Benjamin Franklin School

The Franklin School Building stands on Franklin Square at the corner of 13th and K Streets in Washington, D.C. Built in 1869, the building was designed by Adolf Cluss in the German Rundbogenstil (round-arch style), which he himself called a modern Renaissance. One of the city's first modern public school buildings, it originally served as a showcase for a comprehensive public education system. Its architecture is marked by large windows, bright and airy rooms, and a large hall that could hold a thousand people and was used for concerts and public gatherings. A bust of Benjamin Franklin adorns the facade of the building, which was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1996.

After serving a variety of uses as a school and, for a time, as a homeless shelter, the building has housed the Planet Word museum since October 2020. This museum of linguistics is devoted to exploring and showcasing language. The conversion was accompanied by controversy, as historic interior elements were damaged during the renovation, leading to violations of historic preservation regulations. Despite these incidents, the museum opened and today offers visitors a look into the world of language inside a historically significant and architecturally impressive building.