Friends Meeting House (Friends Meeting of Washington)

This meeting house provided services for the first Quaker elected President, Herbert Hoover.

Built in 1930 and designed by Walter F. Price, the Washington Friends Meeting House is a Colonial Revival building decorated with Georgian elements, such as quoins and keystones, and Federal elements, including a pedimented round-arched doorway. The exterior building material is stone, the majority of which is Pennsylvania Foxcroft, laid in coursed rubble. Price was a well-known Philadelphia architect who had built other meeting houses and captured the essence of traditional Quaker architecture.

The meeting house was constructed with major support and influence by First Lady Hoover and Mary Vaux Walcott, a noted painter, geographer, and philanthropist, who helped to fund the building's purchase. With President Hoover becoming the first Quaker elected President, the meeting house was built to provide services that he and Mrs. Hoover could easily attend. Additionally, the meeting house was constructed to merge two existing congregations in DC. After its completion, the Hoovers and other congregants met for services for many years, even after the presidential couple had moved out of the area.

DC Inventory: November 8, 1964 (Joint Committee on Landmarks)  
National Register: September 6, 1990

Images

Map

2111 Florida Avenue, NW