Funkstown: Renovated Francis School - Now a Historic Landmark
- Frank Leone
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
By Frank Leone
Francis School (2426 N St. NW) was built in 1927 with additions in 1929,1953 and 2024, but its historic core retains sufficient integrity to convey its architectural and historical significance. The D.C. Historic Preservation Office granted it historic landmark status on December 18, 2025 with a period of significance of 1927-1953. Formerly Francis Junior High School, the building is important as the first Junior High purpose-built for African American students. It was designed by D.C.’s municipal architect Albert L. Harris (1869-1933) and its core reflects the renaissance revival style popular during the 1920s D.C. school building boom. It is named for Dr. John R. Francis (1856-1913), a prominent African American physician and D.C Board of Education member.
D.C.’s population grew during and after World War I and more children crowded the schools. At the same time, there was a movement towards separation of junior high (grades 7-9) from elementary school (grades 1-6) in the public school system. Creation of junior high schools would relieve congestion and allow for inclusion of facilities, like auditoriums, which were not typically in elementary schools at the time and enhance the educational experience room for special classes like art, science, and industrial arts. During the period from 1925-1930, D.C. built 16 new schools, two for African American students, to alleviate overcrowding. In 2024, the school became the John Francis Education Campus, offering early childhood, elementary (grades 1-5) and middle (grades 6-8) programs for students from all of D.C.’s eight wards.
In the 1920s, the West End was a long established African American neighborhood, which grew into a mixed used residential and commercial industrial area. The 1930 census shows many of the men employed as carpenters, painters, or laborers and women employed as domestics, servants, and laundresses for private families. The D.C. Board of Education recognized the need for a junior high in that area and built Francis School, making it the first junior high school specifically built for African American students. By the 1970s, the neighborhood was integrated, but still majority African American. In fact, the Lincoln Civic Association sometimes met there. The school also served African American students from Georgetown
The building is architecturally important as an example of Albert Harris’ work and his “extensible” school building design – which allowed for the addition of
new wings to increase its size in phases as funding became available, without major changes in the basic design. Harris was born in Wales and received his BA in Architecture from GWU. Francis’ classical style was approved by the D.C. Commission on Fine Arts. Thus, after the original building was constructed in 1927, a third floor was added in 1929, the east wing in 1953 and the new west wing in 2024. The D.C. Historic Preservation Review Board in granting landmark status (at the request of the D.C. Department of General Services) found that the original massing, details and materials remain intact in the historic building. The 2024 additions were designed in a contemporary manner, distinct from the historic core, but compatible with it. The building’s interior principle historic spaces have retained their historic layouts, materials, and finishes. Note that the builder was Charles H. Tompkins Co., who built buildings on the GWU campus, including Lisner Auditorium.
The school’s auditorium occupies the center of the plan as it did originally and today looks much like this 1987 photo as well as the original installation. (Francis School Nomination). The Francis School Nomination contains numerous photographs of the school over time.
John R. Francis was an 1878 graduate of the University of Michigan medical school who practice in Washington for 35 years. He established the first sanitorium available to African American patients, which was located nearby in Foggy Bottom (Pennsylvania Ave. and 21st Street). He served as the temporary Surgeon in Chief at Freedman's Hospital, on the Board of Trustees of Howard University, and was a member of the D.C. Board of Education from 1886-1889. (We will take a closer look at Dr. Francis and his Foggy Bottom sanitorium in our next post.)
Sources: D.C. Historic Preservation Office, Francis School Staff Report (Dec. 18, 2025); D.C. Department of General Services, Francis School Nomination (Oct. 1, 2025); “May Name new School for Dr. John R. Francis,” Evening Star, Oct. 18, 1923, p. 22; “Dr. John R. Francis Dead,” Evening Star, May 24, 1913, p. 8; Foggy Bottom Association History Project.
You can also read about nearby Stevens Elementary and the now closed Briggs-Montgomery Elementary; we will cover the School without Walls (Grant school) in a future issue.