Many other halls of fame have been erected and other grand monuments consecrated to the memory of some individual heroic figure in the history of our nation, but this is the first building dedicated to all the recognized heroes of the American Revolution: men and women alike. It is the costliest and most impressive monument of its kind ever built by women in this country or any other. At the completion of Memorial Continental Hall in 1905, a reporter for the Washington Evening Star wrote: “This Valhalla is unique. In the center, the Administration Building houses the NSDAR Museum Gallery and Americana Room. At left, Constitution Hall, completed in 1929, and still Washington’s largest concert hall, provides a venue for almost daily public events and concerts. At right, the exquisite Beaux Art architecture of Memorial Continental Hall, the original “house beautiful,” clearly sets it apart as an historic D.C. Visitors to Constitution Hall often think of it as occupying the whole block between 17th and 18th streets when, in fact, there are three connected yet separate buildings that comprise the Headquarters of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, as this 1932 photo captures clearly. The Administration Building, originally built in 1920, was expanded in 1950 to completely unite all three buildings and consume an entire city block. ![]() Constitution Hall, built in 1929, anchors the opposite end of the complex. ![]() Construction on Memorial Continental Hall, the first building of the headquarters, began in 1904. In the early part of the twentieth century, the phenomenal growth of the Society’s permanent home would mirror the growth of their membership.
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