Designed by architect John J. Zink, K-B Theatres opened the Senator Theatre on February 19, 1942 with 946 available seats. The first film shown in the communal space was Alfred Hitchcock’s “Suspicion." The auditorium had large murals with classical…

Established largely through the efforts of Dorothea Dix, the leading mental health reformer of the 19th century, Saint Elizabeths Hospital was chartered by Congress in 1852 as the Government Hospital for the Insane, with a mission of providing “the…

With graves dating back to the early 1770s, and pre-revolution burials, the Rock Creek Church Yard is a unique landscape in the District. With a variety of headstones, inscriptions, and decorative grave markers, the cemetery tells the stories of the…

The On Leong Chinese Merchants Association building is significant as the long-time home of On Leong Tong (from 1932 to 1997), the city’s preeminent Chinese benevolent association. Mutal aid organizations like On Leong Tong played a critical role in…

The United States Naval Observatory (USNO) Historic District is encompassed by Observatory Circle and Massachusetts Avenue NW, and corresponds to a period of significance dating from 1887 to 1973. The hilltop campus, which includes significant…

Myrtilla Miner (1815-1864), a pioneer for Black female education, established the “Normal School for Colored Girls,” also known as the “Miner School for Girls” in 1851; its eventual large, three-story, symmetrically-massed Colonial Revival brick…

Constructed over a period of decades at the turn of the 20th century, the McMillan Park Reservoir’s original slow sand filtration system was DC’s first water purification facility. Connected to the Washington Aqueduct, the reservoir treated the…

Designed by Paul J. Pelz (1841-1918), this Romanesque Revival style building was demolished just as the plan to preserve it was beginning. Built in 1891, the McGill Building (named for Architect James H. McGill (1853-1908), who is known for the…

Founded in 1870 as the Preparatory High School for Colored Youth, M Street High School navigated multiple makeshift locations until 1890 when Congress earmarked $112,000 for the construction of a dedicated building. The school ultimately found its…

The Forrest-Marbury House is the District's only building whose documented history is intertwined with the founding of the national capital. It was in this house that George Washington dined with the District Commissioners and others on the day in…