ForgottenDC

9th and Rhode Island Ave. NW

admin — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:14:37 +0000

If you’ve driven down 9th Street NW before, I’m sure you’ll recognize this building with it’s memorable mural dedicated to Carter G. Woodson among others.

A closer inspection after the jump.

Here’s a close up of the Carter G. Woodson portrait and quote:

"We should emphasize not negro history but the negro in history. What we need is not a history of selected races or nations, but the history of the world void of national bias, race, hate and religious prejudice" -Carter G. Woodson

A few other notables make an appearance as well:

Robert Gould Shaw is best known as “the guy Matthew Broderick played in Glory,” but he’s also the namesake of the Shaw neighborhood. Shaw commanded the all-black 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry and was killed in their assault on Fort Wagner.

The other portrait is of Duke Ellington, arguably DC’s most famous native son. Raised in Shaw, Ellington left DC for Harlem in 1923.

On the Q Street side of the building you’ll find this curious mural:

Anybody know the story behind it?

Seventh Day Baptist Church

admin — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:37:03 +0000

According to Victorian Secrets:

In 2004, the Historic Preservation Review Board approved a plan to incorporate the church into an upscale residential project, but, other than being more securely boarded up, the church has stood visually unchanged for four years.

The fascinating history of the building and more photos after the jump…

All history taken from Victorian Secrets:

For almost 125 years, a church has stood at 10th and V Streets NW. It was on March 14, 1879 that a permit was granted for the Abyssinian Church to move “a frame church one story high situated at the corner of Vermont Avenue and T Street” to the northeast corner of that intersection. The cost was $50.00. Almost exactly 3 years later, the frame church was damaged by a fire, requiring a permit for $130.00 in repairs.

In the first days of 1896, the Secretary of War, whose functions were apparently even more wide-reaching than Donald Rumsfield’s, approved the three District Commissioners’ recommendation that the First African Methodist Church be allowed construct a tower and steps that projected beyond the building line. Two weeks later, the “First African New Church Society” filed the application to build a “two story and base…Sunday School Building” of “hard red” brick with a slate and tin roof. The building was to be surmounted by a tower 68 feet high according to the application, which included the name “Thomas C. Henderson, Jr.” as architect and estimated construction costs at $6500.

Apparently construction did not begin immediately, because the building permit was renewed in October, 1898. By the 1900 Washington City Directory, the building appears as the New Jerusalem Church, a Swedenbourgian congregation. By 1911, it housed “The Peoples’ Seventh Day Adventist Church”, organized in 1903, under the pastorship of Reverend Lewis C. Sheafe of 1633 10th Street NW. Sometime during the depression years, the building became listed as the “Seventh Day Baptist Church”, and, in 1954, the City Directory listed it as “The Peoples’ Seventh Day Baptist Church (Independent)”. Over the intervening 45 years, it appears to have housed a variety of congregations, including both the Olive Grove and Morning Bright Baptist Churches in 1965.

Today the church tower is a very conspicuous part of the western skyline from the corner of Florida Avenue and 9th Streets. Although the building’s walls look as stalwart as a castle’s, it has a large wound in the tower roof slates and has lost much window glass. However, a single perhaps 25 foot high stained glass window which faces the alley on the north side of the building appears intact.

Note: The stained glass window facing the alley has since been boarded up, see below.

We’ll keep an eye on this site and update if any work begins on it.

Carter G. Woodson House

admin — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:15:53 +0000

The National Park Service acquired the Carter G. Woodson House at 1538 9th Street NW in 2005. The Park Service website states:

Completion of the Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site will include a restoration and renovation of historic buildings; development, fabrication, and installation of interpretative exhibits; production and distribution of educational and interpretative materials and other site improvement such as parking, way-finding signs, wayside exhibits and much more.

The house however is still “vacant, closed to the public, and in need of rehabilitation.” More information about the house and Carter G. Woodson himself, after the jump.

The Carter G. Woodson Home:

The Carter G. Woodson Home at 1538 9th Street, NW in Washington, DC, was Dr. Woodson’s home from 1915 until his death in 1950. He directed the operations of the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History and pursued his own studies of African-American history from there. After his death, the home continued to serve as the national headquarters of the Association until the early 1970s. It is now vacant, closed to the public, and in need of rehabilitation. The home was acquired by the National Park Service in 2005.

Carter G. Woodson:

Dr. Woodson was the son of former slaves, but earned his Ph.D. degree from Harvard University in 1912—only the second black American to do so (after W. E. B. DuBois). This achievement was even more extraordinary since he did not begin his formal education until he was 20 years old. He had been denied access to public education in Canton, Virginia, where he was born in 1875, and did not start school until he moved to Huntington, West Virginia. He received his high school diploma two years later, a bachelor’s degree from Berea College in 1897, and went on to earn A.B. and M.A. degrees from the University of Chicago before attending Harvard.

In 1915, he founded The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (the Association) and The Associated Publishers to assure an outlet for the publication of works of African-American history and the scholarly work of black scholars. The Association is now known as The Association for the Study of African-American Life and History (ASALH). In 1926 the Association, under Dr. Woodson’s leadership, established Negro History Week to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. Today this commemoration has expanded into Black History Month.

Some Buildings on the 9th St. Strip

admin — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 16:47:45 +0000

With apologies to Ed Ruscha’s Every Building on the Sunset Strip, here’s a group of six vacant buildings across from the Convention Center at 9th and L St. NW that I stitched together.

Click image for full size, or view the image in our Picasa Gallery.

The Gales School

admin — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:19:06 +0000

This beautiful building can be found on the 100 block of Massachusetts Ave. NW.

More photos and a Google Maps satellite image showing the hollowed insides after the jump.

View Larger Map

Howard Theatre Update

admin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:07:12 +0000

Work continues on the Howard Theatre renovation, even if it is not at the most blistering pace. The Theatre is now adorned with 2 banners, one saluting Michael Jackson, the king of pop.

Check out the banners up close after the jump.

Wonder Bread Hostess Cake Factory

admin — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 22:56:58 +0000

933 Florida Ave. NW

admin — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 22:40:21 +0000

1859 3rd St. NW

admin — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 20:38:36 +0000

: A view of the back

: The backyard

If you’re interested…

Work begins on the Howard Theatre

admin — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 19:26:37 +0000

Work has begun on renovating the Howard Theatre on T St. just off 7th. ForgottenDC will continue to cover the renovation as it progresses. To find out more about the project, check out howardtheatre.org.

More photos after the jump.