Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church
- Year
- 1838
- Style
- Gothic Revival
- City
- Washington, DC
The congregation of Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church was founded in 1838 as Union Bethel Church, and its Gothic Revival building at 1518 M Street NW was dedicated in 1886, built by architect George Dearing after pastor John W. Stevenson's push for a new church cost him his position in a salary dispute. The church says it holds the oldest continuously Black-owned property in the original ten-mile-square District, and it hosted the funerals of Frederick Douglass in 1895 and Rosa Parks in 2005.
the building
A contested cornerstone. Pastor John W. Stevenson was appointed in 1880 to oversee construction of the new church and laid its cornerstone in 1881, but he was removed by the congregation before the building was finished after asking for a salary deemed too high.
the style
The building was constructed in the Gothic Revival style and dedicated in 1886, built by architect George Dearing after Stevenson's departure.
More on Gothic Revivalsignificance
The church is a DC Historic Landmark, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and has also been named to America's Most Endangered Historic Places.
nearby
- Sumner, Charles School
- Brodhead-Bell-Morton House (Levi P. Morton House)
- Denrike Building
- National City Christian Church
- The St. Regis Washington, D.C.
- Tower Building