Featured Historic Districts
      Introduction
      Logan Circle
      Residential Architecture
      Religious Architecture
      Public Architecture
      Commercial Architecture
      Residents
      Greater 14th St. Area Today
      Logan Circle Comm. Assoc.
      Credits
   Designation Procedures
   and Criteria
   Frequently Asked Questions

Residents

© Mary McLeod Bethune Council House, NHS

The Greater Fourteenth Street area was settled by middle-class government employees, merchants, and others who constructed houses on unimproved lots or purchased speculatively built houses in the area. Comments in the local press extolled the benefits of a residence "that is far enough away from the noise and bustle of communal activity to secure quiet and moderate seclusion, yet near enough to enjoy the luxuries of the city as well as the society of friendly neighbors."

While most of the new houses constructed in the area were targeted for a white, middle-class clientele, the Greater Fourteenth Street area has always contained a mix of races and income groups. The Freedman's Hospital and the three black congregations in the area--Metropolitan Baptist, Vermont Avenue Baptist, and St. Luke's Episcopal--provided an understanding community for African-Americans coming to the city.

Census records from 1880 to 1990 illustrate both the area's racial and economic make up and demographic changes that took place over time. In 1880, the 1300 block of Corcoran Street, NW was entirely occupied by whites, including three lawyers, a dentist, four government clerks, a druggist, a retired army officer, and other professionals. The block was also home to several widows, some of whom took in boarders to help supplement their incomes.

Conversely, the nearby 1400 block of Church Street was occupied primarily by African-Americans. The street was home to a musician, a shoemaker, a driver, a sailor, and a laundress. One of the few integrated blocks in 1880 was the 1500 block of P Street, NW, which was home to a black post office clerk, a dressmaker, a driver, a servant, a church sexton, and a seamstress who lived side-by-side with white carpenters, clerks, engineers, and a naval officer.

© Library of Congress

By the turn of the century, the Greater Fourteenth Street area was becoming increasingly African-American. Blocks that had been entirely occupied by whites in 1880 were becoming more integrated. By 1920, the neighborhood had become an important center of African-American life in the city.

After 1920, the neighborhood became home to many prominent African-Americans. John Lankford, an accomplished black architect who designed several houses in the area, as well as the True Reformer Building on U Street NW, lived at 1448 Q Street. Attorney Belford V. and Judge Marjorie M. Lawson lived at 8 Logan Circle from 1938 to 1958 and rented the third floor to Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr, "Sweet Daddy" Grace, founder of the United House of Prayer for All People, lived at 11 Logan Circle during the 1950s.