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National Bank of Washington

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1889, James G. Hill. 301 7th St. NW
  • National Bank of Washington (Library of Congress)
  • (Photograph by Karen Kingsley)

The diminutive and picturesque National Bank of Washington, which now serves as the Washington branch of that bank, reflects the scale of the late nineteenth-century city. It is located on one of the triangular wedges of land at the juncture of diagonal avenues and grid streets, and it anchors the southern end of the nineteenth-century commercial strip that extends along 7th Street.

Constructed of pink granite ashlar, the rough-hewn stone is crossed with bands of dressed stone at the window sills, window lintels, and water table. The round-arch entrance opens from a projecting entrance porch. Clusters of colonnettes mark its corners. A Byzantine capital and cornice band made up of scrolls and acanthus leaves crowns the porch. At the roofline are dormer windows ornamented with scrolled ornament. Double windows puncture the building walls. Wrought-iron grilles cover the transoms of the first-story windows. These delicate decorative elements offer grace notes to the otherwise weighty facades.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Pamela Scott and Antoinette J. Lee
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Data

What's Nearby

Apex Building
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National Archives
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Citation

Pamela Scott and Antoinette J. Lee, "National Bank of Washington", [Washington, District of Columbia], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/DC-01-DE13.

Print Source

Buildings of the District of Columbia, Pamela Scott and Antoinette J. Lee. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993, 187-188.

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