{{about|the building in Washington, D.C.|the former Sun Building in Sydney|GIO Building}} {{Use American English|date=February 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox NRHP | name = Sun Building | nrhp_type = | image = Sun Building, DC.jpg | caption = Sun Building in 2008 | location = 1317 F Street, N.W.<br />Washington, D.C., U.S. | coordinates = {{coord|38|53|51.2|N|77|1|49.5|W|display=inline,title}} | locmapin = United States Washington, D.C. central#Washington, D.C.#USA | area = | built = 1885 | architect = Alfred B. Mullett | architecture = | added = March 27, 1985 | refnum = 85000650<ref>[https://npgallery.nps.gov/nrhp nps.gov] </ref> | designated_other1 = DCIHS | designated_other1_abbr = DCIHS | designated_other1_date = December 21, 1983 }} The '''Sun Building''' (also known as the Baltimore Sun Building or American Bank Building) is a historic building, located at 1317 F Street, Northwest, Washington, D.C., in the Downtown Washington, D.C. neighborhood.
==History== ''The Baltimore Sun'' had covered Washington since the paper's inception in the 1830s and opened a Washington bureau at 1418 F Street NW in 1872. However, the newspaper quickly outgrew that building. The newspaper's founder, Arunah Shepherdson Abell identified a vacant lot nearby, blocks from the Treasury Department and the White House.<ref name="weta">{{cite news |title=When the Baltimore Sun was Washington's Most Visible Newspaper {{!}} Boundary Stones |url=https://boundarystones.weta.org/2019/03/08/when-baltimore-sun-was-washingtons-most-visible-newspaper |access-date=9 September 2025 |work=boundarystones.weta.org |date=8 March 2019 |language=en}}</ref>
It was designed by Alfred B. Mullett and constructed from 1885 to 1887, by John H. Howlett. After Abell's death in 1888, the building's management was assumed by his son Walter and three grandsons. The building was sold at a court-ordered auction in 1904 to resolve disputes raised by Abell's daughters. After no bids were made, the building was sold to American Bank.<ref name="weta" />
The nine-story building was served by steam elevators, which were replaced by hydraulics in 1909, and electric elevators in 1922. It was altered, in 1904 by B. Stanley Simmons for the American Bank. In 1907, the ninth story was added as the Interstate Commerce Commission Hearing Room.<ref>{{NRHP url|id=85000650}}</ref>
In 1942, the tower's spire was donated to support the war effort and in 1950, the tower atop the building was condemned.<ref name="weta" />
Tenants included the Interstate Commerce Commission, Woodrow Wilson's law firm, Daniel C. Roper, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2000/10/16/focus8.html| title=Old Sun building featured Washington's first elevators | work=Washington Business Journal| author= Mike Livingston| date=October 16, 2000}}</ref>
The Sun Building was restored in 1983 by architects Abel & Weinstein.<ref name="Moeller">G. Martin Moeller Jr., ''AIA Guide to the Architecture of Washington, D.C.'' (Washington: Washington Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, 2006): 140.</ref> It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 27, 1985. Its 2009 property value is $13,931,970.
==See also== * Early skyscrapers * National Register of Historic Places listings in the District of Columbia
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{Commons category-inline|Sun Building}} * {{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20130409023208/http://www.emporis.com/building/sunbuilding-washington-dc-usa emporis]}}
{{National Register of Historic Places}}
Category:Commercial buildings completed in 1887 Category:Bank buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C. Category:Skyscraper office buildings in Washington, D.C. Category:1887 establishments in Washington, D.C.