Francis L. Cardozo Senior High School (Washington, D.C.)

 panoramic view, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, high school

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Formerly known as Central High School and traditionally one of Washington, DC's most prominent public schools. The building sits on top of the ridge separating Columbia Heights to the north, a multiethnic area of brownstones and apartments, from the historically black neighborhood of Shaw to the south, which dates to the Civil War. As a result, many students are immigrants. The building itself was built in 1928 to a design by William B. Ittner and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

All of the major buildings in downtown D.C. are visible from the northwest corner of the building.

Florida Avenue, the narrow, irregular street on the south side of Cardozo High School's playing field, runs along the edge of a geological formation known as the Fall Line. This escarpment divides the flat Atlantic Coastal Plain from the lush, hilly Piedmont plateau.

The Florida Avenue portion of this escarpment stretches from Georgetown in the west to Howard University, three blocks to the east. As a result, one can see over many of the surrounding tall buildings for a panoramic view of downtown D.C. (See also Meridian Hill Park nearby for another view.)

Cardozo High School sits on the north side of Florida Avenue between 12th and 13th streets, facing downtown Washington. To the west, 14th street is the major commercial artery which runs north-south through the area. Further west, 16th street runs toward the White House.

The U Street/Cardozo neighborhood, considered a separate area of Shaw, is a nightlife area bounded by U Street and Florida Avenue, which makes an inverted U around it.

Cardozo sits at the top of the U; as a result, the surrounding area is also sometimes called "U Street-Cardozo" after the school.

The larger neighborhood of Shaw is also named after a school and was formerly known simply as "14th and U".

After the 1968 riots in the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. both neighborhoods took on the name of the local schools, which had been recently integrated and renamed in honor of the area's local history. Cardozo (formerly Central) High School is named after Benjamin Cardozo.

To the south, Shaw Junior High School is named after the Civil War Lt. Robert Gould Shaw, commander of the U.S. Colored Regiment featured in the movie "Glory".

(For more info see: Howard University; Meridian Hill Park; African-American Civil War Memorial; Shaw neighborhood, Washington DC; U Street-Cardozo Metro Station)

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