F Street and 7th Street shopping districts

Parts of F Street and 7th Street, N.W. and nearby blocks have historically been the heart of the Washington, D.C. Downtown shopping district. In the first half of the 20th century there were numerous upscale large department stores along and near F Street, while 7th Street housed more economical emporia and large retail furniture stores.^[1]^[2] The F street corridor stretches west from Downtown's Penn Quarter and Gallery Place towards 15th Street, while the 7th Street corridor includes the neighborhoods of Penn Quarter, Chinatown and Mount Vernon Square, and extends up to the border of Shaw.

History

Center Market, the city's largest public market, opened in 1872, operating until 1931 on the site of today's National Archives Building. Its northern end faced Pennsylvania Avenue between 7th and 9th Streets. Transportation by Washington, D.C.'s streetcars, first horse-drawn, then electrified, notably the busy transfer point at F and 9th, helped solidify this area as D.C.'s most popular shopping district during that time.^[3]

Current retail

Although Macy's is the only traditional department store left, the district is home to four discount department stores, three small malls or shopping centers, and many on-street retail stores, including H&M, Anthropologie, and others.

From north to south and east to west:

from Gallery Pl. (G St.) to H St., from 6th to 7th, Gallery Place, a small urban power center with Bed, Bath & Beyond, Urban Outfitters, and Regal Cinemas
on D from 8th to 9th, south side, site of the former Kann's department store (1893–1975); original store was on the NE corner of 8th and Market Space (now the north side of Navy Memorial plaza)^[4]^[5]
on the block bounded by H, I, 9th and 10th streets, CityCenterDC shopping center, housing luxury boutiques (Hermès, etc.)
on the block bounded by F, G, 10th and 11th streets, former flagship of the Woodward & Lothrop department store chain (1887–1996), reopened in 2003 and currently houses H&M, Forever 21 and Zara.^[5]
on E from 11th to 12th, District Center with Nordstrom Rack and Saks Off Fifth discount department stores
on F from 12th to 13th, north side, T.J. Maxx discount department store
on G from 12th to 13th, north side, Macy's department store (was a Hecht's, built to replace the flagship, operated 1985–2006)^[6]
on F from 13th to 14th, south side, Marshalls discount department store at The Shops at the National Press Building
on Pennsylvania Avenue from 13th to 14th, The Shops at National Place, formerly a small urban mall, now with a few retail shops and a food court

From north to south and east to west:

on F from 6th to 7th, south side, the former flagship of Hecht's department store^[6]
1316–1324 7th St NW (W side north of N), Harry Kaufman's Stores department store
7th and K (SW corner, 706 K St NW): site of Hahn's shoe emporium, flagship of a regional chain
7th Street both sides of K: Goldberg's department store (912–928 7th St., 706 K St.)^[7]
7th Street at United States Navy Memorial Plaza, site of the first Saks and Co. stores (1867, larger store built on same site, 1887)^[8]
on E west of 8th, south side, former Lansburgh's department store (1882–1973)^[5]^[9]
SW corner I and 7th, 814 7th St. NW, site of King's Palace department store that operated 1860s through the 1930s. 1914 renovation by Frederick B. Pyle^[10]
on the block bounded by F, G, 10th and 11th streets, former flagship of the Woodward & Lothrop department store chain (1887–1996) reopened in 2003 and currently houses H&M, Forever 21 and Zara.^[5]
11th and G, site of the second (1893) location of the Palais Royal department store
Pennsylvania and 12th, northeast corner, site of the original (1870s-1880s) Palais Royal department store, the Centennial Building, at times also home to Bureau of Pensions and the Raleigh Hotel.
on F, NW corner of 14th, former flagship of Garfinckel's (1930–1990)^[11]^[5]

7th Street furniture retailers

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, 7th Street north of F, as far as O Street in today's Shaw district, was home not only to several of the more economical large department stores such as Goldberg's and Harry Kaufman's, but to the city's concentration of furniture retailers. These included (from north to south):^[12]

1015 7th Street – Alperstein's Furniture, 1904–present
932 7th Street – John Rudden's New Furniture, 1880s
National Furniture
921 7th Street – House & Herrmann, 1886
Marlo Furniture, 1963
915 7th Street – Jackson Brothers, 1903
819 7th Street – Samuel W. Augenstein, pre-1891
Peter Grogan's Furniture Company, 1891–1933
Peerless Furniture Company, 1935–1968
Home Furniture and Appliance Company, May 1969 – 1972
801 7th Street – John Rudden's New Furniture, 1899
718 7th Street – Anton Eberly & Sons, 1868
Mayer Dodek, Dodek's Furniture & Clothing, 1898
515 Seventh Street – Hecht's Department Store
7th and D, southeast corner – The Hub Furniture Store, 1855

Map

*site

15th to 14th	14th to 13th	13th to 12th	12th to 11th	11th to 10th	10th to 9th	9th to 8th	8th to 7th	7th to 6th
							Goldberg's*
K Street
							Hahn's* Goldberg's*
I Street
					CityCenterDC		King's Palace*
					CityCenterDC
H Street
								Gallery Place
		Macy's (Hecht's*)		Palais Royal* (1893-1946) W&L north (1946-1980s)^[13]				Gallery Place
G Street
				Woodward & Lothrop*; now Forever 21, H&M, Zara
Garfinckel's*		T. J. Maxx		Woodward & Lothrop*; now Forever 21, H&M, Zara
F Street
	Marshall's							Hecht's*
			District Center (Nordstrom Rack, Saks Off Fifth)					Hecht's* (1941 expansion)
		E Street NW
							Lansburgh's*

						D Street NW
	National Place		Palais Royal* (1877-1893)				Kann's*	The Hub (furniture)
	National Place		Palais Royal* (1877-1893)				Kann's* — A. Saks & Co.*
Pennsylvania Avenue NW						Navy Memorial Plaza formerly Market Space)
						Center Market

References

^ "Downtown Washington Greets Shriners". Evening Star (Washington, D.C.). June 10, 1935. F Street is perhaps the principal shopping and theater district of Washington...included in the general F Street shopping district is G Street
^ "Coolidges shop and make calls". Evening Start (Washington, D.C.). March 1, 1921.
^ Washington, D. C., Architecture: Market Square. Urban Design and Development Corporation and the Historic American Buildings Survey, United States Dept. of the Interior, National Park Service. 1969. p. 7. Transportation by street cars, at first horse drawn, then electrified, hastened the trend and made this street Washington's fashionable shopping district. By the 1920s the intersection of F and Ninth Streets was the busiest 19 transfer point
^ "S. Kann & Sons, Market Space, between Seventh & Eighth Streets, Northwest, Washington, District of Columbia, DC". Library of Congress.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Niemeyer, Daniel (2013). 1950s American Style: A Reference Guide (Soft cover). ISBN 9781304201652.
^ ^a ^b "The Hecht Company, last of DC's department stores".
^ Boyd's Directory of the District of Columbia for. R.L. Polk & Company. 1913.
^ "Now Forty Years Old: Saks Firm to Celebrate Anniversary This Week: History in the Making: House Has Kept Pace with Washington's Growth: From Johnson's Time to Now: Souvenir Booklet Distribution the Feature of Quiet and Dignified Birthday Celebrations". Washington Evening Star. September 30, 1907. p. 10.
^ "Lansburgh's Department Store, 420-426 Seventh Street, Northwest, Washington, District of Columbia, DC". Library of Congress.
^ "Lost Washington: King's Palace on 7th Street in Chinatown".
^ "15th and F Streets NW and the "Bon Ton" Shopping District".
^ ["History of 7th Street shopping", Penn Quarter Living]
^ "Lost Washington: The old Palais Royal department store".

38°53′52″N 77°01′18″W / 38.89782°N 77.0218°W / 38.89782; -77.0218

[1] "Downtown Washington Greets Shriners". Evening Star (Washington, D.C.). June 10, 1935. F Street is perhaps the principal shopping and theater district of Washington...included in the general F Street shopping district is G Street

[2] "Coolidges shop and make calls". Evening Start (Washington, D.C.). March 1, 1921.

[3] Washington, D. C., Architecture: Market Square. Urban Design and Development Corporation and the Historic American Buildings Survey, United States Dept. of the Interior, National Park Service. 1969. p. 7. Transportation by street cars, at first horse drawn, then electrified, hastened the trend and made this street Washington's fashionable shopping district. By the 1920s the intersection of F and Ninth Streets was the busiest 19 transfer point

[4] "S. Kann & Sons, Market Space, between Seventh & Eighth Streets, Northwest, Washington, District of Columbia, DC". Library of Congress.

[1950s-5] Niemeyer, Daniel (2013). 1950s American Style: A Reference Guide (Soft cover). ISBN 9781304201652.

[streetsofwashington.com-6] "The Hecht Company, last of DC's department stores".

[7] Boyd's Directory of the District of Columbia for. R.L. Polk & Company. 1913.

[estar-8] "Now Forty Years Old: Saks Firm to Celebrate Anniversary This Week: History in the Making: House Has Kept Pace with Washington's Growth: From Johnson's Time to Now: Souvenir Booklet Distribution the Feature of Quiet and Dignified Birthday Celebrations". Washington Evening Star. September 30, 1907. p. 10.

[9] "Lansburgh's Department Store, 420-426 Seventh Street, Northwest, Washington, District of Columbia, DC". Library of Congress.

[10] "Lost Washington: King's Palace on 7th Street in Chinatown".

[11] "15th and F Streets NW and the "Bon Ton" Shopping District".

[12] ["History of 7th Street shopping", Penn Quarter Living]

[13] "Lost Washington: The old Palais Royal department store".

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v t e Shopping malls and shopping districts in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area
Washington, D.C.	7th Street 14th Street Barracks Row CityCenterDC Columbia Heights Downtown Washington Dupont Circle F Street Gallery Place Georgetown (M Street and Wisconsin Avenue) H Street Corridor L'Enfant Plaza Logan Circle Navy Yard Park & Shop (Cleveland Park) Rhode Island Avenue N.E. Union Station The Wharf U Street Corridor
Suburban Maryland	Beltway Plaza Bethesda Row Ellsworth Place Langley Park Laurel Shopping Center The Mall at Prince Georges Marlow Heights Shopping Center National Harbor Pike & Rose RIO Washingtonian Center (rio) St. Charles Towne Center The Centre at Forestville The Collection at Chevy Chase The Shops at Iverson The Shops at Wisconsin Place Towne Centre at Laurel Westfield Montgomery Westfield Wheaton
Northern Virginia	Ballston Quarter Crystal City Shops Dulles Town Center Fair Oaks Mall Fairfax Square Fashion Centre at Pentagon City Leesburg Manassas Mall Mosaic District Old Town Alexandria Potomac Mills Reston Town Center Seven Corners Shopping Center Springfield Town Center Stonebridge at Potomac Town Center The Crossing Clarendon Tysons (Tysons Corner Center and Tysons Galleria) The Village at Shirlington Westpost at National Landing
Defunct centers	Capital Plaza Mall Lakeforest Mall Landmark Mall Landover Mall Laurel Mall Mazza Gallerie Old Post Office Pavilion Rockville Mall Skyline Mall The Boulevard at the Capital Centre The Shops at National Place Virginia Square Shopping Center White Flint Mall

History

Current retail

Sites of department stores and other notable stores

7th Street furniture retailers

Map

References