Alexander Crummell School
Built between 1910 and 1911, the Alexander Crummell School is a notable 20th-century DC public school building.
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The Alexander Crummell School, built between 1910 and 1911, is located in Ivy City. Municipal Architect Snowden Ashford designed the building in 1910 in a personalized Renaissance style, and construction was carried out the following year by Allan T. Howlson. As built in 1911, it was an early extensible six-classroom building, and the addition of a second story at the rear of the building, built according to the original plans, followed in 1932. The school was named in honor of Alexander Crummell, the noted African American clergyman, activist, educator, and founder of the American Negro Academy.
The red brick Alexander Crummell School is two stories high and three bays wide with high English basement and full attic. Entrances are located in these central pavilions in the nearly identical northeast and southeast elevations, the former for girls and the latter for boys. The girls' entrance serves as the primary entrance, and the southeast facade, facing Gallaudet Street, is the principal facade. The Alexander Crummell School graduated its last class in 1972.
For years, the Crummell School sat vacant and in a neglected and deteriorating state. It is currently slated for renovation into a community center for the Ivy City area.
DC Inventory: May 23, 2002
National Register: July 25, 2003
