Built in 1908 in Deanwood, the construction of Engine Company No. 27 served to most likely protect the railroad, as there were few residential buildings nearby. Up until 1914, Chemical Company No. 1 inhabited the space prior to Engine Company No. 27 and served areas not yet connected to fire hydrants. The firehouse reflects the "Eclectic Period" (1897-1916) of the "City Beautiful Movement," a popular reform philosophy in North American architecture and urban planning during the 1890s and 1900s. The building is a hipped-roof, Italian Renaissance Revival style design by architect Leon Dessez (1858-1918). Dessez designed at least six other firehouses, all of which had the same plan and elevational composition. However, Engine Company No. 27 is the most modest of all Dessez’s firehouses.
Engine Company No. 27 is home to DC's second all-Black firefighting unit. In 1945, Joseph A. Briscoe was promoted from lieutenant to captain and served as the first station commander, Rafael Smith was promoted from sergeant to lieutenant, and Clarence J. Short was promoted from private to sergeant. Often times, promotion for Black firefighters was only possible through these segregated units prior to the dissolution of Jim Crow laws.
DC Inventory: January 27, 2011
National Register: May 18, 2011
]]>Originally constructed in 1892 to house Chemical Company No. 2, the location of Engine Company No. 22 was ideal for serving the emerging neighborhoods of Brightwood and Takoma Park. Established in developing areas that lacked public water service, chemical companies were equipped with engines that pumped chemical fire suppressants. Following a petition by Brightwood citizens to have a firehouse constructed in the vicinity, Engine Company No. 22 merged with Truck Company No. 11 in 1907 to serve the community. Despite the distances they had to cover, Engine Company No. 22 did not receive a motorized fire engine until 1918. Near the Maryland stateline, and towns such as Silver Spring, Engine Company No. 22 was frequently called across the stateline to assist.
The fire station was designed by Leon Dessez in the Italian Renaissance Revival style.
DC Inventory: January 27, 2011
National Register: May 18, 2011
]]>As one of the first of a new series of high-style firehouses constructed between the late 1890s and World War I, Old Engine Company No. 11 stood as an expression of civic pride and as a testament to the importance of the fire department.
The superb Italian Renaissance Revival design by local architect Leon Dessez is executed with a high degree of finish and formality, using Roman brick and glazed terra cotta detail. The rear stable, similar in design, also remains.
The firehouse was built for Truck Company F (whose designation is inscribed in the terra cotta frieze). It was renamed Truck Company 6 in 1906, and merged with Engine Company No. 11 in 1940. The building was removed from active duty when Engine Company No. 11 relocated in 1982.
DC Inventory: July 22, 2004
National Register: June 6, 2007
]]>Erected in 1894, Old Engine Company No. 10 served the Stanton Park neighborhood, or the northern portion of Capitol Hill and the emerging suburban subdivisions of Trinidad and Ivy City. At that time, the area was sparsely developed with some modest homes. The construction of a firehouse at that time indicates the anticipation of future development; by 1903, the neighborhood had grown into a middle-class neighborhood, with more than half of its lots built upon with sizeable row homes. Old Engine Company No. 10 was designed by architect Leon Dessez (1858-1919), who was responsible for the design of eight of the city's firehouses—the largest number of firehouse commissions awarded to any one architect in the city. The two-story, red brick firehouse is a relatively ornate Queen Anne style of architecture, characterized by intricate brick and terra cotta work. The building is divided into two bays, defined by large apparatus doors on the first story and large arched window openings on the second story. Old Engine Company No. 10 served its immediate and larger community for more than forty years when a major restructuring of the DC Fire Department occurred, merging the company with Truck Company No. 13. Subsequently, the firehouse was vacated. Old Engine Company No. 10 was used for a time as a community center with small offices. Today, the firehouse is an apartment building. DC Inventory: January 24, 2008
National Register: November 19, 2008
]]>Myrtilla Miner (1815-1864), a pioneer for Black female education, established the “Normal School for Colored Girls,” also known as the “Miner School for Girls” in 1851; its eventual large, three-story, symmetrically-massed Colonial Revival brick structure was built in 1914 and designed by Snowden Ashford (1866-1927) and Leon Dessez (1858-1918). Miner believed Black education was a national, rather than a local, problem. As an early advocate for the use of public funds for Black schools, she argued for equality in education long before it was widely recognized as a major issue. Miner Normal School was one of the first high schools for Black women. Miner Teachers College and its predecessor, Miner Normal School, played a significant role in the development of the Black school system in DC from 1890 to the mid-1950s, when Miner graduates had a virtual monopoly on teaching jobs in Black schools. As the number of Miner graduates increased, many found jobs in Black schools in other parts of the country, effectively expanding the extent of the school’s influence. In recent years, the building has been used for a broad range of community education programs, in addition to the teacher-training classes, which have been continuously offered there since it opened. DC Inventory: January 16, 1991
National Register: October 11, 1991]]>Engine Company No. 20 was the first major public structure built in Tenleytown in 1900. At the time, Tenleytown was at the edge of Washington, DC's development. Soon after, the nearby residential subdivisions of Armsleigh Park (1892) and American University Park (1897) expanded. The firehouse signaled the absorption of the former crossroads settlement into a growing neighborhood and the eventual development of the community.
Designed by architect Leon Dessez (1858-1918), Engine Company No. 20 is Italianate Revival in style. The façade has glazed buff brick with overhanging scrolled eaves, a terra cotta tile roof, and an expressed hose tower. With the addition of a one-story annex by Snowden Ashford (1866-1927), Engine Company No. 20 became the second motorized station in the city in 1913.
DC Inventory: February 7, 2002
]]>