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Most Endangered Places
2005

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Most Endangered Places for 2005

FRANKLIN SCHOOL

13TH & K STREET, NW

STEWARD: DC GOVERNMENT
DC INVENTORY OF HISTORIC SITES: EXTERIOR (1964) AND INTERIOR (2003)
NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES (1973)
NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK (1996)

During the late nineteenth century, the Franklin School was hailed in America and abroad as an ideal modern school building, winning awards for design in Vienna, Paris, Philadelphia, and New Orleans. The Franklin School was designed by prominent Washington architect Adolph Cluss and completed in 1869. Its clearly visible location on Franklin Square in a prestigious, residential neighborhood was meant to draw the attention of Congress and the nation to its housing of both the administrative and educational facilities of a school district under one roof. In addition to separate but equal classrooms for girls and boys, the school housed the offices of the Superintendent of Schools and the Board of Trustees (later the Board of Education). This arrangement allowed administrators to personally observe the benefits of the new educational system. Large windows that provided plenty of light, spacious and well-ventilated rooms, and fine architectural detailing enhanced the learning environment.

In April 1880, Franklin School was the site of a major scientific experiment when Alexander Graham Bell successfully tested his photophone, which transmitted sound over light waves, between the school building and his laboratory nearby on L Street. Though the invention had no immediate practical outcome, it was a pioneering step in lightwave communications.

Franklin School is one of eleven buildings in Washington DC with an interior landmark designation. The building is currently unoccupied and windows have been broken and boarded up. The building is unheated, which has contributed to the deterioration of the interior finishes including plaster and wood trim. The lack of use and maintenance threatens the condition of currently well-preserved paintings on the third floor. Since 2002, the building has been used as a shelter for the homeless.

In 2003, the DC Office of Planning issued a request for proposals for a tenant and in January 2005, Stanley Jackson, deputy mayor for planning and economic development, announced that the proposal from District-based Western Development Corporation and Jarvis Corporation to redevelop the school into a “hip hotel” was chosen over the proposal from the Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars to use the building for its offices and classrooms.

Actions/Next Steps:

• Contact the City to make the necessary repairs and provide minimum heating and ventilation to safeguard the interior structure until a decision on the building's reuse can be made.
• Work with the DC Historic Preservation Office and the future tenant to ensure that alterations made to the landmarked interior are compatible and enhance the historic landmark for current use.

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