Current Structure
The Raleigh Hotel closed in 1954, and by 1965 developer Jerry Wolman had purchased the site and proposed building the current structure. It was one of the first structures built under the Pennsylvania Avenue redevelopment plan approved in 1964, and the first private building to be built. Because of restrictions imposed by the Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site legislation, Wolman agreed to move the building line back from Pennsylvania Avenue by 50 feet (15 m) and keep the building's height to 135 feet (41 m), although in exchange for the loss of interior square footage District of Columbia zoning officials gave him permission to cantilever the building over the sidewalk on 12th Street at a height about 30 feet (9.1 m) above the street. Named the Presidential Building (or the Presidential Office Building), the structure was designed by Edmund W. Dreyfuss & Associates in the Brutalist style. Dreyfuss worked closely on the building with John Woodbridge, a staff architect for the President's Council on Pennsylvania Avenue and a member of the firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. The President's Council chairman was Nathaniel A. Owings, a partner in that firm. The building was completed in mid-1968, and originally had 253,000 square feet (23,500 m2) of interior space. Its address at this time was 415 12th Street NW. The District of Columbia Public Schools leased seven of the floors in the building, with other District government offices renting the remaining space.
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