The Hecht Company Warehouse in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 is a Streamline Moderne

Streamline Moderne

Streamline Moderne, sometimes referred to by either name alone or as Art Moderne, was a late type of the Art Deco design style which emerged during the 1930s...

 style building. Designed by engineer Gilbert V. Steel of the New York engineering firm Abbott and Merkt, and prominently located on New York Avenue

New York Avenue (Washington, D.C.)

New York Avenue is one of the diagonal avenues radiating from the White House in Washington, D.C. It is a major east-west route in the city's Northwest and Northeast quadrants and connects downtown with points east and north of the city via Cheverly, Maryland, the John Hanson Highway and the...

, it served as the central warehouse for The Hecht Company

Hecht's

Hecht's, also known as Hecht Brothers, Hecht Bros. and the Hecht Company, was a large chain of department stores located mainly in the mid-Atlantic and southern region of the United States....

 from its construction in 1937 and expansion in 1948. The building uses glass block extensively, culminating in a twelve-pointed star-shaped cupola at the corner, which is illuminated at night. Black brick interspersed with glass block spells out "The Hecht Co" at the fifth floor.

At its opening, the building featured an in-house vehicle repair shop, air conditioning for the basement and first two floors, and three railroad track platforms.

A careful rehabilitation was carried out in 1992, using matching materials.