1318 Vermont Avenue, Northwest (House), Washington, District of Columbia, DC

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Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey

9 drawings
33 b&w photos
31 data pages
4 photo caption pages
2 color transparencies

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TITLE:
1318 Vermont Avenue, Northwest (House), Washington, District of Columbia, DC

CALL NUMBER:
HABS DC,WASH,589-

REPRODUCTION NUMBER:
[See Call Number]

MEDIUM:
Measured Drawing(s): 9 (24 x 36 in.)
Photo(s): 33 (5 x 7 in.)
Data Page(s): 30 plus cover page
Photo Caption Page(s): 4
Color Transparencies: 2

DATE:
Documentation compiled after 1933.

CREATOR:
Historic American Buildings Survey, creator

NOTE:
Survey number HABS DC-775

Unprocessed field note material exists for this structure (N16).

Building/structure dates: 1875 initial construction

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.

SUBJECTS:
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA--District of Columbia--Washington
bay windows
mansard roofs
African Americans

OTHER TITLE:
Mary McLeod Bethune House
Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Histori

COLLECTION:
Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress)

REPOSITORY:
Library of Congress, Prints and Photograph Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

DIGID:
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.dc0884

CONTENTS:
Photograph caption(s):
1. GENERAL VIEW FROM STREET, LOOKING NORTH WEST, SHOWING VERMONT AVENUE STREETSCAPE. MARY McLEOD BETHUNE HOUSE IS THE THIRD BAY FROM THE LEFT.
2. GENERAL VIEW FROM SIDEWALK, LOOKING NORTH WEST, SHOWING VERMONT AVENUE STREETSCAPE. MARY McLEOD BETHUNE HOUSE IS THE THIRD BAY FROM THE LEFT.
3. GENERAL VIEW FROM SIDEWALK, LOOKING SOUTH WEST, SHOWING VERMONT AVENUE STREETSCAPE. THE MARY McLEOD BETHUNE HOUSE IS THE FOURTH BAY FROM THE RIGHT.
4. CLOSE UP VIEW OF VERMONT AVENUE STREETSCAPE, LOOKING NORTH WEST, MARY McLEOD BETHUNE HOUSE IS THE SECOND DOOR FROM THE LEFT.
5. VIEW OF EAST ELEVATION, WITH SCALE
6. VIEW OF EAST ELEVATION, WITHOUT SCALE.
7. CLOSE-UP VIEW OF EAST ELEVATION SHOWING MAIN ENTRY AND FRONT BAY DETAILS.
8. DETAIL VIEW OF EAST ELEVATION SHOWING SECOND FLOOR WINDOW AND ORNAMENTAL HOOD.
9. DETAIL OF EAST ELEVATION SHOWING CORNICE AND THIRD FLOOR DORMER WINDOWS.
10. VIEW OF WEST ELEVATION AND BACK YARD.
11. CLOSE-UP VIEW OF SIDE YARD AND BUILDING ELL.
12. INTERIOR VIEW, FIRST FLOOR, ENTRY HALL, LOOKING EAST TOWARDS MAIN ENTRY.
13. INTERIOR VIEW, FIRST FLOOR, DISPLAY ROOM 1, LOOKING EAST, CLOSE-UP VIEW OF BAY WINDOW.
14. INTERIOR VIEW, FIRST FLOOR, DISPLAY ROOM 1, LOOKING NORTH, SHOWING POCKET SLIDING DOORS.
15. INTERIOR VIEW, FIRST FLOOR, DISPLAY ROOM 1, LOOKING NORTH, PAST POCKET SLIDING DOORS, TO MAIN STAIRCASE.
16. INTERIOR VIEW, FIRST FLOOR, DISPLAY ROOM 2, LOOKING WEST.
17. INTERIOR VIEW, FIRST FLOOR, ENTRY HALL, LOOKING WEST, MAIN STAIRCASE IS ON THE RIGHT.
18. INTERIOR VIEW, SECOND FLOOR, HALLWAY, LOOKING WEST SHOWING MAIN STAIRCASE.
19. INTERIOR VIEW, SECOND FLOOR, HALLWAY, LOOKING WEST, CLOSE-UP VIEW OF ARCHWAY.
20. INTERIOR VIEW, THIRD FLOOR, HALLWAY, LOOKING EAST, SHOWING MAIN STAIRCASE AND A CLOSE-UP VIEW OF BANISTER AND SPINDLES.
21. INTERIOR VIEW, BASEMENT, HALLWAY, LOOKING WEST, SHOWING BOTTOM RUN OF MAIN STAIRCASE.
22. INTERIOR VIEW, FIRST FLOOR, DISPLAY ROOM 1, LOOKING SOUTH, SHOWING CLOSE-UP VIEW OF FIREPLACE.
23. INTERIOR VIEW, SECOND FLOOR, DISPLAY ROOM 3, LOOKING WEST, CLOSE-UP VIEW OF FIREPLACE.
24. INTERIOR VIEW, THIRD FLOOR, OFFICE 2, LOOKING SOUTH, CLOSE-UP VIEW OF FIREPLACE.
25. INTERIOR VIEW, THIRD FLOOR, OFFICE 3, LOOKING SOUTH, CLOSE-UP VIEW OF FIREPLACE.
26. INTERIOR VIEW, FIRST FLOOR, ENTRY HALL, DETAIL OF CHANDELIER AND MEDALLION.
27. INTERIOR VIEW, FIRST FLOOR, DISPLAY ROOM 1, DETAIL OF CHANDELIER MEDALLION.
28. INTERIOR VIEW, FIRST FLOOR, DISPLAY ROOM 2, DETAIL OF CHANDELIER MEDALLION.
29. INTERIOR VIEW, SECOND FLOOR, DISPLAY ROOM 3, DETAIL OF CHANDELIER AND MEDALLION, CHANDELIER ON.
30. INTERIOR VIEW, SECOND FLOOR, DISPLAY ROOM 3, DETAIL OF CHANDELIER AND MEDALLION, CHANDELIER OFF.
31. INTERIOR VIEW, SECOND FLOOR, HALLWAY, DETAIL OF MEDALLION, WITH SCALE.
32. INTERIOR VIEW, SECOND FLOOR, HALLWAY, DETAIL OF MEDALLION, WITHOUT SCALE.
33. INTERIOR VIEW, BASEMENT, VIEW LOOKING WEST SHOWING BACK STAIRCASE.
Close Up View Of Vermont Avenue Streetscape, Looking North West, Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site Is The Second Door From The Left.
View Of East Elevation Without Scale

CONTROL #:
DC0884

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