DC Architects To Know Series: Part Three

Curated by DC Preservation League

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.

Smithsonian Institution (Smithsonian Castle)

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, which had been chartered by Act of Congress in…

Benjamin Franklin School (and Interiors)

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 comprehensive system of free universal public…

Old Masonic Temple

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 its prestigious neighbor, a symbol of awakening…

Charles Sumner School

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 segregated schools and public facilities in the city.…

Eastern Market (and Interiors)

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 designed to house the market was erected. At the…

Old Patent Office

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 mold the national character. Although more than a…

Arts and Industries Building

Built to house the international exhibits left over from the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876, the Smithsonian Institution's Arts and Industries Building reflects the three principal requirements of buildings constructed to house world's…

McCormick Apartments

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 apartment commemorates Andrew Mellon's national…

Hamilton Hotel

Designed by noted local architect Jules Henri de Sibour (1872-1938), the Beaux Arts Hamilton Hotel opened in 1922. The eleven-story limestone and terra cotta building offered out-of-town guests and locals meeting rooms, a gracious dining room, and a…

Riggs Building (Keith-Albee Building)

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 as the Riggs Building, and the adjoining theater as…

Clarence Moore Residence (Old Canadian Embassy)

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 and Mabel Swift Moore and remained in the…

McLachlen Building

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 district. The building was built between 1910 and…

Hibbs Building (Folger Building)

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 office space. Architects Jules Henri de Sibour…

Washington Railway and Electric Company (WRECO) Garage

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 intersections of Seventh Street, U Street, Georgia Avenue,…

Equitable Co-Operative Building Association (and Interior)

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 Arthur B. Heaton and Frederic B. Pyle and built in…

Babcock–Macomb House

Built in 1912 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 lived in the home, instead selling it to Tucker Sands, vice…

Chevy Chase Savings Bank

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 neighborhoods’ local residents. Many banks were located…

Augusta Apartment Building

Built in 1900, the Augusta was a part of D.C.'s first wave of construction for apartment buildings, with Arthur B. Heaton as its main architect. Its mansion-like appearance allowed it to conceal its true purpose as an apartment building, and was…

Corcoran Hall, George Washington University

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 in 1924, Corcoran Hall is representative of the…

George Washington University, Stockton Hall

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 University.Stockton Hall is representative of the…

National Geographic Society Headquarters

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, and photographs about science, exploration, and…

Washington Loan and Trust Company

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. Warner, and acquired by Riggs Bank in 1954. The…

Langston Terrace Dwellings

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 and pioneer in government housing for the poor.…

Ralph Bunche House

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 Arab–Israeli conflict in Palestine in the 1940s,…

The Oswego and The Exeter

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 Simmons, who worked with developer Lester A. Barr on…

National Metropolitan Bank

The distinctive Beaux Arts facade of the National Metropolitan Bank Building forms a strong architectural unit with the adjacent Riggs Building, balancing Robert Mills’ east side of the Treasury Department and complementing it in scale, style, and…

The Wyoming (and Interior of Entrance Pavilion)

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 the early years of the twentieth century. The…

Barr Building

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 soaring Gothic Revival style that is not common…

Davidson Building

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. In addition, the building fits within a category of…