Palais Royal (Washington, D.C.)

The Palais Royal began in 1877 further south 1117 Pennsylvania Avenue at the northeast corner of 12th St., in the Centennial Building, originally home to the Bureau of Pensions, and which would later become the Raleigh Hotel.

It was founded by Abram Lisner (1855-1938), an immigrant from Germany who had first worked with his brother in a dry goods store in New York City.

The store continued to expand within and by the 1890s Lisner decided to build a new larger 5-story dedicated structure for the store, further north in the commercial district around the F street corridor, at 11th and G streets.

The new store opened in 1893 and was designed by architect Harvey L. Page in the Chicago style, a rarity in Washington, D.C.

The downtown Palais Royal was across the street from the north side of the Woodward & Lothrop flagship and became an annex of it.