Last August, District Distilling, Washington D.C.’s first combination distillery-kitchen-bar, opened with much fanfare inside a 19th Century row house along historic 14th Street. A 2014 law change now permits local distilleries to pour spirits they make onsite.
Since that opening, the location’s designer, GrizForm Design Architects, has been tweaking the lighting for the ground floor distillery that unexpectedly has become a tourist attraction and also accommodates parties.
The distillery features two copper pot stills and a 38-plate twin copper column system. “The stills are quite beautiful, with copper and stainless steel accents,” says Griz Dwight, who owns the design firm. So throughout District Distilling, he tried to sustain that visual by combining, wherever possible, two types of materials, such as copper and wood, leather and steel, light and mirrors.
District Distilling Co., the four-year-old owner of the restaurant, was instrumental in getting the distillery law changed, says Dwight. It was also hands-on during the project, whose Building Team included Potomac Construction (GM), Allen & Shariff (MEP), Structura (SE), and Hospitality Kitchen Design (food service).
Carl, the Germany-based company that supplied the distilling equipment, didn’t have a representative on site, so the team had to figure out how to assemble the stills, the larger of which are 2½ stories tall and prominently visible throughout the building. The stills—which distill gin, vodka, rum, and whiskey—have portals and interior lights so patrons can look in and watch the process. (Reserved tours at $10 per person.)
District Distilling converted three row houses that had been restaurants into a two-floor distillery and restaurant that includes ground-floor retail. Image: Eater/R. Lopez
Dwight says the 8,000-sf space is actually 3½ row houses that were once separate restaurants but had been vacant for a while. The team removed walls to open the room, which includes the second-floor, 139-seat restaurant and bar. District Distilling also has a ground floor retail area that sells bottles of the spirits it produces and other merchandise.
The distillery was scheduled to release its first spirit, called Corridor Vodka, this fall, and what it makes will eventually be offered for the cocktails served at the bar and restaurant.
The demand for distilleries that sell their products to the public is undeniable. More than half of the domestic business generated by the 1,280-plus active craft spirits producers in the U.S. is driven by direct sales at a distillery or tasting room, according to the American Craft Spirits Association’s 2016 report.
Dwight says his firm is working on another distillery-restaurant-bar, Farmers & Distillers in Mt. Vernon, Va., that’s scheduled to open December 13, but will lean toward the restaurant and be more of a finishing distiller than District Distilling. The website Eater reports that another combination, Cotton & Reed, is set to open next year near the District’s Union Market.
The 8,000-sf District Distilling is part of a growing trend of distilleries selling directly to the public. Image: District Distrilling Co./Amber Frederiksen
Related Stories
Giants 400 | Oct 23, 2023
Top 190 Multifamily Architecture Firms for 2023
Humphreys and Partners, Gensler, Solomon Cordwell Buenz, Niles Bolton Associates, and AO top the ranking of the nation's largest multifamily housing sector architecture and architecture/engineering (AE) firms for 2023, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report. Note: This ranking factors revenue for all multifamily buildings work, including apartments, condominiums, student housing facilities, and senior living facilities.
Affordable Housing | Oct 20, 2023
Cracking the code of affordable housing
Perkins Eastman's affordable housing projects show how designers can help to advance the conversation of affordable housing.
Senior Living Design | Oct 19, 2023
Senior living construction poised for steady recovery
Senior housing demand, as measured by the change in occupied units, continued to outpace new supply in the third quarter, according to NIC MAP Vision. It was the ninth consecutive quarter of growth with a net absorption gain. On the supply side, construction starts continued to be limited compared with pre-pandemic levels.
Warehouses | Oct 19, 2023
JLL report outlines 'tremendous potential' for multi-story warehouses
A new category of buildings, multi-story warehouses, is beginning to take hold in the U.S. and their potential is strong. A handful of such facilities, also called “urban logistics buildings” have been built over the past five years, notes a new report by JLL.
Building Materials | Oct 19, 2023
New white papers offer best choices in drywall, flooring, and insulation for embodied carbon and health impacts
“Embodied Carbon and Material Health in Insulation” and “Embodied Carbon and Material Health in Gypsum Drywall and Flooring,” by architecture and design firm Perkins&Will in partnership with the Healthy Building Network, advise on how to select the best low-carbon products with the least impact on human health.
Contractors | Oct 19, 2023
Crane Index indicates slowing private-sector construction
Private-sector construction in major North American cities is slowing, according to the latest RLB Crane Index. The number of tower cranes in use declined 10% since the first quarter of 2023. The index, compiled by consulting firm Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB), found that only two of 14 cities—Boston and Toronto—saw increased crane counts.
Office Buildings | Oct 19, 2023
Proportion of workforce based at home drops to lowest level since pandemic began
The proportion of the U.S. workforce working remotely has dropped considerably since the start of the Covid 19 pandemic, but office vacancy rates continue to rise. Fewer than 26% of households have someone who worked remotely at least one day a week, down sharply from 39% in early 2021, according to the latest Census Bureau Household Pulse Surveys.
Luxury Residential | Oct 18, 2023
One Chicago wins 2023 International Architecture Award
One Chicago, a two-tower luxury residential and mixed-use complex completed last year, has won the 2023 International Architecture Award. The project was led by JDL Development and designed in partnership between architecture firms Goettsch Partners and Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture.
Giants 400 | Oct 17, 2023
Top 130 Sports Facility Architecture Firms for 2023
Populous, Gensler, HOK, and HKS head BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest sports facility architecture and architecture/engineering (AE) firms for 2023, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.
Office Buildings | Oct 16, 2023
The impact of office-to-residential conversion on downtown areas
Gensler's Duanne Render looks at the incentives that could bring more office-to-residential conversions to life.