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Evening Star Building

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1908, Marsh and Peter. 11th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. NW
  • (Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress)
  • Evening Star Building (Franz Jantzen)

The Evening Star Building housed the offices of the former daily newspaper. Its convenient location between the White House and the Capitol placed it in the center of the news beat.

Ornamented with outbursts of decorative detail, it is one of the most exuberant buildings on Pennsylvania Avenue, thereby holding its own among more recent large office buildings. Newspaper buildings often used attention-getting designs to attract free publicity. Its ornamentation is all the more pronounced given the tight constraints of its horizontal and vertical edges. The traditional demarcation between base, shaft, and capital is accentuated with round-arch windows, rustication, balcony treatments, heavy window frames, and prominent window pediments. A balustrade crowns the building. The heavy corner quoins appear to hold in the energetic elements.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Pamela Scott and Antoinette J. Lee
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Data

What's Nearby

Office Building
Old Post Office
FBI Building
Post Office Building
Columbia Square

Citation

Pamela Scott and Antoinette J. Lee, "Evening Star Building", [Washington, District of Columbia], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/DC-01-DE24.

Print Source

Buildings of the District of Columbia, Pamela Scott and Antoinette J. Lee. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993, 197-198.

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