545 7th St. SE is a two-story brick building with stone trim. It was built in 1904 as the B.B. French School, a public vocational school. Starting in 1942, the nearby Marine barracks leased the building until 1959. After that, D.C. used it as storage for three years, and then it remained vacant for about 15 years.
The Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, a non-profit community arts organization, acquired the building from the D.C. government in the late 1970’s and extensively renovated it.