Journalist Doris Fleeson lived at 3344 P Street NW from 1945 to 1959, giving this property its historical significance. Fleeson was a trailblazing female political journalist, and her time living and working at this Georgetown residence was particularly significant, both professionally and personally.
Fleeson was born in Sterling, Kansas, in 1901 and received a degree in journalism from the University of Kansas in 1923. She later moved to New York and eventually joined the staff of the New York Daily News, once the nation’s most widely-circulated newspaper. She married John O’Donnell, another Daily News reporter, in 1930, and they moved to Washington, DC, in 1932. That same year, Fleeson and O’Donnell started their column “Capital Stuff,” which ran in the Daily News until 1941.
Simultaneously, Fleeson was the only female reporter to permanently cover Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1932 presidential campaign. She had first met (then Governor) Roosevelt during her stint covering New York state politics. The following year, she cofounded the American Newspaper Guild. In 1937, Fleeson was elected president of the Women’s National Press Club. Over the years, Fleeson and her fellow female journalists would fight for admission to the National Press Club.
In 1942, Fleeson and O’Donnell divorced. While single, in 1945, she purchased the semi-detached residence in Georgetown. While living in Georgetown, Fleeson continued to report on presidential and congressional politics – notably, a series of articles on controversial Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin. She became well-known through a syndicated Washington Evening Star column, which started in 1945 and was published in 120 newspapers by 1958.
Fleeson holds particular significance as America’s first woman with a syndicated national affairs column. In addition to her award-winning writing, she appeared on radio and television programs, such as Meet the Press and Face the Nation, and lectured extensively. In 1959, Fleeson and her second husband, Dan A. Kimball (whom she married in 1958), moved out and, in 1960, she sold the Georgetown residence. At that time, Fleeson and Kimball moved into their new home at 2120 S Street NW in Sheridan-Kalorama. Fleeson died in 1970.
The semi-detached residence is one of two buildings (1427 and 1429 34th Street; 1429 is now 3344 P Street) constructed in 1876 at the corner of 34th and P streets in Georgetown. The two residences have a continuous wood cornice with brackets, a common feature of the Italianate style, on the 34th Street elevation. Although the entrance for 1427 is still on 34th Street, the entrance for 1429 was moved to P Street during an early 1930s remodel, giving the historic landmark its current address (3344 P Street NW).
This remodel also resulted in new six-over-six windows, and the removal of the windows’ hood molds and their replacement with flat wood lintels (note the difference between the two residences’ windows and surrounds on 34th Street). These changes gave the residence a Colonial Revival update, a then popular style. The residence has a brick masonry foundation and is clad in wood German lap siding. The entrance is slightly elevated and reached via a short staircase.
DC Inventory: April 23, 2026
Within Georgetown Historic District
]]>The Capitol Power Plant Pump House was completed in 1910 to provide water for the Capitol Power Plant, also completed in 1910, approximately 1 mile north at E Street and New Jersey Avenue SE. The pump house's water was used for the power plant's coal-fired boilers — with coal delivered via the nearby railroad line. This steam power provided electricity and heat for the U.S. Capitol Building, Senate and House office buildings, and Library of Congress (Jefferson Building).
Within a short period of time, new tunnels were constructed, expanding the electricity and heat to additional buildings, including Union Station. Demand for air conditioning in the 1930s led to the construction of an addition to the pump house in 1935, as well as an expansion of the power plant.
Nonetheless, starting in the 1950s, the pump house became obsolete, as the US Capitol Complex opted for electrical power from PEPCO and municipal water. In 1961, the pump house was transferred to the DC Government, where it sat abandoned until the early 1990s.
Since 1993, the former pump house has been used by Earth Conservation Corps (ECC), a non-profit devoted to youth development and protecting the environment, specifically the Anacostia River and other area watersheds. This organization, established in 1989, provides opportunities for District residents between the ages of 17 and 25. In 1993, ECC collaborated with Mayor Marion Barry and his administration to obtain a lease on the building. Prior to ECC moving in, the U.S. Navy Seabees stabilized and rehabilitated the once-industrial building, allowing it to become the community anchor and nature center it is today. At the time, a concrete platform was added. Murals were also added in the 1990s.
For more than 30 years, ECC has engaged youth through its environmental initiatives and programming. ECC members, interns, and volunteers have helped clean up and restore the once polluted and neglected river.
The former pump house, since renamed the Monique Johnson Anacostia River Center (Johnson was a founding ECC member), is a successful example of adaptive reuse along the river. Over the years, the Monique Johnson Center has helped facilitate many public and private partnerships, including with Anacostia Riverkeeper. The building is managed by the DC Department of Parks & Recreation.
The former pump house sits just off shore, above the Anacostia River. The building, which is connected to Diamond Teague Park and the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail by a pier, is supported by pilings encased in a concrete foundation.
The one-story building is constructed of brick masonry and composed of two sections: the original 1910 building facing the river, with a hip-roof clad in terra-cotta tile, and the 1935 addition facing the shore, slightly shorter with a flat-roof. The original building is more ornate than the addition and was influenced by the Mediterranean Revival style.
The 1910 portion also had a tall opening that allowed for machinery and equipment to be taken in and out of the interior space. This former opening is visible on the south elevation, facing the river, and has been replaced by a doorway and two large windows. A hoist system is still visible, illustrating the building's once industrial use.
DC Inventory: March 26, 2026
National Register: May 27, 2026
]]>Francis Junior High School, which opened in 1928, was the District's first purpose-built junior high for African American students. The original building, dating to 1927-29, was designed by DC Municipal Architect Albert L. Harris in a Renaissance Revival style. Many public buildings are attributed to Harris, who is known for his Renaissance Revival and Colonial Revival designs. The school is named for Dr. John R. Francis (1856-1913), who was an African American physician, DC Board of Education member, and Howard University Trustee.
In response to population growth and overcrowded classrooms, new school construction in the District accelerated during the interwar period. This construction was spurred by the Five-Year School Building Program Act of 1925. Just prior to the passage of this federal legislation, in 1920, the DC Board of Education established the junior high school concept, taking two grades from elementary school and one grade from high school.
Following the establishment of junior high schools in the District, Shaw Junior High School — which first occupied the former M Street High School building, followed by the former McKinley Manual Traing School building — opened in 1919-20. Shaw was the first junior high school for DC's African American students. Francis Junior High School, which was completed in 1927 and dedicated the following year, was the District's first purpose-built junior high for African Americans. Two years later, in 1929, Garnet-Patterson Junior High School was completed and became the second purpose-built junior high for African Americans. The DC school system would continue to be racially segregated until the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Bolling v. Sharpe (1954).
Since 2024, the school has been known as the John Francis Educational Campus. This followed school consolidations in the early 21st century, including the closure of Thaddeus Stevens School.
The oldest part of the John Francis Educational Campus, was designed by Harris and dates to 1927-29. It consists of four, three-story wings surrounding a two-story auditorium — all clad in brick masonry. The primary elevation and main entrance, located on the south wing, face N Street NW. The first floor of this elevation is clad in limestone.
The south wing, at three-stories tall; east and west wings, both originally at two-stories in height; and auditorium were completed in 1927. Two years later, an additional floor was added to the east and west wings, and the north wing, at three-stories tall, was completed, enclosing the auditorium on all sides. In addition to its modern auditorium, the school featured vocational classrooms.
School buildings constructed in phases, referred to as "extensible," were common in DC at the time. This approach, which came in three styles/layouts, allowed for additions as needed, due to student population increases, and as funding permitted.
A compatible, two-story addition, connecting to the east elevation of the original building, was designed by DC Municipal Architect Merrell Coe and completed in 1953. Over 70 years later, in 2024, a three-story addition was completed just to the west of the 1927-29 building, and the 1953 addition was expanded. The expansion of the 1953 addition resulted in a new, enclosed courtyard ("outdoor classroom"). At the time, the entire complex was rehabilitated and modernized, and rebranded as the John Francis Educational Campus.
DC Inventory: December 18, 2025
National Register: February 23, 2026
]]>Holy Name College and the James Sherwood Farmhouse sit on 10-acres in the Brookland neighborhood. The two-story, wood-frame farmhouse was completed by farmer James Sherwood in 1886 within what had historically been “Cuckhold’s Delight,” a land patent dating to 1686. The Queen Anne style residence, with its corner tower, porch, and decorative wood shingling, is a remnant of the once rural area, when it was known as Washington County. Sherwood lived and worked at his farm, with his wife and five children, until at least 1910. During these years, James, along with his brother Jesse, were also involved in real estate, constructing many houses in the “Sherwood’s Addition to Brookland” subdivision. The land was purchased by the Franciscans’ Holy Name Province in 1920, but James Sherwood continued to live in Brookland (at another address) and eventually became a bank vice president.
Various Catholic monastic orders and institutions were attracted to the area around The Catholic University of America (1889), giving the area its nickname of “Little Rome.” This included the Franciscan Monastery, Marist College, St. Paul's College, St. Joseph’s Seminary, and Holy Redeemer College, amongst other institutions. Almost a decade after the land's purchase, Holy Name College was constructed by Turner Construction Company for the Franciscans between 1929 and 1930. The building was designed by Buffalo-based architect Chester Oakley in a Romanesque Revival style, with Art Deco detailing. The building is rectangular in shape, with a central cloister (or courtyard) and north and south wings extending from the east elevation. The main entrance pavilion is located on the west elevation.
Holy Name College included classrooms, a two-story chapel, a dining room and kitchen, laundry facilities, and dormitories for students and faculty. At the time of the college building's construction, the farmhouse was moved just to the south of the new building, where it was reoriented and renovated, and connected to the college building by a brick arcade. The farmhouse was converted into a convent for the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, and later provided additional dormitory, meeting, office, and storage spaces.
In 1957, enrollment peaked at Holy Name College with 147 students, and then declined as the structure of Catholic theological education changed. In 1984, Howard University purchased the property and then made some alterations to the historic buildings, most notably infilling the enclosed cloister of the former Holy Name College building. The former Holy Name College building was rededicated as Benjamin E. Mays Hall in 1987. Mays was the first dean of Howard University’s School of Religion. From the mid-1980s until 2015, the buildings housed the university’s School of Divinity.
The former college building is connected to 14th Street NE by a long driveway and allée of trees, which terminates at the building’s entrance pavilion, located at the building’s northwest corner. This driveway also aligns with the building’s tower, at the northeast corner, which is capped by a bronze statue of Jesus Christ. The entrance pavilion includes arched doors and windows in the Romanesque Revival style. The building is clad in textured, polychromatic brick in contrasting bonds. The building’s west elevation is notable for its terra-cotta “Heroic Figures” that stand on brick buttresses. The southwest corner features another pavilion, called the Friar’s Entry (St. Francis Corner).
DC Inventory: October 30, 2025
National Register: January 8, 2026
]]>Pershing Park, which sits in the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue NW between 14th and 15th streets, is a Modernist park plaza designed by landscape architect M. Paul Friedberg and constructed in 1980 to 1981. The construction of the plaza in the early 1980s grew out of efforts to beautify Pennsylvania Avenue in the 1960s and 1970s. This beautification and redevelopment was carried out by the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation (PADC), which operated from 1972 to 1996. Simultaneously, Congress authorized construction of a General John J. Pershing Memorial in 1956 and 1966.
In 1974, the PADC’s redevelopment plan was released and within in it proposed six new plazas and parks fronting Pennsylvania Avenue. In addition to Pershing Park was Freedom (Western) Plaza – directly to the east of Pershing Park – John Marshall Park, Meade Plaza, Market Square, and Indiana Plaza. All six of the new public spaces were designed by prominent architects and landscape architects of the Modern and Postmodern variety.
At the east end of Pershing Park is the General John J. Pershing Memorial, which was designed by architect Wallace K. Harrison, and memorializes General John J. Pershing and the American Expeditionary Forces of World War I. The memorial features a bronze statue sculpted by Robert White and installed in 1983.
Initially successful, Pershing Park became neglected over the years. At the same time, Congress authorized construction of the World War I Memorial in 2014. The park was eventually slated for redevelopment and, in 2021, the park reopened following a rehabilitation. Despite some alterations to the plaza, Friedberg’s original design is largely intact.
Pershing Park now includes a new World War I Memorial on the west end of the public space, across the plaza from the original Pershing Memorial. The most prominent element of the new memorial, designed by architect Joe Weishaar, is A Soldier’s Journey, a sculpture by Sabin Howard, and the Peace Fountain. This bronze sculpture, at 58-feet long, features 38 human figures, including “The Everyman” soldier. The soldier moves through five “vignettes” of World War I: Departure, Initiation, Ordeal, Aftermath, and Return. With the installation of the sculpture in 2024, the national World War I Memorial was officially completed nearly 100 years after the DC World War Memorial (1931) on the National Mall.
National Register: August 6, 2025
]]>Marist Hall began as Marist College and served as a hub of advanced studies for the Society of Mary, one of the earliest Roman Catholic religious orders. The Society of Mary was legally incorporated in DC in 1896 with the goal of training young men in theology, philosophy, canonical law, priesthood, and missionary work. The Society of Mary’s first permanent administrative center and house of studies was Brookland’s historic Brooks Mansion.
Marist College was constructed just four years later, opening in 1900. Along with Holy Cross College (now known as O’Boyle Hall, 1899), Marist College was one of the first purpose-built seminaries to affiliate with the Catholic University of America. It embodies the goals and aspirations of the Society of Mary – to enhance Catholic education in partnership with the Catholic University of America, which was founded in 1887.
Marist College was designed in the Romanesque Revival style by Lemuel W. Norris, an esteemed architect who later worked for the DC Office of the Building Inspector and the Office of the Municipal Architect. Norris was also one of three architects who designed some of the first buildings for the Catholic University of America and its affiliated orders. Many Catholic institutions were established near the campus, giving Brookland the nickname of “Little Rome.” Marist College was sited atop a high ridge directly north of the then-campus.
Enrollment at Marist College grew steadily until the early 1960s, but a sharp decline the following decade left much of the building vacant. The neighboring Catholic University, however, was growing rapidly and needed space. Thus, in 1975, the Marists and Catholic University agreed to a trade. Marist College would be transferred to the university and become Marist Hall in exchange for nearby real estate. Marist Hall became an integral academic building at the university, thanks to its location and legacy as a meeting place for students and faculty. Until the mid-2010s, Marist Hall housed large classrooms and around 70-80 faculty offices. Other than minor exterior repairs, Marist College remained largely untouched between 1900 and 1975. Following its acquisition by Catholic University, the interior of the building underwent extensive renovation.
DC Inventory: July 24, 2025
National Register: September 22, 2025
]]>This three-story, Neoclassical Revival style rowhouse in Columbia Heights was designed by Appleton P. Clark, Jr. and completed in 1915 as a parsonage (or manse) for the reverend of the neighboring Central Presbyterian Church, which was originally founded in 1868. However, the building's historical significance stems from its use by the Latin American Youth Center from 1974 to 1998.
Central Presbyterian Church (now The Next Step Public Charter School), just across the alley at the corner of 15th and Irving streets NW, was also designed by Clark and completed in 1914. Early on, President Woodrow Wilson worshipped at this church. Therefore, in 1956 in honor of Wilson's birth centennial, the church's educational annex (completed in the early 1930s) was renamed the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Building.
The following decade, Good Shepherd United Presbyterian Church, led by Reverend Antonio P. Welty, started to utilize the annex for its Spanish-speaking congregation. In 1968, Reverend Welty and Carlos Rosario founded the Committee for Aid and Development of Latin America in the Nation's Capitol (CADOLANCA), a social services and advocacy organization.
The Wilson Center (Centro Wilson) was established in this location in 1971 and provided space for local non-profit organizations and educational programs. This community center's many organizations and initiatives supported DC's growing Spanish-speaking immigrant community. In addition to the Latin American Youth Center (LAYC), some of the organizations that operated out of the Wilson Center included El Centro de Arte, the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN), and La Clínica del Pueblo, just to name a few. The Central Presbyterian Church congregation moved out in 1973, selling the church, annex, and former parsonage to National Capital Union Presbytery.
During this period of the late 1960s, LAYC was getting its start. At the time, the Spanish Catholic Center at the Kenesaw Apartment House was no longer welcoming kids and teenagers, and a riot had just severely damanged Lincoln Junior High School. With a focus on at-risk Latino Youth, Garry Garber and Arturo Griffiths started Courtesy Patrol, a city-funded after-school program. This popular program evolved into what would become LAYC. Following its new non-profit status, LAYC moved into the former parsonage in 1974, just a few years after the last Presbyterian clergy moved out.
In addition to LAYC, the former parsonage on 15th Street NW housed the Spanish Education Development (SED) Center, an adult English as a Second Language (ESL) program, from 1971 to 1974 and 1978 to 1980, and Adelante Advocacy Center from 1976 to 1981.
In its first decade, LAYC provided after-school and summer employment programs, ESL and General Education Development (GED) classes, and vocational training in automotive mechanics, catering, and clerical skills. In collaboration with El Centro de Arte, mural painting, street theater, newspaper publishing, and music lessons became part of LAYC's core educational programming. This resulted in the Unity Mural (1982) in Adams Morgan and three murals (Canto a la Esperanza, 1988-90) along Klingle Road NW.
LAYC continued to evolve and change with the community's needs, with new focuses on counseling and mental health, homelessness, and drug abuse. With an increase in gang violence and drug use, LAYC's Drop-In Center (La Peña) was founded in 1988. This safe space included, amongst other things, a pool table and juice bar, and became a popular spot for live music. The Drop-In Center's importance became especially pronounced as a refuge during the Mount Pleasant uprising and riots in May 1991. The Drop-In Center continues to operate out of the space on 15th Street, as LAYC's main office moved to 1419 Columbia Road NW in 1998.
In 2001, the Wilson Center officially closed. The church was sold to Capital City Charter School, the annex to the Barbara Chambers Children's Center, and the former parsonage to LAYC. The church building now houses Next Step Public Charter School, which started in 1996 as LAYC's teen parenting program.
DC Inventory: May 22, 2025
National Register: June 30, 2025
]]>Suburban Gardens Amusement Park opened in Northeast Washington, DC, on June 25, 1921. This park was created specifically for Black residents and exclusively employed Black workers at a time of racial segregation. Developed by the Universal Development and Loan Company and partially designed by local Black architect Lewis Giles, it covered approximately nine acres of land at the corner of 50th Street and Hayes Street NE in the Deanwood neighborhood.
At its peak, the park hosted over 20 concessionaires and featured a Miller & Baker roller coaster, a scenic railway, a Ferris wheel, a children’s playground, a dance pavilion, and picnic areas where visitors could relax and watch the festivities. When the park first opened, it was slow to attract crowds, as it initially offered only the dance pavilion, a single café, and a merry-go-round. However, within its first year, the park expanded and became the most popular space for Black residents seeking relaxation and entertainment.
In addition to the roller coaster, the park eventually included other newly invented rides such as the Caterpillar, the Whip, the Dodgem, and the Tumble Bug. The dance pavilion became a particularly popular attraction, opening at the height of the Jazz Age. The park featured performances by some of the city’s and the nation’s most well-known artists, with many shows including dance styles like the Charleston, the Lindy Hop, and the Black Bottom. Russell Wooding, a well-known DC musician who played in Broadway shows and worked with Duke Ellington, provided music for the park’s merry-go-round.
To further attract visitors, the park offered free band concerts, contests, children’s costume pageants, and stilt-walking clowns. In 1926, the park even hosted an aerial performance called the Marvelous Melville aerial act. These unique attractions drew visitors from across DC and the surrounding area, making the park a hub of Black entertainment for at least a decade.
However, the park did face some resistance from the city, which led to minor infrastructure issues. For example, the city refused to install improved street lighting near the park entrance, making it somewhat unsafe for visitors leaving after dark. In 1929, the park was purchased by Abe Lichtman’s company, which expanded the park briefly before closing it a few years later. The land was eventually converted into Federal Housing Administration apartments. For a short time, Suburban Gardens successfully met the needs of a community that had few options for safe, high-quality entertainment.
This site is a stop on the Sports and Recreation in DC tour. It is no longer extant and is not a desginated historic landmark.
]]>The Euram Building, completed in 1971, is a Modernist office building designed by George Hartman and Warren Cox of the major Washington firm of Hartman-Cox Architects. Since its construction by the Maritime Company in the early 1970s, the Euram Building has received widespread praise for its innovative design.
The building’s site was purchased by the Euram Corporation around 1968. The Euram Corporation, an investment firm associated with an Italian bank, wanted “a better than average building that would contribute something to the city.” Constructed between 1970 and 1971, the Euram Building’s design was likely inspired by a never constructed building at nearby 1 Dupont Circle designed by well-known architect Kevin Roche. The work of Louis Kahn, another noted architect of the era, has also been referenced as inspiration for the building’s design.
In 1971, architectural critic Benjamin Forgey of the Washington Star wrote, “It is rare to come upon a new office building that is truly designed, and rarer still to find one that is designed with boldness, originality, and tact.” That same year, the Euram Building received an award from the Washington Board of Trade, and, in 1972, it was honored by the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) Potomac Valley Chapter. Decades later, in Modernism in the District of Columbia, a 2009 survey, Robinson & Associates wrote, “At the time, the Euram Building resembled no other in the District and broke every rule of the Washington office building design that had been established over the previous two decades.”
Located on the south side of Dupont Circle between 19th Street NW and New Hampshire Avenue NW, the eight-story Euram Building’s footprint is trapezoidal in shape, with its apex facing Dupont Circle. The building is framed by brick piers, with alternating glass ribbon windows and pairs of concrete girders stretching between the piers. This gives the building a horizontal emphasis, particularly along 19th Street and New Hampshire Avenue, the east and west elevations, respectively. The building’s concrete crossbeams – what look like slots between the girders – are also visible on these elevations. These perpendicular crossbeams are visible in the building’s interior courtyard (or atrium), where they support the cantilevered floor space.
Ribbon windows and pairs of post-tensioned girders are visible on the north elevation, but only at the second floor, just above the main entrance, and the top two floors. Like the east and west elevations, perpendicular crossbeams are also visible at these floors. These beams are most evident when looking up at the top floor (eighth floor) and the recessed seventh floor that stretch between the angled brick of the front of the building. The angles of the triangular brick piers lead towards the interior courtyard.
The main entrance, located between the angled brick piers of the north elevation, leads to a large, open-air interior courtyard that rises through the entire building (86-feet in height). Offices, visible through glass, are cantilevered above this trapezoidal-shaped space. At the south end of the courtyard are two brick cylinders that contain the building’s elevator shafts.
Despite its Modernist design and features, the Euram Building hints at the coming “contextualism” of Postmodern architecture, which would flourish in the 1980s and 1990s. Thus, the building references the Dupont Circle Building (1931, Mihran Mesrobian) just across 19th Street and the Patterson House (Washington Club, 1903, Stanford White) on the northeast side of Dupont Circle.
Postmodern design would become a hallmark of Hartman-Cox Architects. The firm would go on to design some of DC’s most significant Postmodern buildings, including the National Permanent Building (1974, since altered), the Bond Reading Room at the Folger Shakespeare Library (1983), Market Square (1990), and One Franklin Square (1990). In 1994, Forgey wrote of the “Washington School” of architecture, a school Hartman-Cox Architects adhered to. This architectural movement pays attention to “sense of place” and a building’s “site and surroundings,” as well as “traditional historical styles and motifs in the design of new buildings.”
Although clearly Modernist, the Euram Building was the beginning of the firm’s move towards a new style of architecture that considered the surrounding context. Hartman-Cox Architects has won more than 100 awards, including the AIA Architectural Firm Award in 1988.
DC Inventory: May 1, 2025
National Register: July 9, 2025
Within Dupont Circle Historic District and Massachusetts Avenue Historic District
]]>This two-story rowhouse within the Mount Pleasant Historic District was designed by prolific DC architect Waddy B. Wood (Wood, Donn & Deming) and constructed by John H. Nolan for self-described “architectural sculptor” John Joseph Earley (1881-1945) and his family. John J. Earley lived here for over 30-years, from 1911 to 1942. During this time, he led a successful career working on numerous projects around DC and the nation. He is best known for his work with architectural mosaic concrete – specifically, the “Earley Process” for formulating colorful aggregate-based concrete.
The Earley Family was known for its artistic work in 19th century England and Ireland. John J. Earley’s grandfather, John Farrington Earley, and great uncle, Thomas Earley, were artisans in Birmingham, England. Both John and Thomas later relocated to Dublin, where the firm of Earley & Powells produced decorative arts (mainly for churches), from altars and pulpits to stained glass windows and tombstones. John Farrington Earley’s son, James Farrington Earley, distinguished himself as a sculptor at an early age. In 1880, James and his wife Mary emigrated to the United States and the following year John J. Earley was born in New York City. Within a decade, James and his family moved to DC where he established his firm focused on stone carving.
John J. Earley soon apprenticed under his father James. In the 1890s and 1900s, James contributed to work at the Franciscan Monastery, Saint Patrick’s Church, and the new Willard Hotel, as well as the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. In 1906, James, at only 49 years old, tragically died of typhoid fever and bequeathed the firm to John.
The following year, John J. Earley designed a new headquarters for the firm (see John J. Earley Office and Studio). From 1907 to 1936, the firm was headquartered at this studio in Foggy Bottom. Through the National Bureau of Standards, John worked on experiments with concrete-coated metallic lath. Working in plaster and stucco, John was hired to clad different features in stucco at the new Meridian Hill Park. Initially, his work did not meet the expectations of the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA). In turn, he developed his famous process that met CFA’s standards in 1915. This two-stage process included the removal of concrete to reveal the larger aggregate’s color, and the addition of a smaller aggregate as infill.
In addition to his work at Meridian Hill Park, John J. Earley and his studio worked on many high-profile projects while he was living on Lamont Street. This included work at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, the Franciscan Monastery, Mullen Library at The Catholic University, the U.S. Department of Justice Building, the Scottish Rite Masonic Temple, the Parthenon in Nashville, and the Baháʼí House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois. John moved out of the rowhouse in Mount Pleasant in 1942 and died in 1945.
The John J. Earley House was built as infill, as it was constructed slightly later than the rest of the block. This is visible from Lamont Street, as the house has a different architectural style than the adjacent houses. Designed by Waddy B. Wood in the Italian Renaissance Revival style, the primary façade (north elevation) of the custom-designed house is clad in brick masonry laid in an English cross bond pattern. The rowhouse is three-bays wide.
A center walkway reaches from the sidewalk to the house’s entry porch. The concrete entry porch has a lower landing, short flight of stairs, and an upper landing at the front entrance, which is on the east side of the façade. The first floor features three round arches, with the entrance in the east arch, and windows in the center and west arches. These three arched openings all include fanlights and French windows. The center and west arches have concrete balustrades. The second-floor’s three windows are rectangular and have iron balcony railings.
A terra cotta tile roof overhangs the front façade. The cornice is composed of diamond-shaped concrete and is supported by concrete brackets. Below the cornice is a shelf with a braided concrete rim, round brick arches, and concrete brackets. Within the arches are shells that are both decorative and practical, as they once provided ventilation to the house’s attic. Below the shells and between the brackets are diamond-shaped terra cotta tiles.
Most of the first floor interior – the entrance hall, front parlor, center hall, central atrium, and rear dining room – is included in this designation. The interior’s most prominent space is the two-story atrium, which has a floor composed of bricks and walls of concrete blocks. Originally open-air, it was enclosed in 1915. John J. Earley’s work is most visible in the concrete-walled atrium, and the parlor and dining room's concrete fireplaces.
DC Inventory: February 27, 2025
National Register: May 8, 2025
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