The Grimke School, at 1923 Vermont Avenue NW, was built in 1887, with additions made in 1937. It was first the Phelps School, then the business department of M St. High School, then Grimke Elementary (named after Archibald Grimke, U.S. Consul to Santo Domingo). The school was closed six years ago, and the D.C. Fire […]
The Randall Junior High School building, at 65 I St. SW, was built in 1906 and closed as a school in 1978. After that, it served as a homeless shelter and for a short time as art studio space. The Corcoran Gallery of Art bought the building from the city in 2006 for $6.2 million, […]
Bruce Elementary School, at 770 Kenyon St. NW, was built in 1898. It was one of the first D.C. schools built outside of the main downtown core, partially because land was cheaper here and the school building allotment was a flat amount regardless of the varying cost of land in the different parts of the […]
Thaddeus Stevens Elementary School is located at 1050 21st Street, N.W. It was built in 1868 as a school for freed slaves. Additions were built in the late 1800’s. When the school was closed in 2008, it was the oldest school building still in use in D.C. It has been vacant for the past six […]
The Gales School, at 65 Massachusetts Avenue, was built in 1881 and named after the eighth mayor of D.C., Joseph Gales. It was used as a school for special-needs children until 1944. After that, it was used for temporary housing for soldiers, and as a hypothermia shelter, and various other uses. It was closed in […]
The Hine Junior High School Building, at 7th and Pennsylvania Ave. SE, is vacant and scheduled for demolition. It is to be replaced by a mixed-use project, but the plans are currently held up by a zoning fight. The original building on that site was Eastern High School, built in 1892. That building was torn […]
The Daniel Webster School building is at 940 H St., NW, D.C. It was built in 1881-1882, with typical design elements of late nineteenth-century school buildings. It has been empty for more than 20 years. The U.S. General Services Administration has owned it since 2002, as a buffer for the Secret Service headquarters, but is […]
This is the original girls’ entrance to Grover Cleveland Elementary School, at 8th and T St. NW. The school was built in 1911, and a third story was added in 1937. The architect was Snowden Ashford, who also designed Eastern High School, Duke Ellington School of the Arts, and the 1908 expansion of Eastern Market. […]