Built in 1870, Chapel Hall was once the main hub of Gallaudet University, serving as a chapel, auditorium, exhibit center, and dining hall. The landscape architecture firm, Olmsted, Vaux & Co. made the plan for the school’s grounds in 1866, hence choosing Chapel Hall’s spot on campus. The site reflects the building’s prominence, especially as the hall replaced the “Rose Cottage,” one of the two houses occupied by the school when it opened in 1857. The building was consciously designed by Frederick C. Withers (1828-1901) to symbolize the national importance of Gallaudet as an institution—the only collegiate institution for the Deaf in the United States. The building has a rather ecclesiastical character and was an early important building in DC in the Ruskinian Gothic Revival style with constructional polymorphic and asymmetrical planning. DC Inventory: November 8, 1964 (Joint Committee on Landmarks)

The President's House, erected between 1867 and 1868 and designed by F.C. Withers, is separated from a row of three High Victorian Gothic Revival Professors' Houses by a circular drive and from the academic and administrative buildings of Gallaudet University but a large green. The house is oriented so that its main facade faces north toward the faculty houses. Most of the buildings on the campus visible from the President's House were designed by F.C. Withers and were built between 1867 and 1885.

The house is very suburban or rural in character, which suited Gallaudet's originally suburban location in the 1860s. The building's design is in the mid-19th-century Downing tradition of a dwelling with informal landscaping, picturesque features, and an open plan. There are also features characteristic of post-Civil War architecture.

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

National Register: February 15, 1974

Within Gallaudet College Historic District

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Gallaudet University, founded in 1864 as the National Deaf-Mute College, has been since its inception the only institution of higher learning in the United States devoted specifically to the education of the deaf. Significant periods of construction include the initial phase (1866-1878) and a smaller construction phase between 1878 and 1918, during which the historic core of the campus was completed.

The National Deaf-Mute College was an outgrowth of the Columbia Institution of the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind, an elementary and secondary school that had been established in 1857 primarily through the efforts of Amos Kendall, a Washington philanthropist. The College opened in September of 1864 with 13 students. Edward Miner Gallaudet, who had served as superintendent of the Columbia Institution since its founding, became the first president of the College and continued to service in both position until his retirement in 1910.

The historic district consists of most of the original campus, which was planned in 1866 by Olmsted, Vaux & Co. The district includes excellent examples of High Victorian Gothic collegiate architecture and a monument to founder Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, pioneer educator of the deaf (Daniel Chester French, sculptor). The historic district includes approximately ten buildings, dating from 1866 to 1885.

DC Inventory: August 28, 1973 (Joint Committee on Landmarks)

National Register: September 10, 1974

National Historic Landmark: September 16, 1985

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