Cairo Flats

The Cairo Condominium is a landmark in the Dupont Circle neighborhood. It’s located at 1615 Q Street, NW, and is the District of Columbia’s tallest residential building. Completed in 1894 as the city’s first skyscraper, the 164 foot tall building prompted local legislation to limit the height of subsequent buildings that continues to shape the District’s skyline. Gargoyles and daunting winged creatures hover high above the front entrance, while the stone facade, carved in intricate detail, lends an exotic flavor. Inscribed above its Roman­esque Revival arched entrance is the building’s name: The Cairo. As charming and unexpected as the Moorish detailing and ghoulish griffins are, it is the Cairo’s size relative to its neighbors that is truly its most striking feature. 

In 1894,  30-year-old architect and developer Thomas Franklin Schneider built the Cairo in a rapidly developing neighbor­hood east of Dupont Circle. The Cairo was the city’s first steel-frame building, con­structed using an architectural technique then considered revolutionary. Being fireproof was a key selling point at the turn of the 20th century. Fire departments still were powered by horses, slower than the mechanized equipment of today. And few buildings were fireproofed by brick and steel and therefore were much more susceptible to disastrous conflagration.

In the mid-20th century, the Cairo’s decline into squalor and decay both reinforced and mirrored that of much of its neighborhood. In the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s, its ren­ovation and rebirth reflected and fueled the trend toward recycling and cherishing historic buildings. For all its unique features, the Cairo is a micro­cosm of its neighborhood and city. The origins of the Cairo lay in the transformation of apartment living in Washington in the late 19th century. As the federal government expanded during and after the Civil War, a burgeoning pop­ulation created a housing shortage and drove up housing prices. The high cost of living meant that many politicians and government officials were unable to purchase residences appropriate to their status; renting lavish apartments in the most sophisticated areas of the city provided a desirable alternative. Though apartment living in Washing­ton was originally popular with low-income resi­dents, especially workers who occupied humble buildings or flats carved from for­mer single-family houses, by the 1890s, apartment living was gaining traction with the middle and upper classes. Apartment houses, as the new rental buildings tended to be called, were home to both permanent and transient residents and offered luxurious accommodations with many hotel ser­vices such as large lobbies, reception desks, drug­ stores, barbershops, and public dining rooms.

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