Leon E. Dessez

Leon Emil Dessez (April 12, 1858 – December 25, 1918) was an American architect in Washington, D.C.

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.

[5] Dessez began his career employed under Colonel Thomas Lincoln Casey on plans for the Washington Monument and spent three years as an architectural and engineering draftsman in the Navy Yard at Washington.

[1] He and Lindley Johnson of Philadelphia designed the first four houses in Chevy Chase, Maryland and Dessez became its first resident.

[6] Dessez was elected to the American Institute of Architects as fellow 1896.