Up until the early twentieth century, the Brightwood area was mostly rural. In the 1820s, Brightwood contained important transportation routes until the road network changed during the Civil War for a line of defensive fortifications. Eventually,…

Although L’Enfant anticipated that this hill overlooking the Potomac would be used for defensive battlements, it was instead set aside for a national university that never materialized. The site remained a lightly wooded military campground and…

Built between 1894 and 1895 by Richard E. Crump, the Evans-Tibbs House was the home of Lillian Evans-Tibbs (1890-1967) from 1904 until her death. Evans-Tibbs became the one of the first internationally acclaimed African American opera singers under…

Tenleytown's Jackson-Reed High School (originally called Woodrow Wilson High School) exemplifies the high standard of architectural quality that characterized Washington's public school design and construction until the mid-twentieth century. The…

Mary Church Terrell (1863-1954) earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at Oberlin College during the 1880s and taught in Ohio and Washington, DC. Following the completion of her graduate degree, Mary Church traveled and studied languages abroad.…

The Jesse Reno School was built in 1903 for African American children. Designed by municipal architect Snowden Ashford, the school had four rooms on the first floor and four on the basement level. Its formal Renaissance-style design acknowledges the…

The Brightwood area was originally part of a rural, sparsely populated county when DC was established. Built in 1832, Emory United Methodist Church demonstrates the growth of the Brightwood community spanning over 180 years. Emory was the only…

The house at 3020 Albemarle Street, NW is located in the Forest Hills subdivision of Washington, DC, an early-20th-century close-in suburb. Built in 1924, it is of frame and stucco construction. The building represents the early work of master…

Named in honor of Blanche Kelso Bruce (1841-1848), the first African American to serve a full term as an elected U.S. senator, the Renaissance Revival-style Bruce School served generations of African American elementary students during the era of…

Built in 1936, 1937, and 1938, respectively, these four low-rise buildings in Brightwood are representative of the modest apartment buildings constructed to address the city’s explosive population growth in the interwar period. The buildings are…