John D. submits a lovely post on the coming and going of the Woodward & Lothrop department store and its flagship building(s) on the block bounded by F and G and 10th and 11th Streets, N.W.
The large, new [Carlisle] building [at 11th and F] allowed for expanded lines of goods. In December 1888, Woodward observed to The Washington Post that “our new bric-a-brac department has led everything, and this trade has been truly phenomenal,” although the article frustratingly does not divulge what particular bric-a-brac was so irresistible.
In the early decades of the 20th century, two buildings replaced the Carlisle structure, filling in most of the block.
The escalator in Woodies, as I recall from the 1980s, was cramped and did nothing to stage the floor on which you were arriving. The handrail suggested a segmented worm. But, as an image in the post documents, it was at one time a technical marvel, an Electric Stairway connecting the levels of this emporium.