Barr Building
building in Washington, DC
The Barr Building is a historic structure located in the Golden Triangle section of Downtown Washington, D.C. It was listed on the District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites in 2012 and on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013. The building was designed by Washington architect B. Stanley Simmons in the Gothic Revival style and named for its developer, John L. Barr. When completed in 1927, the building was noted for having the fastest elevators in the city. The eleven-story structure rises to a height of 115 feet (35 m).
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Barr Building” is building in Washington, DC. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Barr, Building and building, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “building in Washington, DC” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q15196819. Authority coordinates are 38.902, -77.040. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2012, 2013 and 1927.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Barr Building”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Barr Building primary sources, Barr Building archive and Barr research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Barr Building”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Barr Building” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.