1318 Vermont Avenue, Northwest (House), Washington, District of Columbia, DC
Summary
Significance: The row house at 1318 Vermont Avenue, NW, attained its prestige as the headquarters of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) as as the Washington residence of Mary McLeod Bethune, the educator and civil rights leader. Constructed in 1875, the brick house, with its three-story facade, bay window, and mansard roof, reflects many of the changes in building regulations reflected in the speculative development of new neighborhoods in the District. Its translation from a single-family home for the upper-middle class in the late nineteenth century, to a boarding house and shop in early twentieth century, to the headquarters of the NCNW from the 1940s to 1960s, and currently to a museum and archive, exemplifies the shifting nature of the Logan Circle area. During the past century this neighborhood has changed from an affluent, nearly all-white community to an enclave of the black elite, and finally, to a racially mixed district. Bethune's association with the house made it a center of activity in the 1940s as a meeting place for the NCNW as well as for prominent figures including Eleanor Roosevelt and Mary Church Terrell.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N16
Survey number: HABS DC-775
Building/structure dates: 1875 Initial Construction
National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 82005389
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