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 the stage name Madame Evanti. During the 1920s, she became the first African American to perform with an organized European opera company. In the 1930s, she performed at the White House for Eleanor Roosevelt and served as a Goodwill Ambassador to South America. In 1942, she helped found the Negro National Opera Company. This two-story brick rowhouse, designed by architect R.E. Crump, was built in 1894; Madame Evanti added decorative iron railings with stylized harps or lyres in a 1932 remodeling.

DC Inventory: March 20, 1985

National Register: September 8, 1987

Within Greater U Street Historic District

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The Greater U Street Historic District is a Victorian Era neighborhood, developed largely between 1862 and 1900. The area consists of a coherent group of row houses constructed overwhelmingly by speculative builders and real estate developers along streets established by the L'Enfant Plan. The neighborhood's rapid development was in response to the city's strong demand for housing following the Civil War, the growth of the Federal government in the late 19th century, and the expansion of Washington's economy and population. Development was made possible by the laying of streetcar tracks along 14th and 7th Streets by the Washington and Georgetown Railroad Company in 1862. The new streetcar technology opened up this vast area for residential development, making it convenient for the first time for government employees and others to commute downtown to work and shop. By the end of the 19th century, the transportation corridors along 14th and 7th Streets had developed as neighborhood-based commercial areas. Most of the historic district's brick Victorian-era architecture remains intact along its residential streets and commercial corridors. The historic district is also significant as the center of Washington's African American community between c.1900 and 1948. While always racially and socio-economically diverse, the area was predominately home to middle class white residents until the turn of the century. As Washington became increasingly segregated, the neighborhood emerged as a "city within a city" for Washington's African American residents. U Street became the city's most important concentration of businesses, entertainment facilities, as well as fraternal and religious institutions owned and operated by African Americans. The surrounding neighborhood became home to many of the city's leading African American citizens. This second phase of development is most tangibly evident along U Street, and its immediately adjacent blocks where buildings of significant stature and architectural expression were built by and for the African American community. While the area remained an important commercial and cultural center for the African American community through the 1960s, the neighborhood began to change in character after racially restrictive real estate covenants were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in Shelley v. Kraemer, thus allowing African Americans access to more housing options throughout Washington. During the April 1968 turmoil following Martin Luther King Jr.'s death, Ben's Chili Bowl was given special permission to stay open after curfew to provide food and shelter for those attempting to keep the peace. 

Ben's Chili Bowl, a contributing building within the Greater U Street Historic District, is a highly sought-after dining destination.

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The Anthony Bowen YMCA is home to the nation's first African American chapter of the Young Men's Christian Association. The building is four stories and reflects the Italian Renaissance Revival style. It was founded in 1853 by educator and religious leader Anthony Bowen (1809-1871) to provide educational, social, and recreational services to men and boys. Bowen, born enslaved, was able to buy his freedom in 1826 and moved to DC shortly after. He was a highly regarded leader and was hired by the federal government as the first African American clerk in the United States Patent Office.

The YMCA did not find its home on 12th street until the early 20th century. In 1907, a groundbreaking ceremony was held and during the following year, President Theodore Roosevelt helped lay the building’s first cornerstone. The construction of the Bowen YMCA was, and still is, regarded as the most expensive African American YMCA branch, with costs estimating around $100,000. The building was designed thanks to the major commission of W. Sidney Pittman, one of the nation's first African American architects and construction was instigated by Samuel W. Woodward, supported with funds from philanthropists John D. Rockefeller and Julius Rosenwald, matched by a local Capital Campaign.

DC Inventory: April 29, 1975

National Register: October 3, 1983

National Historic Landmark: October 12, 1994

Within Greater U Street Historic District

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The United Order of True Reformers served as a bank and insurance company that catered to the Black community, and was the first major commission of prominent Black architect John A. Lankford. The building is considered one of the first in the United States to be designed, funded, and built by the Black community. The significance of this achievement was magnified by the building’s location in Washington.

From its construction in 1902 until 1911, the United Order of True Reformers used it as a space for their work in assisting the economic and social needs of the city’s Black community. In addition to managing a bank and insurance office, the public assistance they offered also included a home for the elderly, multiple stores, a real estate office, a hotel, the publishing of a weekly newspaper, and the maintenance of a farm. In 1911, the United Order declared bankruptcy and the building was acquired in 1917 by the Knights of Pythias, who used it as a dance hall, gym, and police boys’ club.

Although the organization that built it no longer exists, the True Reformer Building in Washington is a physical representation of the concepts of self-help and racial solidarity that form a continuing theme in Black intellectual history. Not only is it associated with a significant institution embodying those goals, but its very form is a monument to them.

The four-story rectangular brick building is detailed on both its north (U Street NW) and east (12th Street NW) facades. The primary facades are executed in buff brick laid in common bond, while the secondary facades are in red brick. The structural system appears to be a combination of steel columns and load bearing brick walls. The building dominates its site, which is an area of low-scale commercial and residential buildings.

Since 1999, the building has housed the Public Welfare Foundation, a group that supports efforts in social justice and helping people in need.

DC Inventory: September 16, 1987

National Register: January 9, 1989

Within Greater U Street Historic District

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While Black architect Isaiah T. Hatton (1883-1921) designed the building in the Italian Renaissance Revival style, Reginald W. Geare (1889-1927) designed the movie theater on the first floor of the 1921 building. Similar to other establishments in the U Street NW corridor, the Dunbar Theater supported the Black community as an important communal space in a time of racial segregation in the city. Discrimination denied Black Washingtonians opportunities to socialize in public establishments, so the movie theater and jazz venue offered recreational opportunities.

The Southern Aid Society-Dunbar Theater Building served as the DC headquarters for the Southern Aid Society, the oldest Black life insurance company in the country. The building also provided residential units, offices, and commercial space for Black people. This mixed-use building was an important element of the Black commercial area that developed around Seventh and U Streets in the early part of the twentieth century.

DC Inventory: May 16, 1984

National Register: November 6, 1986

Within Greater U Street Historic District

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Founded in 1825 by both enslaved people and free Black people, Prince Hall Masonic Temple became the headquarters to the nation’s earliest and largest Black fraternity. When the Prince Hall Masonic Temple decided to move its original headquarters, the group purchased this lot on U Street NW, in the center of a significant cultural and social destination for DC’s Black community. Albert I. Cassell (1895-1969), a prominent architect who was the third Black Washingtonian to be a registered architect, designed the building, which was completed in 1928.

Similar to other institutions in the U Street corridor, Prince Hall supported the Black community as an important communal space in a time of racial segregation in the city. Discrimination denied Black Washingtonians opportunities to socialize in public establishments. To combat this issue and provide an inclusive space for this community, Prince Hall housed commercial office spaces and social clubs. The building also included a bowling alley in the basement, a ballroom, and a restaurant called “The Bamboo Inn.”

Today, the Prince Hall Masonic Temple is the headquarters for the Prince Hall Freemason and Eastern Star Charitable Foundation, founded in 1986. The foundation continues the work of the Grand Lodge by providing support for DC’s Black community through disaster relief, assisting the homeless, funding grants and scholarships for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, mentoring youth, and community services like blood and health drives.

DC Inventory: December 9, 1982

National Register: September 15, 1983

Within Greater U Street Historic District

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The Oswego and the Exeter, built respectively in 1900 and 1904, exemplified early low-rise apartment buildings in the city, as well as an early building commission for their architect, B. Stanley Simmons, who worked with developer Lester A. Barr on the project. Designed in the Classical Revival style, the buildings witnessed the growth of U Street NW into “Black Broadway,” an epicenter for African American culture and wealth in the early 20th century. Across the street, the Republic Gardens Theater hosted concerts and events for the African American community and elites living in the area. With the 14th Street streetcar line’s opening in 1896, U Street became a residential neighborhood for workers that needed access to public transportation for work. Building developers were quick to construct apartment buildings that would meet renters’ economic needs, while also retaining architectural elements that would entice buyers in a city that was hesitant to apartment living.

The Northumberland, designed by Albert H. Beers and built between 1909 and 1910 by Harry Wardman, presents an eclectic classical facade that blends harmoniously with the buildings that surround it along New Hampshire Avenue. The building remains an unaltered element in a neighborhood whose architectural identity was created by Victorian row houses, large apartment buildings, churches, and institutional buildings. 

The Northumberland embodies the distinctive characteristics of an early-20th-century luxury apartment building. It is a rare example of such a building that has retained its integrity of location, design, materials, and workmanship. Both its exterior and interior, which is notable for its rich variety of decorative detailing, sumptuous materials, and skilled craftsmanship, remain essentially unaltered from their original construction. The Northumberland is an early work of Harry Wardman.

In 1920, the building became a cooperative apartment building. As the oldest, continuously self-managed cooperative, it was a pioneer in a field of housing new to the District of Columbia in the early years of this century.

DC Inventory: November 21, 1978

National Register: March 25, 1980

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The property known as the Manhattan Laundry includes three separate buildings connected by two different enclosed bridges, the oldest of which was built in 1877 and the newest in 1936. In addition to the architectural heritage and shifting tastes these buildings represent, their history also reflects the history of the city around them. Built in 1877, the earliest building first served as a car barn for the Washington and Georgetown Railroad Company, which had been one of the first public transportation companies in DC. This original streetcar building models a typical industrial style of the late Victorian era. The railroad company continued using this space until they constructed a new one in 1892 and moved their cars there. At that time, the company sold the building to be converted into a publishing facility. Over the course of a decade, the building became home to several different publishing operations, including one run by John Sherman, the Ohio politician responsible for the Sherman Antitrust Act. In 1905, the property was converted once more to house the Manhattan Laundry company, which gradually became the largest laundry operation in the city. An enormous company that employed many local residents, the Manhattan Laundry became an important site in its community and became the first black-operated laundry in DC later in the 20th century. The distinctive Art Deco façade dates to 1936 and is one of the finest examples of Art Deco in the city. This style, enormously popular at the time, was well-suited to a modern laundry with its light, clean, and efficient design, and the façade drew praise from architecture critics. The Manhattan Laundry Company ceased to operate out of the site as of 1973, but the name has remained. Although it was slated to be razed in 1979 after a damaging fire the previous year, the Manhattan Laundry was saved by a developer. It now houses various commercial ventures. DC Inventory: June 19, 1991

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A major element of the historic U Street commercial corridor, the Lincoln Theatre is a rare early movie theater. The Lincoln was completed in 1921 in the sumptuous style of the grand movie palaces of the day. The neoclassical theater retains a high degree of its architectural integrity and is among the most notable remaining buildings. The Lincoln Theatre is a splendid example of a major “first run” neighborhood movie house of the 1920s. It echoes the spirit and life that pervaded the U Street corridor in the first half of the twentieth century, when it was known as the gateway to the best of DC’s Black community. Some notable entertainers who came to the Lincoln Theatre were Pearl Bailey, Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole, and Duke Ellington. Starting in 1927, A. E. Lichtman managed the theater, which became an important cultural space for DC’s Black community. Due to segregation in the city, Black audiences were required to wait after show times reserved for white customers before they were allowed to enter the theatre. Unlike other theatres who followed this conduct, the Lincoln Theatre did not, and it provided the Black community with equal access to entertainment. Out of the 434 employees to work at the Lincoln Theatre during Lichtman’s management, only eleven (including him) were white. Today, the Lincoln Theatre is still a popular venue in the city for entertainment.    The exterior of the theatre is relatively simple. The principal facade is a fully-developed symmetrical imposition featuring neoclassical design which is typical of the period. A well-defined base, which resembles finished stone, has a central, recessed entrance with a large square marquee. The upper facade is of tan colored brick and has a large-scaled central window which is set within a slightly projecting bay. The three-part window is surmounted by a decorated recessed panel in its arched head, which employs a fan motif and other neoclassical motifs in pressed metal. A primary cornice beneath the brick parapet is enriched by its center pediment and running frieze which bears the inscription “Lincoln Theatre.” The interior of the Lincoln is highly ornamented and is notable for its well-preserved state. The lobby, circulation spaces, and main auditorium feature neoclassical derived plaster details which are typical of the period and continue the motifs of the main facade. The ticket booth in the lobby is embellished with classically styled busts and medallions. Much of the decorative plaster was painted a deep bronze and highlighted in copper. DC Inventory: September 16, 1992