Built 1903-1904 NRHP Reference # 88000652 | Architect Leon Eidlitz Added to NRHP 13 June 1988 | |
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Location 722 Twelfth St., NW
Washington, D.C. Architectural style Late 19th and early 20th Century Revivals | ||
The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company, Old Main Building is a historic structure located in Downtown Washington, D.C. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
History
As the number of businesses in Washington increasingly relied in telephone service, Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company built this building as its new main exchange. Designed by architect Leon Eidlitz, it was the first of a complex of buildings the company would construct at this site. The building houses what was considered to be the largest telephone switchboard at the time. It began operations in September 1904 and served 6,000 at the beginning. The new system eliminated the multiple rings on party lines and the need for an operator to interrupt the line to determine whether a subscriber had completed a call or wanted to receive calls.