For Mary McLeod Bethune’s 99th birthday, the National Council of Negro Women commissioned and raised funds for a memorial dedicated to the activist. Designed by Robert Berks, the memorial in Lincoln Park features Bethune with a cane in her right hand and a scroll representing knowledge and education in her left. The cane, thought to be one gifted to her by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s death, recognizes her position as a presidential advisor. The scroll she holds in her other hand represents her work as an education activist, with her passing the scroll to two children as a continuation of education to the next generation. Bethune’s multidimensional activism made her a pioneer in multiple social movements. As previously mentioned, she led education efforts and worked with President Roosevelt under the National Youth Administration. In addition to this, she also contributed to the civil rights and women’s rights movements, founding the National Council of Negro Women that brought together multiple women’s activist groups. Before moving to the location on Pennsylvania Avenue, Bethune opened her own home on Vermont Avenue NW to the council in the 1940s through the 1960s. Bethune’s legacy impacted numerous communities, and her work continues after her death. The memorial, dedicated in 1974, is the first dedicated to an African American on public land in DC; additionally, it was the first portrait statue to an American woman erected on a public site in the city. In testimony to her accomplishments, the plaque below the statue reflects the many tenets of her activism, and calls upon viewers to do the same. Its location across from the Emancipation Monument also ties it to other historic moments in African American history.

Within Capitol Hill Historic District

This site is part of the Commemorative Monuments and Memorials of DC tour.

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In 1921, Congress approved $10,000 of funding for the construction of the Southeast Branch Library. With the additional support of Andrew Carnegie’s monetary donation, the Southeast Branch Library was dedicated a year later with the expectation to serve approximately 40,000 people in Eastern Washington. After its first seven months of operation in 1922, the library had circulated 86,822 books and registered 3,904 patrons. The branch offered a very popular children’s story hour, and increased its resource collection (including books, periodicals, and newspapers) over the following decades. In 1937, the library circulated 1,777 books in one single day.

The library itself was designed with the intention of providing community services with a special focus on educating children. The organization hired a children’s librarian, coordinated book purchases with school’s educational needs, and offered a safe space for after-school activities. From the start, the library primarily served women and children—yet at the onset of World War II, the branch began to provide books on welding, metallurgy, and drafting due to the branch's proximity to Navy Yard, an industrial hub in the city.

The space stayed in touch with community needs and desires, providing adult education courses, poetry readings, and art installations throughout its history. In addition to providing historically significant community and educational services, the Southeast Branch Library is architecturally significant as an example of Classical Revival design. The building’s symmetry, large semi-circular windows on the main floor, shallow hip roof, and entrance portico are all indicative of the Classical Revival influence, and demonstrate the work of Edward L. Tilton, who designed many Classical Revival libraries across the Northeast.

Today, the Southeast Branch Library continues to serve the Capitol Hill community from its original location on 7^th Street SE, and still provides the well-known children’s story hour around the original fireplace.

DC Inventory: March 25, 2021

National Register: June 14, 2021

Within Capitol Hill Historic District

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The Sewall–Belmont House National Historic Site served as the headquarters for the National Woman's Party (NWP) for nearly 90 years, starting in 1929. Originally founded by Alice Paul and Lucy Burns to rally women to support the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, the NWP remained a major force in organizing women for political action, including for the passage of an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). This house served as the NWP's headquarters during a critical period for the organization, following its purchase by NWP benefactress and cofounder Alva Vanderbilt Belmont. The organization named their headquarters the Alva Belmont House in her honor. It was also declared the Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument in 2016.

The house was originally built in 1800, incorporating a two-story house from 1750. It burned in 1814 and was rebuilt in 1820. "Sewall" refers to Robert Sewall, the man for whom the house was originally built between 1799 and 1800.

DC Inventory: November 8, 1964 (Joint Committee on Landmarks)

National Register: June 16, 1972

Natonal Register (Additional Documentation): September 5, 2025

National Historic Site: May 30, 1974

National Historic Landmark: May 30, 1974

National Monument: April 12, 2016

Within Capitol Hill Historic District

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The Mountjoy Bayly House (also known as the Bayly House, Hiram W. Johnson House, Chaplains Memorial Building, and Parkington) was built in 1822 for the second Sergeant at Arms of the Senate, General Mountjoy Bayly. A combination of Federal and Second Empire architecture, the house is among the earliest residences still standing in the Capitol Hill Historic District.

Since Bayly's time, the house has seen several notable tenants. From 1929 until 1947, it was the residence of Senator Hiram Johnson, former governor of California and a founder of the Progressive Party. In more recent decades, the building has served as the home of various nonprofits and other organizations, including the national DC office of the American Civil Liberties Union. The building is currently owned by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

DC Inventory: November 8, 1964 (Joint Committee on Landmarks)

National Register: July 20, 1973

National Historic Landmark: December 8, 1976

Within Capitol Hill Historic District

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An early speculative venture from the post-Civil War period is Philadelphia Row, a row of attached houses in the 100 block of 11th Street SE. These houses, which have features of the Federal style, were built by Capitol Hill developer James Gessford in 1866. This development predates by several decades much of the construction around Lincoln Park.

The surrounding area contains a diverse collection of building types and styles, as well as public parks. The historic buildings range from a one-story, woodframe "shotgun" house, constructed around the time of the Civil War, to a late-19th century Romanesque Revival style car barn that occupies an entire block (on East Capitol Street between 14th and 15th Street NE) and has since been converted to condominiums.

Within Capitol Hill Historic District

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Designed by George Hadfield (1763-1826), the Marine Corps Commandant’s House is the only original building on the complex. This white-painted, Flemish-bonded brick residence has served as the home of the Commandants of the U.S. Marine Corps since its construction in 1801. A building of the larger complex, the Marine barracks served as the Marine Corps Headquarters from 1801 to 1901. Here, recruits and officers trained and strategized for war. Troops quartered at the Barracks played significant roles in the wars with the Barbary pirates, the War of 1812, the Seminole War, the capture of John Brown at Harper’s Ferry, and the conquest of Cuba in the Spanish-American War. In particular, when the British captured the Marine barracks in the War of 1812, they refrained from burning the barracks and the Commandant’s house out of respect for the Marines’ bravery at the Battle of Bladensburg (1814).

Over the years, the house has undergone several renovations and received several additions. Today, one of the most striking features of the Commandant’s House is its mansard roof, the tiles of which are regularly laid except for four center rows that display a detailed pattern. The interior decor of the house changes with each occupant. Air conditioning, electric lighting, and other modern conveniences have been added as well.

DC Inventory: November 8, 1964 (Joint Committee on Landmarks)

National Register: August 14, 1973

National Historic Landmark: May 11, 1976

Within Marine Barracks and Capitol Hill Historic Districts

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The row house at 219 11th Street SE, historically home to the Furies Collective, is a two-story, early 20th-century brick dwelling located in the Capitol Hill Historic District. Built in 1913, the house is one of a pair of dwellings in a block of other 19th and 20th century row houses.

The Furies Collective was a social and political community within the second wave women’s movement in the early 1970s. Through its national print materials and local services, the group modeled the intents and challenges of lesbians through a separatist philosophy. The center of their activities as a collective between 1971 and 1973, during the publication of the lesbian/feminist issue of the Methodist youth magazine motive and as they published their own newspaper, The Furies, was in this row house. Both motive and The Furies were crucial in establishing a lesbian community and sparking a conversation about women's identities and relationships.

The story of 219 11th Street SE’s role in feminism and lesbianism doesn’t end with The Furies. In later years, it remained linked to significant elements of DC's lesbian feminist community. After Judy Winsett and Leslie Reeves established themselves as makers of silver jewelry and opened a shop, Lammas, a few blocks away, the large basement room in this house served as their jewelry-making studio. An upstairs neighbor operated a book distribution service from the second floor of the building, and her service eventually began stocking books in the new Lammas downstairs. Over the course of its first few years, the character of Lammas changed from a women’s jewelry shop to a woman-focused book shop and center for women’s activities. Lammas Women’s Shop became a feminist and lesbian bookstore and eventually a de facto lesbian community center. The business venture endured until finally closing in 2001 at its 17th Street NW location.

DC Inventory: January 28, 2016

National Register: May 2, 2016

National Historic Landmark: September 2, 2024 

Within Capitol Hill Historic District

This is a stop on the DC's LGBTQ+ History Tour.

For more information about DC's LGBTQ History, please see the Historic Context Statement for Washington’s LGBTQ Resources.

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Constructed sometime between 1802 and 1819, and designed by architects Nicholas King and Nicholas Hedges, the George Watterston House is named for one of DC's most distinguished citizens of the 19th century. Watterston, who held the post of Librarian of Congress from 1815 to 1829, took a major role in the political literary life of the capital city, founding civic organizations such as the Washington Monument Society. Watterston likely built the house himself and occupied it from approximately 1819 until his death in 1854.

DC Inventory: November 8, 1964 (Joint Committee on Landmarks)

National Register: January 17, 1992

Located within Capitol Hill Historic District

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The red-brick, High Victorian Gothic style Saint Mark's Church, designed in 1888 by T. Buckler Chequier, combines Romanesque elements with Gothic verticality and has a particularly distinguished interior with exposed brick walls and timbered roofing.

Between 1940 and 1950, Saint Mark's faced new problems as members moved to the suburbs and resources dwindled. Many of the newer residents of the Capitol Hill area had no relation to the church at all. In 1954, a number of churchmen determined to revitalize the church, rather than let it be closed. To do so, they turned to the Capitol Hill community seeking ways to serve life as they found it there and so restore the parish's life. Some of their lasting legacies are the still existing ministry to the deaf and other ministries like Head Start, in addition to pastoral counseling.

DC Inventory: November 8, 1964 (Joint Committee on Landmarks)

National Register: May 8, 1973

Within Capitol Hill Historic District

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With a continually expanding population, the Office of the Building Inspector saw an increasing need to build school buildings to accommodate students. Constructed from 1879 to 1880, the George Peabody School exemplified shifting architectural trends in school buildings in accordance with the population growth. The school was one of the largest ever built by the Office of the Building Inspector, and was influenced by earlier school designs by Adolf Cluss (see Franklin School and Sumner School). The building has served as a school since its construction, and is still part of the DC Public School System as the George Peabody Early Childhood Education Center. The school, named after the “founder of modern philanthropy,” offers early childhood education services to local children. To modernize the building for future generations of students, the building underwent extensive renovations that updated the building’s technological capabilities.