Stuart Hall
From GWUEncyc
Building
Title: Stuart Hall
Address: 2013 G Street, N.W.
Square and lot, bordering streets: Square 102, lot 838 (G, H, 20th, 21st Street)
Architect: Edwin Weihle and Robert Barnes [?]
Date of construction: 1935
Original owner: George Washington University
Description: Stuart Hall opened in 1936 and was known as Building D until 1967, when, following a Board of Trustees decision January 19, was renamed for Gilbert Stuart. Bell and Stuart Halls on G Street (two identical brick structures) flank a later building, Lisner Hall. Stuart Hall was built in 1935 for George Washington University by the Washington construction firm of Charles H. Tompkins, and was designed by Edwin Weihle and Robert D. Barnes. It was built to house the Social Sciences department.
Sparse in ornamentation, with rectilinear lines and simple detail, this four-story steel frame classroom building (along with its twin Bell Hall) typify the appearance of Washington office buildings of the 1930s. Its style is reminiscent of Bauhaus architecture. However, they depart from the norm by using brick, rather than concrete or cast stone, as the facing material. While the decision to use brick was one based on economics, the striated color pattern affected by the groupings of the different brick colors gives the buildings their unusual character; the variation suggests the pier and spandrel construction common to other contemporary buildings. The wide brick bands, coupled with large commercial windows, emphasize the horizontality of the structures. The entrances are skillfully rendered through the use of corbelled brick panels. The lighting fixture and doors of Stuart Hall provide decorative relief in the Art Moderne style. These buildings represent the University’s first attempt at creating an institutional scale and design, one that was in sharp contrast to the domestic character of its other buildings.
Historic designation: None
Document Information
Images: 0
Photographic Credit: n/a
Author or Source: Reconnaissance-Level Architectural Survey of Properties in Foggy Bottom, Washington, D.C., 1999; Application for Historic Buildings Registry, 1974
Document Location: University Archives
Date Added to Encyclopedia: December 21, 2006
Prepared by: Lyle Slovick, Assistant University Archivist
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