Sumner, Charles School
- Year
- 1872
- Style
- Second Empire
- City
- Washington, DC
The Charles Sumner School, built in 1872 on a former Freedmen's Bureau school site, was one of the earliest schools for African Americans in Washington, D.C., and became the first teachers' college for Black citizens in the city, later serving as headquarters of its segregated school system. It was designed by prominent local architect Adolf Cluss and named for Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner, the abolitionist who fought for the end of slavery in the District and for Black citizens' right to ride the city's streetcars.
the building
Cluss's design. Adolf Cluss's design for the school won a design award at the 1873 Vienna Exposition, international recognition for a building built to serve Washington's Black community during Reconstruction.
the style
The school was built in the Second Empire style, popular for American civic buildings in the 1870s, as part of Cluss's award-winning design.
More on Second Empirethe architect
Adolf Cluss was a prominent Washington architect who designed the Sumner School, work that earned him a design award at the 1873 Vienna Exposition.
significance
The Sumner School is individually listed as a DC Historic Landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places; it now houses a small museum, a research room, and the archives of the District of Columbia Public Schools.
nearby
- Saint Matthew's Cathedral and Rectory
- Mayflower Hotel
- General Federation of Women's Clubs Headquarters
- Elizabeth Arden Building
- Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church
- Brodhead-Bell-Morton House (Levi P. Morton House)