Everywhere you look
German Roots in Washington

Begun as a saloon in 1908 and advertised as a "Rathskeller" from 1913 until it closed in 1918, Dietz's Rathskeller operated at 511 7th Street, N.W.

One of a number of stunning 19th-century rowhouses on Seventh Street carries the inscription "A. Eberly's and Sons, 1881," bearing witness to a German business which prospered here.

Built in 1881, this impressive 7th St. building was once home to a confectionery.

Alexander and Moses Hecht, the sons of a German-Jewish merchant family, built their main department store in 1896 at 7th and F Streets, N.W. At 12th and G Streets today, it is the only large department store still operating in downtown DC.

William C. Kloeppinger’s Confectionery and Bakery, operated at the corner of G and 6th Streets, N.W., at the turn of the century, enticing passersby with fresh pretzels, candy, and baked goods.

Lansburgh's is a famous old name in Washington commerce and has been present on 7th Street NW since the mid-19th century.

The building housing the former Mercantile Savings Bank at 10th Street and G Place, N.W. was designed by the German architect Julius Wenig (1872–1940).

Founded in 1861 as a German-American workers' bank, this is the oldest savings and loan association in the nation.

Founded in 1859, the Washington Journal is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Washington. For many years, its offices were located at 710 Sixth Street, NW, in the heart of the German-American business community downtown.

Once home to Healy's Pharmacy, this corner building at Massachusetts Avenue and 3rd Street, N.W. was built in 1890 by Julius Germuiller, a son of German immigrants.

This elaborately ornamented Romanesque Revival building was designed by German-American architect Julius Germuiller and constructed in 1891.

Calvary Baptist Church, built in 1866, is the only surviving church building designed by German-born architect Adolf Cluss.

St. Mary Mother of God Roman Catholic Church was established in 1846 at 5th and H Streets, N.W., as the first Roman Catholic church for the German-speaking community in the Nation’s Capital.

Home to Greater New Hope Baptist Church since 1954, this building was originally a synagogue for a congregation of essentially German origin.

Concordia United Church of Christ in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood near George Washington University was founded in 1833 as the German United Evangelical Concordia Congregation.

St. Mary Mother of God Roman Catholic Church was established in 1846 at 5th and H Streets, N.W., as the first Roman Catholic church for the German-speaking community in the Nation’s Capital. 

The statue of Benjamin Franklin that stands on Pennsylvania Avenue at 12th Street, N.W. was dedicated in 1889 but did not stand at its current location until 1982. It was designed by German-born Ernst Plassman and sculpted in marble by Jacques Jouvenal, also born in Germany.

The Dr. Samuel Hahnemann statue and memorial stands on Massachusetts Avenue at 16th Street, N.W. It was erected in 1900 to honor the German father of homeopathic medicine.

On the north side of Thomas Circle, at the intersection of Massachusetts and Vermont Avenues, NW stands a statue of Martin Luther in front of Luther Place Memorial Church, built in 1873.

This historic German-American Cemetery was founded in 1858 by the German Evangelical Society, Concordia Lutheran Evangelical Church. Located on the east side of North Capitol Street, the cemetery's peaceful grounds are the final resting place for many of Washington's historic German-American families.

At the four corners of LaFayette Square, across from the White House, stand statues of four Europeans who helped fight the British during the American Revolution: the Marquis de LaFayette, the Comte de Rochambeau, General Thaddeus Kosciusko, and Baron von Steuben.

Constructed in 1947, this fountain is located on 14th Street between Constitution and Pennsylvania Avenues, N.W. It honors the German-born Straus, who became an American diplomat and was U.S. Secretary of Commerce and Labor under President Theodore Roosevelt.

The former Carnegie Library at Mt. Vernon Square is the home of the Historical Society of Washington, D.C. and its Kiplinger Research Library.

From the 1880's onwards, the area around Dupont Circle NW was one of Washington's most fashionable residential sections. The Christian Heurich House Museum - also known as the "Brewmaster's Castle" - gives us a feeling for that era of opulence.

The German-American Heritage Museum of the United States opened in 2010 in a building known as Hockemeyer Hall, located in the heart of the old German-American section of Washington.

Lillian and Albert Small Jewish Museum, housed in the historic Adas Israel Synagogue, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the oldest surviving synagogue in the District of Columbia.

The façade of Washington’s National Building Museum, located between 4th and 5th Streets and E and F Streets, N.W., boasts a frieze by artist Caspar Buberl. The frieze was cast in 1883 and depicts Civil War soldiers.

This building once housed the office of the Secretary of the Interior, Carl Schurz, and is currently home to the National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Constructed 1879-1881, the original United States National Museum - now the Smithsonian's Arts & Industries Building - was designed by Adolf Cluss and Paul Schulze to display the collections gathered for the United States Centennial Exhibition in 1876 in Philadelphia.

From the 1880's onwards, the area around Dupont Circle NW was one of Washington's most fashionable residential sections. The Christian Heurich House Museum - also known as the "Brewmaster's Castle" - gives us a feeling for that era of opulence.

Julius Ulke, a German-American photographer, boarded in the House Where Lincoln Died in the 1860's and took the historic photograph showing the room a few minutes after President Lincoln's body was removed from the bedroom.

In 1904, German-American tavern-keeper Matthew Ruppert commissioned architect Julius Wenig to design this house at 611 K Street NW.

In 1887, towards the end of his career, Adolf Cluss and Paul Schulze designed this house at 428-430 M Street NW for Henry H. Wells, Jr. It is the last remaining residence designed by Cluss.

This group of three brick rowhouses, constructed in 1907, was designed by the German-born architect Julius Wenig.

The corner of Seventh Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW has always been an intersection of government and commerce in the District of Columbia.

The former Carnegie Library at Mt. Vernon Square is the home of the Historical Society of Washington, D.C. and its Kiplinger Research Library.

The National Archives and Records Administration building is bounded by Constitution and Pennsylvania Avenues and 7th and 9th Streets, NW, a space that was occupied by Center Market until 1931. The north pediment of the building was designed by Adolph A. Weinman.

This elaborately ornamented Romanesque Revival building was designed by German-American architect Julius Germuiller and constructed in 1891.

Lansburgh's is a famous old name in Washington commerce and has been present on 7th Street NW since the mid-19th century.

Alexander and Moses Hecht, the sons of a German-Jewish merchant family, built their main department store in 1896 at 7th and F Streets, N.W. At 12th and G Streets today, it is the only large department store still operating in downtown DC.

Built in 1881, this impressive 7th St. building was once home to a confectionery.

Begun as a saloon in 1908 and advertised as a "Rathskeller" from 1913 until it closed in 1918, Dietz's Rathskeller operated at 511 7th Street, N.W.

IBEW has replaced the Woolworth Store and Goldenberg's department store is now the site of the TechWorld complex.

Before the German cultural center moved to this renovated office building in the mid-1990s, where it was located until 2016, the building housed commercial shops and restaurants, including a haberdashery where German immigrant Emile Berliner (1851-1929), inventor of the gramophone, had his first job.

The space on the corner now occupied by a Starbucks was once a shoe store. The building was built by German-American architect Julius Germuiller.

7th Street NW was a common subject of photographer John P. Wymer.

The Center Market buildings, erected in 1871, were designed by German-American architect Adolf Cluss. Located centrally downtown, Center Market was one of DC’s most popular markets.