Bruce, Blanche K. House
- Year
- 1865
- Style
- Second Empire
- City
- Washington, DC
The Blanche K. Bruce House at 909 M Street NW was built in 1865 as home to Blanche K. Bruce, born into slavery in 1841, who became the first African American to serve a full term in the U.S. Senate, and his wife Josephine. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1975 after nomination by the Afro-American Bicentennial Corporation.
the building
The duplex exterior. The house is one half of a 3+1/2-story brick duplex with a slate mansard roof forming a full fourth floor; both halves share nearly identical facades with a three-bay ground floor, entrance in the left bay, rounded-arch windows on the ground and third floors, and a dentillated edge capping the short fourth floor.
the style
The mansard roof and rounded-arch openings place the house in the Second Empire style, a fashionable choice for Washington rowhouses of the 1860s.
More on Second Empiresignificance
Declared a National Historic Landmark in 1975, the house was successfully nominated to the National Register of Historic Places by the Afro-American Bicentennial Corporation on May 15, 1975, for its association with Blanche K. Bruce.
nearby
- Immaculate Conception Church (Washington, D.C.)
- American Federation of Labor
- Church of the Ascension and Saint Agnes
- Central Public Library (Carnegie Library)
- United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners-Local 132 building
- O Street Market