Josephine Butler Parks Center
- Architect
- George Oakley Totten, Jr.
- Style
- Renaissance Revival
- City
- Washington, DC
George Oakley Totten Jr. designed this 1927 Renaissance Revival house for Mary Foote Henderson, widow of Senator John B. Henderson, in the Meridian Hill neighborhood. Over the following decades it passed through a striking sequence of owners -- the American Legion, the Hungarian embassy, the New China News Agency, and Coolidge House Associates -- before becoming the headquarters of Washington Parks and People, named for environmentalist and labor organizer Josephine Butler.
the building
A house of embassies. After the American Legion bought the house in 1941, it became the embassy of the People's Republic of Hungary in 1951, then passed to the New China News Agency in 1982 before Coolidge House Associates acquired it in 1987.
the style
Renaissance Revival (c. 1840–1915): The Italian palazzo reborn as banks, clubs, and brownstones: rough stone bases, orderly window rows, and a heavy top cornice.
More on Renaissance Revivalsignificance
The building is individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the House at 2437 Fifteenth Street, NW.
nearby
- Pink Palace
- Meridian Hall
- Warder Mansion
- Congressional Club
- Mary Ann Shadd Cary House
- Embassy of Mexico-MacVeagh House