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LeDroit Park Historic District
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Intersection of 4th & T Streets, NW in LeDroit Park
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Map of Washington, D.C., with Le Droit Park highlighted in red
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| Location: | Bounded roughly by Florida and Rhode Island Avenues, 2nd and Elm Streets, NW, Howard University, Washington, D.C. |
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| NRHP Reference#: | 74002165 |
| Added to NRHP: | February 25, 1974 |
LeDroit Park is a neighborhood in Washington, D.C. located immediately southeast of Howard University. Its borders include W Street to the north, Rhode Island Avenue and Florida Avenue to the south, Second Street NW to the east, and Georgia Avenue to the west.
The neighborhood was Developed by Amzi Barber (Board of Trustees, Howard University) in the 1870s LeDroit Park was one of the first suburbs of Washington. Many of the area's Victorian mansions, houses and row-houses were designed by architect James McGill. LeDroit Park was developed and marketed as a "romantic" neighborhood with narrow tree-lined streets that bore the same names as the trees that shaded them. Originally the neighborhood did not follow the scheme for street names used in the rest of Washington DC. Extensive focus was placed on the landscaping of this neighborhood, as developers spent a large sum of money to plant flower beds and trees to attract high profile professionals from the city. LeDroit Park was even gated with guards to promote security for its hopeful residents. Originally LeDroit Park was a Whites only neighborhood. Efforts by many lead to the area becoming integrated especially multiple actions by students from Howard University. In July 1888 the students tore down the fences that separated the neighborhood in protest of its discriminating policies.
By the 1940s LeDroit Park became a major focal point for the African-American elite as many prominent figures resided there. Griffith Stadium was also located here until 1965, when the Howard University Hospital was built where it used to stand. Le Droit Park includes Anna J. Cooper Circle, named for the education pioneer.
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A series of murals are seen throughout the neighborhood. "This is How We Live" was commissioned by the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities to be painted by artist Garin Baker.[1][2] The mural shows the African-American heritage of the neighborhood, the changing community and landscape and historical and architectural scenes from the past and present. Painted at the site of the former Gage-Eckington School the mural was dedicated on December 13, 2008. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty is quoted as describing the mural as serving to
...visually engage residents through a beautiful neighborhood mural that depicts the unique landscapes, people and images of the historic LeDroit Park community. The mural will become a prominent landmark in the neighborhood for years to come.[3]
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