Barr Building

Architect: B. Stanley Simmons
Style: Gothic Revival
City: Washington, DC

The Barr Building rises in the Golden Triangle section of downtown Washington, designed by local architect B. Stanley Simmons in the Gothic Revival style and named for its developer, John L. Barr. Completed in 1927, the eleven-story, 115-foot tower was noted at the time for having the fastest elevators in the city.

the style

Simmons dressed the office building in Gothic Revival ornament, a common move for commercial towers of the 1920s looking to borrow some of the gravity of ecclesiastical architecture for a speculative rental building.

the architect

B. Stanley Simmons was a Washington architect who designed the Barr Building for developer John L. Barr.

significance

Listed on the District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites in 2012 and on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.

nearby

United States Chamber of Commerce 0.2 mi · Beaux-Arts · 1925
Third Church of Christ, Scientist 0.2 mi · Brutalism · 1971
Decatur House 0.2 mi · Federal · 1818
Waggaman–Ray Commercial Row 0.2 mi · Neoclassical
American Peace Society house 0.2 mi · Renaissance Revival
Mayflower Hotel 0.2 mi · Beaux-Arts

All 315 buildings in Washington, DC