Warder Building (Atlas Building), Washington DC

Date added: October 04, 2010 Categories: Washington DC Commercial

The Atlas-Warder Building, known as the Atlas since at latest 1944, was built in 1892 at the northwest corner of Square 406, on Ninth and F Streets. Designed in no predominant style, the massive six-story Atlas-Warder shows an eclectic assemblage of Romanesque, Queen Anne and Italianate detailing applied to a basically straightforward commercial structure.

The site, which integrates two originally separate lots, is approximately L-shaped, featuring its longest, one hundred and twenty foot long frontage on Ninth Street. On F Street it measures thirty-two feet. The base of the "L" occurs on the south end of the lot. It extends ninety-five feet Into the square and is only fifteen feet wide. Adjacent to the site on the south there are empty lots presently used as open parking, while to the east along F Street, the Atlas-Warder abuts a three-story comnercial sturcture.

Both building facades are of red pressed brick and present a traditional division into bays and floors. All exterior walls are masonry and apparently support wood framed floors, which also rest on some interior bearing walls that run perpendicular to the Ninth Street facade.

The first floor features several commercial establishments, each with independent street access. The upper floors are accessible from the main entrance located near the center of the Ninth Street facade. Typical floors consist of an L-shaped corridor with rental suites on each side. At present the building has adult bookstores on the ground level, and the upper floors are occupied by a variety of office tenants and artists' studios.

The building is now occupied by the International Spy Museum.