The Ponce de Leon
The Ponce de Leon, built in a Spanish Revival style, is one of many apartment buildings built by David L. Stern in the 1920s.
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Built in 1928 by architect David L. Stern, the Ponce de Leon apartment building is situated in one of the more architecturally significant blocks in the apartment building corridor that runs along Connecticut Avenue. The brick building presents a restrained Spanish Revival style, as characterized in the distinctive use of multi-colored brickwork, limestone ornamental balconies, and decorative Moorish arches.
The apartment building was one of the designs that established Stern's reputation as an architect of merit in Washington, DC. The choice of the Spanish Revival style and its skillful execution represent a significant increase in the sophistication of Stern's work up to the time of its construction. Stern, whose career lasted over fifty years, was especially active in the design of apartment buildings in DC, with more than 80 credited to him (the majority of which were designed in partnership with Frank Tomlinson). Of these, 76 were designed in the 1920s, a number that represented more than ten percent of all the apartment buildings constructed during that decade, which witnessed the most apartment construction in Washington's history.
DC Inventory: January 17, 1990
National Register: September 7, 1994
