Architectual Treasures on P Street

I headed over to the southern part of the ANC district yesterday to meet some folks who live on P Street NW. Along the way, I discovered some neglected buildings with a rich history.

Several school buildings exist in the area, but none of them are currently being used for much of anything, much less education. Believe it or not, at one time, D.C. schools were the envy of the nation and these buildings were designed to reflect this pride in education.

The first building I came to was the Langston School, built in 1902 (click on any of these photos for a larger view). It is a now-blighted and vacant structure, decorated with assorted graffitti. The building was named after John Mercer Langston, who was the first Black applicant to an American law school (he was rejected due to racial discrimination). Langston eventually achieved admission to the bar in 1854, later founded Howard University Law School, and was elected to Congress (from Virginia).

The John Fox Slater School, built in 1891, is located next to the Langston building at 45 P Street NW. It too could use some restoration. A resident walking by suggested that the building is currently be used as a day care center, but this was not evident from the outside. Those metal window grills are unsightly, but they may still be necessary given the level of crime in the area.

So what is being done to refurbish these buildings, store their heritage, and turn them into productive uses? The only thing I could turn up is a June 21, 2005 email from ANC Commissioner Jim Berry, who wrote:

Mr. Thomas Gore, the Executive Director of Associates for Renewal in Education, is making a presentation [at the June 21 ANC meeting] about the above proposal to develop the Slater and Langston School buildings. After he concludes his presentation, he is likely to ask the Commission to support the proposal. I plan to strongly discourage the Commission from taking an action on this proposal at the present time . . . The DC Office of Property Management is currently developing a Request for Proposals to develop the Slater and Langston School buildings. Once that RFP is issued, Mr. Gore and ARE have an equal opportunity to respond to its elements in hopes of gaining the city's final approval for their project.

Berry also noted that he had been "urging the city to develop those two buildings for a long time." Let us renew the urging-- more than a year later, nothing apparently has happened. (It also turns out that, according to the minutes, Gore did not speak at the ANC meeting as planned.)

My favorite educational building on P Street is the Armstrong Manual Training School (located at First and P streets, NW). Finished in 1902, it is named after Civil War regimental commander General Samuel Chapman Armstrong. The building is on the District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites and on the National Register of Historic Places. One notable former student: jazz artist Duke Ellington.

The Armstrong building sits vacant and neglected, a diamond in the rough. A neighbor walking by suggested that this grand building, reconfigured and rennovated, would make an outstanding fine/performing arts center.

More information about all of these buildings can be found at this link.

Finally, speaking of rennovations, a few rowhouses on the street have recently experienced revival. One candidate for renewal recently sold (photo to the right).