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Most Endangered Places
2003

Old Engine Company 6
Rutherford B. Hayes School
911-919 New Jersey Ave., SE
Carter G. Woodson House
Woodlawn Cemetery
Martin Luther King, Jr. Pub. Library
Anne Archbold Hall
St. Elizabeths
DC World War I Memorial
Uline Arena/Washington Coliseum
Corcoran Hunting Lodge
Capitol Park
Western Telegraph Company

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Most Endangered Places for 2003

RUTHERFORD B. HAYES SCHOOL

REPRESENTATIVE OF DC HISTORIC PUBLIC SCHOOLS
5TH & K STREETS, NE

OWNER: DC City Government

HISTORY
Built in 1897 by architect Charles E. Burden, the Hayes School is one of the earliest documented examples of a District public school building designed by an architect in private practice under a new policy initiative of 1896-97. The new policy represented a break from common practice of the 1880s and 1890s, when the District public schools were designed in variations of the Romanesque Revival style and all were products of the Building Inspector’s Office staff. School buildings of the period 1896 to 1910 were designed in the Classical and Renaissance Revival and the Italianate styles. Many were designed by Washington architects in private practice under contract with the Building Inspector’s Office, later the Municipal Architect’s Office. The District Commissioners instigated this change in the interest of improving the esthetic quality of school buildings.

The Hayes School was named in honor of the 19th President of the United State and was intended for white students. In 1947, in response to changes in the neighborhood, the school was transferred to the black school divisions.

WHAT IS THE THREAT?
Currently the DC Office of Aging has plans to convert the building into a Senior Wellness Center and offices. Proposed additions are not sensitive to the historic building. Leaving the building vacant allows for other problems such as neglect and vandalism.

DCPL’S RESPONSE
DCPL has testified before City Council about historic properties that are currently owned by DCPS.

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