Franklin School | |
Location | 13th and K Sts., NW. Washington, D.C. |
---|---|
Coordinates | 38°54′8″N77°1′47″W / 38.90222°N 77.02972°W Coordinates: 38°54′8″N77°1′47″W / 38.90222°N 77.02972°W |
Built | 1865 |
Architect | Adolf Cluss |
NRHP reference No. | 73002085 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | April 11, 1973 [1] |
Designated NHL | June 19, 1996 [2] |
The Franklin School is a building designed by Adolf Cluss in the German round-arch style, located on Franklin Square at 13th and K Street in Washington, D.C. It was constructed in 1869 and initially served as a flagship school building. It later took on various other educational roles, and became a homeless shelter in the 2000s. In 2020, it became the location of the Planet Word museum after its interior was largely gutted.
Built in 1869, the Franklin School was the flagship building of eight modern urban public school buildings constructed in Washington, D.C., between 1862 and 1875 to house, for the first time, a comprehensive system of universal public education. [1] [3]
In addition to being an admired educational facility, a small plaque on its exterior describes the building's place in the history of telecommunications, noting Alexander Graham Bell's first wireless communication in 1880, where a beam of light was used to transmit a voice message using his newly invented Photophone. [4] Bell's laboratory was nearby on L Street, and his work was a pioneering step in optical communications, the forerunner of fiber-optic communication systems that now carry most of the world's telecommunications traffic. Bell was also a well-known educator who taught at a special day school for deaf children, [5] who trained teachers of the deaf, and who additionally created an institution for the study of deafness (also in Washington, D.C.).
The prominence Franklin School enjoyed was highlighted in the 1870s, when studied in international expositions held in Vienna, Paris, and Philadelphia. [6] It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1996. [2] [7]
In 2002, the building was used as a homeless shelter, which controversially closed in September 2008. [8] [9] It was briefly occupied by protesters associated with the Occupy movement on November 19, 2011 [10] In February 2015, Mayor Muriel Bowser cancelled the planned conversion of the school to a public facility for art exhibitions, lectures and educational activities by the Institute for Contemporary Expression. Approved by Bowser's predecessor, Vincent Gray, the project involved a privately funded conversion of the school and had its first event planned for September 2015. [11] [12] As of October 2015, proposals were still being considered. [13]
On January 25, 2017, it was announced that the building would host a museum of linguistics called Planet Word, led by Ann B. Friedman, philanthropist and wife of The New York Times columnist Tom Friedman. [14] In 2018, work on the project was stopped after it was discovered that D.C. and U.S. federal preservation rules were violated in the destruction of the building's interior. [15] A "minimal" fine was paid, work on the project continued and the museum opened "under a significant cloud" on October 22, 2020. [16]
Cluss described its architecture as "modern Renaissance", but its origins are in the German rounded arch style, known as Rundbogenstil. [3] A bust of Benjamin Franklin adorns the building's facade. The building's Great Hall was designed to seat 1,000 people and was a resource for community concerts, exhibitions, and public meetings. Franklin is one of thirteen buildings in Washington, D.C. to receive "interior landmark protection." [6]
The location of the school in a prominent neighborhood was intended to bring attention to age-graded, separate but equal classrooms for boys and girls. [6] Offices for the Superintendent and the Board of Education were also housed in the Franklin School allowing administrators to see the benefits of the new educational system. The building also used big windows for light, roomy and airy spaces to enhance the learning environment. [17]
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 by congressional charter to support the preservation of America’s diverse historic buildings, neighborhoods, and heritage through its programs, resources, and advocacy.
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building in Washington, D.C. that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properties with various title designations. The United States Congress created the agency on August 25, 1916, through the National Park Service Organic Act.
The National Mall is a landscaped park within the National Mall and Memorial Parks, an official unit of the United States National Park System. It is located near the downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States, and is administered by the National Park Service (NPS) of the United States Department of the Interior.
The National Building Museum is located at 401 F Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is a museum of "architecture, design, engineering, construction, and urban planning". It was created by an act of Congress in 1980, and is a private non-profit institution; it is adjacent to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial and the Judiciary Square Metro station. The museum hosts various temporary exhibits in galleries around the spacious Great Hall.
The Arts and Industries Building is the second oldest of the Smithsonian museums on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Initially named the National Museum, it was built to provide the Smithsonian with its first proper facility for public display of its growing collections. The building, designed by architects Adolf Cluss and Paul Schulze, opened in 1881, hosting an inaugural ball for President James A. Garfield. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1971. After being closed since 2004, the building reopened in 2021 with a special exhibition, Futures, scheduled to run through July 2022.
Eleutherian College, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993 and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1997, was founded as Eleutherian Institute in 1848 by a group of local anti-slavery Baptists at Lancaster in Jefferson County. The institute's name comes from the Greek word eleutheros, meaning "freedom and equality." The school admitted students without regard to ethnicity or gender, including freed and fugitive slaves. Its first classes began offering secondary school instruction on November 27, 1848. The school was renamed Eleutherian College in 1854, when it began offering college-level coursework. It is the second college in the United States west of the Allegheny Mountains and the first in Indiana to provide interracial education. The restored three-story stone chapel and classroom building was constructed between 1853 and 1856 and presently serves as a local history museum.
Adolf Ludwig Cluss also known as Adolph Cluss was a German-born American immigrant who became one of the most important, influential and prolific architects in Washington, D.C., in the late 19th century, responsible for the design of numerous schools and other notable public buildings in the capital. Today, several of his buildings are still standing. He was also a City Engineer and a Building Inspector for the Board of Public Works.
This is a list of properties and districts in the District of Columbia on the National Register of Historic Places. There are more than 600 listings, including 74 National Historic Landmarks of the United States and another 13 places otherwise designated as historic sites of national importance by Congress or the President.
The historic Old Patent Office Building in Washington, D.C. covers an entire city block defined by F and G Streets and 7th and 9th Streets NW in Chinatown. It served as one of the earliest United States Patent Office buildings.
Franklin Square is a square in downtown Washington, D.C. Purportedly named after Benjamin Franklin, it is bounded by K Street NW to the north, 13th Street NW on the east, I Street NW on the south, and 14th Street NW on the west. It is served by the McPherson Square station of the Washington Metro, which is located just southwest of the park.
Muriel Elizabeth Bowser is an American politician serving since 2015 as the eighth mayor of the District of Columbia. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously represented the 4th ward as a member of the Council of the District of Columbia from 2007 to 2015. She is the second female mayor of the District of Columbia after Sharon Pratt, and the first woman to be reelected to that position.
Walton "Kip" Danforth Stowell was an American architect and historic preservationist, best known for his work for the U.S. National Park Service in designing visitors centers and interpretive exhibits in U.S. National Parks throughout the country. For most of his career, he worked at the Harpers Ferry Design Center which is responsible for architectural design and interpretive planning in National Parks.
The Alexander Crummell School is an Elizabethan Revival school building, located at 1900 Gallaudet Street and Kendall Street, Northeast, Washington, D.C., in the Ivy City neighborhood.
The Henry J. Daly Building is located at 300 Indiana Avenue, NW, and 301 C Street, NW, in the Judiciary Square neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The administrative building is owned by the government of the District of Columbia and has served as the home of various city offices since it opened in 1941 as a unified location for previously dispersed municipal functions. Currently, the building is primarily occupied by the Metropolitan Police Department; although the District of Columbia Department of Corrections, the District of Columbia Office of the Chief Financial Officer and the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA) also maintain offices in the building.
The Blagden Alley-Naylor Court Historic District is a neighborhood in the Shaw district of Washington, D.C., characterized by two alleyways, Blagden Alley and Naylor Court, bounded by 9th, 10th, M and O Sts., NW.
Planet Word is a language arts museum that opened in Washington, D.C., in October 2020. The museum is described as "The museum where language comes to life" and features interactive exhibits dedicated to topics such as the history of the English Language, how children learn words, languages around the world, humor, poetry, and how music and advertising use words. It is located in the historic Franklin School building, designed by Adolf Cluss, located on Franklin Square at 13th and K Street.
The Portland Flats was the first luxury apartment building constructed in Washington, D.C. Construction of the elaborate building, designed by architect Adolf Cluss, was completed in 1881. It was built on the south side of Thomas Circle, a traffic circle and park where 14th Street NW, M Street NW, Massachusetts Avenue NW, and Vermont Avenue NW intersect. The triangular-shaped building's main architectural feature was the corner tower and dome, which resulted in the Portland Flats resembling an ocean liner sailing into Thomas Circle.
Ann B. Friedman is a former teacher and founder of Planet Word, a museum devoted to language arts that opened in Washington, D.C. in October 2020.
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(help) and Accompanying nine photos, exterior and interior, from c.1868, c. 1901, 1903, and 1995 and undated (32 KB)