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Palais Royal (Washington, D.C.)

Buildings and structures demolished in 1987Defunct department stores based in Washington, D.C.Demolished buildings and structures in Washington, D.C.
Exterior of the Palais Royal, Washington, D.C.
Exterior of the Palais Royal, Washington, D.C.

Palais Royal was a large department store in Washington, D.C. at 11th and G streets NW in the F Street shopping district. It also grew into a small chain before being purchased and merged into the Woodward & Lothrop chain. The Palais Royal began in 1877 further south 1117 Pennsylvania Avenue at the northeast corner of 12th St., in the Centennial Building, originally home to the Bureau of Pensions, and which would later become the Raleigh Hotel. It was founded by Abram Lisner (1855-1938), an immigrant from Germany who had first worked with his brother in a dry goods store in New York City. The store continued to expand within and by the 1890s Lisner decided to build a new larger 5-story dedicated structure for the store, further north in the commercial district around the F street corridor, at 11th and G streets. The new store opened in 1893 and was designed by architect Harvey L. Page in the Chicago style, a rarity in Washington, D.C. It continued to expand in its new location, by 1914 employing 600 people. In 1924 Lisner sold it to S. S. Kresge for around $5 million, who sold it to Woodward & Lothrop in 1946. The downtown Palais Royal was across the street from the north side of the Woodward & Lothrop flagship and became an annex of it. Despite protest the building was torn down in 1987 and is now the site of the Washington Center office building. The Palais Royal opened branches in Bethesda (7201 Wisconsin Avenue) in 1942, and two in Arlington in 1943: Arlington Farms and at the Pentagon, which became Woodies branches.

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Palais Royal (Washington, D.C.)
11th Street Northwest, Washington Downtown

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N 38.8988 ° E -77.027 °
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11th Street Northwest 700
20223 Washington, Downtown
District of Columbia, United States
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Exterior of the Palais Royal, Washington, D.C.
Exterior of the Palais Royal, Washington, D.C.
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Webster School (Washington, D.C.)
Webster School (Washington, D.C.)

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.