House of Mercy is located at the northwest edge of the Mount Pleasant Historic District on a ridge overlooking the wooded Rock Creek Valley. The building was constructed in a once rural setting, but still retains its “sanctuary” landscape.

Designed by Nathan C. Wyeth in the Spanish Colonial Revival/Mission style and constructed by Charles A. Langley, House of Mercy was completed in 1911. The style was selected by Cassie Meyer James, House of Mercy’s principal donor, and well-executed by Wyeth, who also designed the MacVeagh House, as well as many other buildings during his time as DC’s Municipal Architect (1934-1946). Notably, Wyeth also designed the White House’s Oval Office. House of Mercy is an early example of the Spanish Colonial Revival/Mission style in Washington, DC, and this style would be used in the design of several DC residences in the 1910s and 1920s, including at the David Lawrence Residence, now known as the Old Swedish Ambassador’s Residence.

The building is composed of a main block and two wings on the north and south. The main block and wings partially enclose a central courtyard, which is open to the west. The two-story building sits on uneven terrain, which sometimes places the basement partially above-ground. The elevated site is enclosed by a grey fieldstone foundation and retaining wall on its west and east sides (Rock Creek Park and Rosemount Avenue NW, respectively), and a concrete retaining wall, painted with colorful murals, on its south side facing Klingle Road NW.

At the center of the main block is a curvilinear parapet with a large rosette consisting of three concentric rings of brick surrounding a painted emblem reminiscent of a religious medallion. Within this central bay is the main entrance, which faces Rosemount Avenue. The entrance is covered by a tiled, shed roof, which hints at the Craftsman style – one of several styles, along with the Arts and Crafts Movement, that inspired the Spanish Colonial Revival/Mission style.

The main block is capped by a hipped roof with protruding eaves. Here, the above-ground basement is visible and is separated from the two upper-stories by a belt cornice. The first story has twelve, tall windows with six-over-six lights, while the second story has fourteen, shorter windows with nine lights.

The south wing’s first story has five, tall windows with decorative iron grills, while the north wing has three stucco-clad chimneys with ornamental covers. Both the iron grills and chimney features are elements of the Spanish Colonial Revival style. Both wings meet at cross wings with curvilinear parapets (the cross wings do not connect, which allows for the courtyard to be open on its west side). A breezeway connects the south cross wing to a single-story cottage, while the north cross wing has a three-story addition (completed in 2005) on its west side.

Established in 1884 by the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, House of Mercy (known formally as the Association for the Works of Mercy) was first located in Foggy Bottom. At the time, House of Mercy exclusively served white girls and women in need (e.g., unwed mothers and their babies). Like other services in the city, most charitable organizations were racially segregated. There were at least two homes for Black women and children, including the National Association for the Relief of Destitute Colored Women and Children (later known as the Merriweather Home for Children).

Within a short period of time, House of Mercy had outgrown the space in Foggy Bottom. A new, larger facility finally became a possibility when heiress and philanthropist Cassie Meyer James purchased and donated the land adjacent to Rock Creek Park, as well as the funds for the construction of a new building. At the time, the site was rural and isolated.

24 girls and 17 children became residents of the new facility when it opened in late 1911. Deaconess Lillian M. Yeo, who strictly supervised the house until 1945, wrote a memoir, which included a description of the girls’ activities: “They sew, and when they leave us they have learned to sew well. ...Then they cook, in teams of three—one for the girls and children, one for the staff, while the third is responsible for the kitchen’s tidiness. We bake all our own bread…Then there is our laundry. ‘And we man it,’ as one of our girls recently said.”

In 1946, following a renovation, House of Mercy began to provide short-term care for pregnant girls and unwed mothers and their babies. Ten years later, the Episcopal Church’s National Council issued guidance on integrating the church’s institutions. In 1958, a convention of the Washington Diocese called for racial integration, which led to House of Mercy changing its policy of only serving white girls and women.

Despite House of Mercy’s shift in focus in the 1940s and into the 1950s, the organization’s mission was becoming less relevant as society changed. In turn, enrollment dropped. In 1972, House of Mercy closed. That same year, it reopened as the Rosemount Infant Day Care Center (also known as El Centro Rosemount) and started serving many Spanish-speaking infants and toddlers. In recent years, many immigrants from Central and South America had settled in Mount Pleasant and Adams Morgan. Rosemount Center was the Washington area’s first bilingual daycare center. In 2005, a renovation of the historic building and a modern addition were completed. Over 50 years after its establishment, Rosemount Center continues to serve the surrounding community.

DC Inventory: May 23, 2024

National Register: January 10, 2025 

Within Mount Pleasant Historic District

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The Lucy Diggs Slowe Elementary School first opened in 1945 in response to a lawsuit against segregated schooling in DC. John Preston Davis attempted to enroll his five-year old son at Noyes Elementary School in 1944, yet was rejected based upon race. Mr. Davis, a Harvard Law School graduate and co-founder of the National Negro Congress, pursued legal action against DC Public Schools. His son would’ve been required to walk 17 blocks to school, despite being less than half a mile from four all-white schools. After a legal battle involving discussions of home rule, race, and constitutionality, the U.S. Congress allotted $44,000 dollars to build a school for the Black residents of Brookland in June 1944. A temporary school building opened in 1945 (as the Crummell School Annex) at 1325 Jackson Street NE. Soon after, the Board of Education approved renaming the new school after Lucy Diggs Slowe, a prominent DC educator who worked as a public school principal and professor at Howard University. Designed by Municipal Architect Nathan Wyeth and completed by his successor, Merrell Coe (following Wyeth’s death in 1946), the school officially opened in 1948. Designed in a modern style, the rectangular building is a concrete structure with pre-cast concrete decorative paneling, glass blocks, and horizontal banks of window openings. Upon first opening, the space had five available classrooms and capacity for 180 pupils.  Located at the intersection of Jackson and 14^th Streets NE in the Brookland neighborhood of Washington, DC, the new school quickly became overcrowded. Conditions were inadequate for learning and created dangerous fire hazards. In turn, parents used strikes, community organizing, and student protest to communicate their dissatisfaction and demands for better educational space. Overcrowding at Slowe was finally resolved through the legal desegregation of public schools in the District in the landmark Supreme Court case of Bolling v. Sharpe, which went into effect in 1954. Despite a building renovation in 1967 that added a library and additional classroom/storage space, the school continued to face consistent problems. The displacement and eventual decline of Black residents in DC in the 1960s and 1970s, combined with the increase in charter schools in the 1990s, resulted in the closure of Slowe Elementary School in 2009. Today, the building houses the Mary McLeod Bethune Day Academy Public Charter School. As part of DC’s local history and the larger national history of Blacks organizing for equality, the Slowe Elementary School is significant as both a space for civil rights activism in the realm of education and an early example of modern architecture.

DC Inventory: October 28, 2021

National Register: December 20, 2021

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Designed by Nathan C. Wyeth, Calvin Coolidge Senior High School (Coolidge High School) constitutes a significant example of Georgian Revival architecture in the District—and remains part of the District’s early efforts to improve local education.

Coolidge High School is particularly important as one of the last revivalist architectural style structures constructed for the purpose of local schooling. In addition to the rise of modernist architecture, economic constraints in the following decades ultimately led to the local government’s movement away from stylistic detailing and elaborate designs for public schools. Built prior to these restrictions, Coolidge High School’s Georgian Revival style is distinguishable in its hipped roofs, elaborate door surrounds, a wide pavilion and portico, and the crowning cupola atop the main block.

Constructed between 1937 and 1940, Coolidge High School’s establishment was a result of school overcrowding in the developing areas of the District. Increasing population growth and the expansion of residential development in the early 20th century led to the Board of Education’s Five-Year Building Plan proposal in 1924 and its passage in 1925. Despite building interruptions due to the Great Depression and an influx of even more District residents following the expansion of federal jobs through the New Deal, numerous schools were constructed under the Five-Year Building Plan--notable examples in the city include Thomas Jefferson Junior High School and Woodrow Wilson High School.

Coolidge High School opened its doors to the Takoma Park neighborhood in 1940, for at least 750 students on their first day. The school continues to serve the surrounding area under the same name and in many of the same spaces as dedicated teachers and students did over 75 years ago.

DC Inventory: September 23, 2021

National Register: April 12, 2022

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Designed by Nathan C. Wyeth, Thomas Jefferson Junior High School’s exemplary Georgian Revival Style is evidenced through architectural symmetry, a cupola over the main block, and a two-story entry surround with Doric pilasters. The Junior High School itself was a product of the Five-Year School Building Program Act, passed in 1925. Congress passed this program, which directly impacted Washington, DC, in response to national problems of school overcrowding and school closures brought about by unsuitable building design and construction. The goal of the law was to generate a model of school design that would alleviate these issues—Thomas Jefferson Junior High School stands as one of these early models.

After selection of a building site in 1929, a decade went by before construction began on Thomas Jefferson Junior High School. Funds were delayed as a result of the Great Depression and legal disputes over the site’s location. The school was opened in 1940.

Thomas Jefferson Junior High School is historically significant as a representation of national and local efforts through the DC Board of Education to improve the physical condition and educational quality of American schools. As one of the last schools to be designed in the Georgian Revival style in the District, Thomas Jefferson Junior High School is architecturally significant and demonstrates exemplary design. It remains a valuable educational and community resource as the current site for Jefferson Middle School Academy.

DC Inventory: January 28, 2021

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Construction of the Petworth Library (historically known as Petworth Branch Library) was long in the making. The first expressed desire for a library in the community came in 1927 when the Petworth Women’s Club library committee, with support from other neighborhood and school associations, called on the District commissioners to endorse a building program for library extensions in DC including a branch for Petworth. Two years later, George F. Bowerman, librarian for DC, presented a plan for thirteen new branch libraries to be erected over fifteen years. In 1930, Bowerman would expand his proposal to an even greater number, including ten “Class A” branches that included Petworth. Five years later, with little prospect for funding due to the Great Depression, Bowerman reduced the proposal to just five branches with Petworth remaining on the list.

The site for Petworth Library at the intersection of Kansas and Georgia Avenues and Upshur Street NW was already owned by DC; in 1930, the Board of Education had granted to the DC Public Library this triangular portion of a thirty-five-acre site that included MacFarland Junior High School and Roosevelt High School. The approximately $150,000 needed for construction and equipping the branch was, however, still lacking. In 1936, Congress finally authorized it for the city’s 1937 budget. The Office of Municipal Architect immediately drafted plans for the new building, securing approvals from the US Commission of Fine Arts and the District Commissioners in December 1936 and July 1937. In January 1939, twelve years after the community had petitioned for a library, the Petworth Branch Library was opened to great acclaim.

The library consists of a two-story, three-part red brick Georgian Revival-style structure with a central pavilion and side wings. As designed by Nathan C. Wyeth (1870-1963), the central pavilion featured a steep hipped roof with dormers and a wooden cupola and side wings covered by gable roofs and buttressed by wide end chimneys. The building’s overall massing, and details, including limestone quoining, classical door entablatures, twelve-over-twelve windows under jack arches and other brick detailing offer a high-quality and academic interpretation of the Georgian Revival style for which Wyeth is known.

In 2009, Petworth Library underwent a major renovation. The District Department of General Services restored the historic wood windows and constructed the building’s cupola, which, although part of the original building design, had never been built. New systems and facilities including updated elevators and bathrooms were installed, while historic finishes and furniture were restored.

DC Inventory: September 27, 2018

National Register: December 3, 2018

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William Syphax was born in 1825 to Charles Syphax and Maria Carter. Charles, Syphax’s father, was enslaved by a man named George Washington Parke Custis, grandson and adopted son of George and Martha Washington. Maria, Syphax’s mother, was also enslaved and the suspected daughter of Custis. As an infant in 1826, Syphax, his mother, and older sister were freed and Maria was given 17 acres of Custis’ Arlington estate (His father was later freed after Custis’ death). Charles and Maria had ten children together, all of whom lived as free people on the Custis property.

As they grew up, Syphax and his siblings attended private school in DC and Alexandria. William Syphax was the first African American appointed to the Board of Trustees for Colored Schools in the city, which was established after emancipation in DC during 1862. He served on the board from 1868 to 1871 as its chairman and later, the treasurer. Syphax was a proponent of a unified public school system, and a vigorous advocate for equal educational standards. He oversaw construction of the Sumner, Lincoln, and Stevens Schools (the first African American schools considered equally designed to those built for white students). During his tenure, DC also saw a significant increase of African American educators.

The original Colonial Revival school, built in 1901 (Marsh & Peter, architects), is a fine example of the public schools that the D.C. Office of the Building Inspector commissioned from local architects. The large 1941 addition (also in Colonial Revival style) by Municipal Architect Nathan C. Wyeth follows the “extensible” prototype created by his predecessor Albert L. Harris; this was further expanded in 1953.

The building illustrates both the progressive civic design ideals of the turn of the century, and the modernization and expansion of the public schools during wartime mobilization. Like similar neighborhood schools throughout the city, it establishes a municipal presence in the local community. The original 2-1/2-story building is hip-roofed, with red brick facades, arched windows and white terra cotta trim; the 2-story additions are flat-roofed, with red brick facades, banks of multi-pane windows, and limestone trim.

DC Inventory: April 22, 1999

National Register: July 25, 2003

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Spingarn Senior High School, Browne Junior High School, Charles Young Elementary School, and Phelps Architecture, Construction and Engineering (formerly Vocational) High School are located on approximately 27.25 sloping acres of land overlooking the historic Langston Golf Course and the Anacostia River in Kingman Park. The historic Langston Dwellings are located in the rear southwestern portion of the school buildings. The actual complex, designated as a historic district, includes four public school buildings with sloping landscapes.

The educational campus was built specifically for African American students between 1930 and 1952. The schools were built in the middle-class neighborhood of Kingman Park during the era of racial segregation in DC. The schools were dedicated by many internationally famous and notable African American leaders and educators during this time period and were important centers for the growth of the community.

DC Inventory: May 28, 2015

National Register: April 22, 2013

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The District of Columbia Recorder of Deeds Building expresses the interplay between political aspirations, social struggle, the search for civic identity, and even the influence of global war on the District of Columbia.

Designed under the direction of Municipal Architect Nathan C. Wyeth, the building was constructed between 1940 and 1943. While Wyeth used the Modern/Stripped Classical style for some earlier designs, the Recorder of Deeds Building occupies a unique niche among his protean and distinguished body of work. It is an office building designed for a special function, as opposed to a general purpose governmental structure such as the DC Municipal Center, which is programmed to flow its patrons to varied functional areas.

The interior is paneled in medium brown walnut. Its most notable feature is its extensive art program, especially the seven murals commissioned by the Treasury Department Section of Fine Art in 1943. Other significant art works include the 1936 series of portraits of prior recorders, William Edouard Scott’s oil painting titled Groundbreaking (1944), and Selma Burke’s sculptural relief Four Freedoms (1945).

The building housed the Recorder of Deeds Office for more than 60 years. In 2005, its murals and rich history were acknowledged by a city historic marker. However, after the Recorder's Office moved in 2008, the building was used for storage and has faced deterioration.

DC Inventory:  December 19, 2019

Within Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site

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The Daly Building was designed by DC Municipal Architect Nathan C. Wyeth and constructed with the aid of Public Works Administration funds between 1939 and 1941. This was the first building constructed according to plans developed during the 1920s for a Municipal Center between Judiciary Square and Pennsylvania Avenue. 

Notable features include the cast aluminum revolving doors and abstracted classical columns, capitals, and moldings. In the interior courtyards are two enormous ceramic sculptural panels: Democracy in Action by Waylande Gregory and Health and Welfare by Hildreth Meiere. Flanking the plaza steps to the west of the building are two granite bas-relief sculptural panels: Urban Life by John Gregory, and Light, Water, and Thoroughfare by Lee Lawrie. In the south lobby floor is a terrazzo map of the District of Columbia, and near the north entrance is an octagonal fountain by the John J. Earley Studio (dedicated in 1980 as the Washington Area Law Enforcement Memorial).

DC Inventory: Feb 22, 2018

National Register: July 19, 2019

Within Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site

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Built between 1951 and 1952, Spingarn High School was constructed for the education of African American students, meant to relieve the overcrowding of the other segregated high schools and had been planned for that purpose since the late 1930s. Desegregation lawsuits of the late 1940s and early 1950s finally prodded the District to construct the building. Its postwar construction represented an attempt to satisfy African American parents while keeping alive the “separate but equal” regime in the public schools. Spingarn was thus Washington's last “Black” high school, and the first built in 36 years. Its opening was a major event, drawing not only the family of its namesake but also such luminaries as W.E.B. Du Bois, Paul Robeson, and John Hope Franklin. Only two years later, the process of desegregation began.

The school’s name honored Joel Elias Spingarn, a renowned literary critic, professor of comparative literature at Columbia, and one of the early founders of the NAACP, who served as both the chairman of the board and president during his 26-year tenure with the organization. Spingarn High School provided a complete curriculum to prepare its students for life after high school. It included a housekeeping suite for home economics students, clothes-making classrooms, modern workshops such as carpentry and print shops, and laboratories.

Spingarn is also the last of the District’s era of Classical and Colonial Revival style schools. In its time, it was considered one of the most modern schools in the District. The school’s long-deferred construction, coupled with its siting on a campus of earlier African American schools, is probably responsible for this architectural anomaly.

The school is currently being rehabilitated and, once open, will serve as the DC Infrastructure Academy Training Center.

DC Inventory: November 29, 2012

National Register: May 12, 2014

Within Young, Browne, Phelps and Spingarn Educational Campus Historic District; and Kingman Park Historic District

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