Hilyard R. Robinson (1899-1986), a noted Black Bauhaus-trained architect…
Ralph Bunche House: Located in Brookland, the Ralph Bunche house was built for the Nobel Peace Prize laureate by Hilyard R. Robinson.
This house was the residence of Dr. Ralph Bunche, the distinguished African American political scientist, diplomat, and scholar, from 1941 to 1947. Bunche is chiefly remembered for his mediation in…
The Oswego and The Exeter: These twin apartment houses are notable among Washington's early multiple-family dwellings.
The Oswego and the Exeter, built respectively in 1900 and 1904, exemplified early low-rise apartment buildings in the city, as well as an early building commission for their architect, B. Stanley…
National Metropolitan Bank: This Beaux-Arts bank building was designed by B. Stanley Simmons, a prolific DC architect.
The distinctive Beaux-Arts facade of the National Metropolitan Bank building forms a strong architectural unit with the adjacent Riggs (Albee) Building. Its design echoes that of many of the other…
The Wyoming (and Interior of Entrance Pavilion): The Wyoming is one of only a small number of pre-World War I luxury apartment buildings remaining in Washington.
In its essentially unaltered state, the Wyoming stands as a reminder of the elegance and the quality of design, workmanship, and materials characteristic of the Golden Age of the apartment building in…
Barr Building: One of the oldest buildings on Farragut Square, the Barr Building illustrates the initial wave of 20th century commercial development in the city.
The Barr Building was built by prominent real estate developer John L. Barr, for whom it was named, and designed by architect B. Stanley Simmons, with whom Barr often collaborated. It is executed in a…
Davidson Building: This building, facing McPherson Square, contributes to Washington's historic financial district.
Constructed facing McPherson Square in 1917, the Davidson Building, designed by prominent local architect B. Stanley Simmons, is a representative example of a large scale private office development.…Tour curated by: DC Preservation League