| Georgetown Car Barn | |
|---|---|
.jpg) M Street elevation in December 2018 | |
 | |
| Former names | Union Station |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Romanesque Revival |
| Location | Georgetown, Washington, D.C., United States |
| Address | 3600 M Street, N.W. |
| Coordinates | 38°54′19″N 77°4′12″W / 38.90528°N 77.07000°W |
| Construction started | 1895 |
| Opened | May 27, 1897 |
| Owner | Georgetown University |
| Height | |
| Architectural | 140 feet (43 m) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 4 |
| Floor area | 81,765 square feet (7,596 m2) |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Waddy Butler Wood |
| Civil engineer | D.S. Carll |
Capital Traction Company Union Station | |
| Part of | Georgetown Historic District (ID67000025) |
| MPS | Streetcar and Bus Resources of Washington, DC MPS |
| NRHP reference No. | 100004248 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | August 9, 2019[2] |
| Designated NHLDCP | May 28, 1967 |
| Designated DCIHS | January 24, 2019[1] |
The Georgetown Car Barn, historically known as the Capital Traction Company Union Station, is a building in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., in the United States. Designed by the architect Waddy Butler Wood, it was built between 1895 and 1897 by the Capital Traction Company as a union terminal for several Washington and Virginia streetcar lines. The adjacent Exorcist steps, later named after their appearance in William Friedkin's 1973 horror film The Exorcist, were built during the initial construction to connect M Street with Prospect Street.
The Car Barn, built for use as a passenger station and to store streetcars, was also the terminal for Washington's only cable car system. Almost immediately after the building opened, Capital Traction converted its streetcar lines to electrical power and modified the Car Barn to suit. Still, the building was never used to the extent anticipated by its builders.
The building has undergone several renovations. The most extensive, in 1911, modified the original Romanesque Revival façade and almost completely gutted the interior. Changing ownership over time, it maintained its original function of housing streetcars until 1950, when it was redeveloped as office space. Among its occupants was the International Police Academy, an arm of the Central Intelligence Agency, which operated out of the Car Barn in the 1960s and 1970s. Today, it is an academic building owned by Georgetown University. In 2019, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.