NoVA Office Workers: Does your building have a 13th floor? (Arlington: apartment, middle school)

[DCguy03]

On the elevator in my office building, I just noticed that we don't have a 13th floor. The #'s skip straight from 12 to 14.

But on the other hand, my apartment building in Arlington does have a 13th floor.

So I'm wondering...does this just depend on how superstitious the building owner is? Is there a 13th floor in your office building?

[betamanlet]

Originally Posted by DCguy03

On the elevator in my office building, I just noticed that we don't have a 13th floor. The #'s skip straight from 12 to 14.

But on the other hand, my apartment building in Arlington does have a 13th floor.

So I'm wondering...does this just depend on how superstitious the building owner is? Is there a 13th floor in your office building?

Very few US buildings have a 13th floor. They'll either skip to 14, or call it 12A or something like that. Depends upon the designer/architect/owner.. I

[lovemy4kids]

My building only has 3 floors.

[Stephen 81]

My apartment building in Arlington also has a 13th floor. If anything, you'd think superstitious people would be more worried to live on the 13th floor than to work on it.

[South Jersey Styx]

My former office building in downtown DC (1 block from the White House) did not have a 13th floor. It skipped it and went from 12th to 16th.

BTW, DC also does not have a "J" Street. It just goes from "I" to "K". I never quite understood that either.

[DCguy03]

Originally Posted by South Jersey Styx

My former office building in downtown DC (1 block from the White House) did not have a 13th floor. It skipped it and went from 12th to 16th.

Wait a sec -- 12th to 16th?? What about 14 + 15?

[South Jersey Styx]

Originally Posted by DCguy03

Wait a sec -- 12th to 16th?? What about 14 + 15?

Oops, yes, the bldg certainly had a 14th & 15th floor. Now . . . I would be totally spooked if they skipped 13th, 14th, AND 15th!

[cdmurphy]

Originally Posted by South Jersey Styx

BTW, DC also does not have a "J" Street. It just goes from "I" to "K". I never quite understood that either.

From Snopes:

The mundane explanation is that J Street was likely omitted simply because the letters I and J were often indistinguishable from each other (especially when handwritten), and in 18th century English they were still largely interchangeable. (The 1740 "New General English Dictionary" published in London had a single section for I and J, and the standard identification Thomas Jefferson used on his personal possessions was "T.I.") Havingn both an "I" and a "J" street would have been redundant at best and confusing at worst, so "J" ended up as the odd man out.

[South Jersey Styx]

Originally Posted by cdmurphy

The mundane explanation is that J Street was likely omitted simply because the letters I and J were often indistinguishable from each other (especially when handwritten), and in 18th century English they were still largely interchangeable. (The 1740 "New General English Dictionary" published in London had a single section for I and J, and the standard identification Thomas Jefferson used on his personal possessions was "T.I.") Havingn both an "I" and a "J" street would have been redundant at best and confusing at worst, so "J" ended up as the odd man out.

Interesting . . . now I wonder, since this was an English-thing, if the streets were numbered after L'Enfant (who designed most of Washington, DC) was fired. Thanks for sharing!

[car54]

Originally Posted by South Jersey Styx

...BTW, DC also does not have a "J" Street. It just goes from "I" to "K". I never quite understood that either.

There is a Jay Street in Northeast.

And years ago, it was very common to see "I Street" spelled "Eye Street"...


About the number 13 being bad luck....not at FCPS Transportation. We have a bus 13...and it was parked at a middle school where about a dozen buses were heavily vandalized a while back. Bus 13 was the only bus there that was untouched by the vandals. We surmised that the perps were MS-13 gangbangers and they just couldn't bring themselves to attack a bus with 13 on it...