In 1937 the six remaining white homeowners on this block, at 1737-1747 First Street, asked the court to nullify the covenant in their deeds and in those for 80-82 S Street, around the corner. The…

Mount Bethel Baptist Church is among several congregations in Bloomingdale that moved into buildings originally constructed by white congregations. Mount Bethel bought this church in 1958, after…

The houses along this block were among the first to be built in Bloomingdale, and defined First Street as the neighborhood’s premier architectural corridor. Deed covenants restricted the block to…

Clara Mays bought 2213 First Street in February 1944, after the house she had been renting was sold. Mays defied a racial covenant because she couldn’t find another place for her large household.…

John S. Melton blanketed the unit block of T Street with racial covenants when he built rowhouses here in the early 1900s, but middle-class black families filled the 100 block of T and other nearby…

In 1924, a government clerk named Sereno Ivy attempted to buy this house. However, the developers Middaugh & Shannon had included a racial covenant in the property’s original 1902 deed. Despite the…

Florida Avenue was Washington City’s northern boundary until 1871, and the area beyond it was mostly rural until the last decade of the 19th century. Development began shortly after the arrival of a…

Built by Clement Smith between 1815 and 1818, this large and distinguished Federal rowhouse is well known as the former site of the Russian Legation and for its time as the residence of Baron…

George Bomford was an Army ordnance expert and the owner of the mansion Kalorama. In 1845, he constructed a cotton factory on the site of an 1832 flour mill, which had burned down the previous year.…

The Bond Building has been a pivotal structure in downtown DC's business and financial district since it was constructed in 1901. The seven-story Beaux-Arts office building, designed by architect…