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Garfinckel's Department Store

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1929–1931, Starrett and Van Vleck. 14th and F streets NW

When the new Garfinckel's Department Store opened in the late 1920s at 14th and F streets, it had already garnered a reputation for quality and elegance at its earlier location, farther east on F Street. Its new store retained these qualities. As the foremost department store designer of the day, Starrett and Van Vleck of New York City based its design for Garfinckel's on its earlier successes such as Lord and Taylor, Abercrombie and Fitch, and Saks Fifth Avenue in the firm's home city. These buildings and the new Garfinckel's were constructed of smooth limestone and trimmed in classical detailing. The classical proportions and motifs were simplified and abstracted to bring them up to date.

Above the base with its large display windows, the third to the seventh floors were designed with a smooth stone surface and small windows, all crowned with an architrave. The eighth and ninth floors are set back from the front plane of the structure.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Pamela Scott and Antoinette J. Lee
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Data

What's Nearby

Metropolitan Square
Hotel Washington
Willard Hotel
Bond Building
Treasury Building

Citation

Pamela Scott and Antoinette J. Lee, "Garfinckel's Department Store", [Washington, District of Columbia], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/DC-01-DE28.

Print Source

Buildings of the District of Columbia, Pamela Scott and Antoinette J. Lee. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993, 199-199.

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