Long before Club Kavakos' 20 year run, 727 H Street NE was the home of Beuchert's Tavern. William, John, and Edward Beuchert were immigrants from Baden who became active in the tavern business around the time of the Civil War. While John and William Beuchert settled on Capitol Hill, Edward, his wife Magdelena, and their children lived above the tavern for many years.
Beucherts Tavern stood at the heavily trafficked intersection of the H Street horsecar line and 8th Street, a direct route to the Washington Navy Yard on the banks of the Anacostia. Apparently it prospered, for the Beucherts eventually built a string of brick commercial buildings on 8th Street NE and came to own numerous other properties in the neighborhood.
When Prohibition came, the tavern, which was in the hands of another proprietor, became a confectionery. Club Kavakos opened shortly after repeal and lasted until 1956. The tavern building saw a number of retail uses over the next 40 years, narrowly escaping incineration in the 1968 riots, which burnt out the south side of the 800 block of H Street.
By the late 1990s, the tavern building stood vacant. Although there were passionate calls for its restoration and an attempt to obtain landmark status, it was demolished in 1999 after much controversy. The Beuchert commercial buildings on 8th Street NE were razed at the same time. Today a retail building occupies the site.
