place

Webster School (Washington, D.C.)

1882 establishments in Washington, D.C.Buildings of the United States government in Washington, D.C.Commons category link is locally definedCultural assimilationDaniel Webster
Defunct schools in Washington, D.C.District of Columbia Inventory of Historic SitesDistrict of Columbia Public SchoolsDowntown (Washington, D.C.)Romanesque Revival architecture in Washington, D.C.School buildings completed in 1882United States Secret Service
Webster School
Webster School

The Webster School, also called the Daniel Webster School, is a historic building located at 940 H Street NW[1] in Washington, D.C. Built in 1882 as a segregated school for white children, it was among a large number of brick schools constructed in the city after the Civil War. These schools were located a couple of blocks from each other, allowing class sizes to be small. Most of the schools were two-story buildings, but some were larger and three stories. The Webster School was one of those larger schools. Although the architect is unknown, it's possible Edward Clark, who served as Architect of the Capitol from 1865 to 1902, designed the school. The red brick, Romanesque Revival style, U-shaped building features a few architectural details on the exterior, mostly around the main entrance facing 10th Street NW. It was named in honor of lawyer and politician Daniel Webster. The school closed in the early 20th-century as the surrounding area became more commercial in nature. From 1924 to 1949, the building housed the Americanization School, a place where immigrants could learn English or take courses required for citizenship. The District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) used the building as office space until 1963, when it was converted into a school for pregnant teens. The school later housed special education classes before the building once again became office space for the DCPS. There was a plan to turn the property into a hospitality school in the mid-1990s, but the idea never came to fruition. Starting in 1999, there was a protracted legal battle between the property owner and local historic preservationists. The Culinary Arts Group planned to raze the building in 1998, which preservationists responded with a historic landmark application. The building was added to the District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites in February 1999. The United States Secret Service (USSS), which is headquartered beside the school, acquired the property via eminent domain in 2003, with plans to restore the building and convert it into office space. Restoration never happened and the building has sat vacant for over 20 years. The USSS has stringent requirements for anyone who plans to acquire the property, making it difficult to find a buyer. In 2023, Representatives Eleanor Holmes Norton and Scott Perry co-authored a congressional bill to sell the property. It passed the House of Representatives in December 2023.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Webster School (Washington, D.C.) (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Webster School (Washington, D.C.)
H Street Northwest, Washington

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Wikipedia: Webster School (Washington, D.C.)Continue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 38.899643 ° E -77.025685 °
placeShow on map

Address

H Street Northwest 940
20223 Washington
District of Columbia, United States
mapOpen on Google Maps

Webster School
Webster School
Share experience

Nearby Places

CityCenterDC
CityCenterDC

CityCenterDC is a mixed-use development consisting of two condominium buildings, two rental apartment buildings, two office buildings, a luxury hotel, and public park in downtown Washington, D.C. It encompasses 2,000,000 square feet (190,000 m2) and covers more than five city blocks. The $950 million development began construction on April 4, 2011, on the site of the former Washington Convention Center—a 10.2-acre (4.1 ha) site bounded by New York Avenue NW, 9th Street NW, H Street NW, and 11th Street NW. Most of the development was completed and open for business by summer 2015. The luxury hotel Conrad Washington, DC, opened in February 2019.The development is one of the largest 21st-century downtown projects in the United States, and the largest urban development on the East Coast of the United States until the December 2012 groundbreaking of Manhattan's Hudson Yards. It has been described as "a modern-day Rockefeller Center" by Hector Falconer at The New York Times. The Washington Post architectural critic Steven Pearlstein, writing in 2003, said the project will "reshape" downtown D.C.The D.C. deputy mayor for economic development characterized the project in 2004 as "the capstone of an effort to move the center of energy from the Mall to downtown". D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams said in 2005 it was "the crowning achievement in the rebirth of our downtown". In 2007, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty called the development a "live, work and play environment unlike anywhere else in D.C."Metro Center and Gallery Place, two of the city's busiest Metro stations, are within three blocks of the development.