Leon Emil Dessez (April 12, 1858 – December 25, 1918) was an American architect in Washington, D.C. He designed public buildings in the District of Columbia, and residences there and in Maryland, and Virginia,[1] including some of the first in Chevy Chase, Maryland, where he was the community's first resident. His D.C. work includes the 1893 conversion of the Shepherd Centennial Building into the Raleigh Hotel[2][3] and the Normal School for Colored Girls (1913), designed with Snowden Ashford.
Early life
Dessez was born in Washington, D.C., on April 12, 1858.[4] Bessie Semmes Dessez, mother of Captain J.H.S. Dessez and Elizabeth S. Dessez.[5]
Dessez was elected to the American Institute of Architects as fellow 1896.[4] He was one of the Washington, D.C., AIA chapter's charter members in 1887 and he served on a committee for the restoration of the Octagon House, now the AIA headquarters.[4] He also worked pro bono to develop Washington, D.C.'s building codes and investigated school building construction and design.[4] He died in Washington, D.C., on December 25, 1918.[4]
Workhouse at Occoquan, now the Lorton Reformatory, 1909 The planning "revolutionized the architecture of penal institutions" with its open air design.[4]
The Stoddert (1899), 2900 Q Street NW; Apartment building in Georgetown
House ("residence") for E.J. Stellwagen (1899 plans), Baltimore (i.e., Biltmore) Street and Columbia Road (lot 2, block 2), N.W., Cliffbourne, Washington, D.C.[13]
Corby Mansion (C. 1893) 9 Chevy Chase Circle, was Senator Francis G. Newlands house from 1893 to 1898, remodeled in 1911 [14]
St. James Episcopal Church 1891–1897 14 Cornwall St, Leesburg, Virginia, later additions were added (1931?)[15][16]
Kappa House (1908) 1708 S Street, NW. Originally a residence, it became the Washington DC Alumni chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity since June 4, 1949. Georgian architecture style[17]
