Meridian Hill Hall: From Wartime Housing to Howard University Dormitory to Luxury Apartments
Meridian Hill Hall, located at 2601 16th Street NW in Washington, D.C., has a rich and varied history, evolving from a government-owned hotel for female wartime workers to a Howard University dormitory and, finally, a luxury apartment building. Its story reflects the changing demographics and architectural styles of the Meridian Hill neighborhood and the broader social and political currents of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Origins as the Meridian Hill Hotel (1942)
The building was originally constructed in 1942 as the Meridian Hill Hotel. Overlooking historic Meridian Hill Park, the 644-room Meridian Hill Hotel was finished in 1942 as the first government owned hotel built exclusively to house young women who moved to the District to fill government jobs during World War II. This was a direct response to the influx of young women arriving in the nation's capital to fill essential government positions during World War II. As the first government-owned hotel of its kind, it addressed the urgent need for safe and affordable housing for these women.
Designed in the International Style, the building evidences the emerging Modernism architecture of the Meridian Hill Neighborhood’s apartment buildings built in the mid-20th century. The International Style, with its emphasis on clean lines, functional design, and rejection of ornamentation, was a hallmark of modernist architecture. The building is recognized by the National Park Service as a contributing structure in the Meridian Hill Historic District and is listed on the DC Inventory of Historic Sites. The building's design reflected the burgeoning Modernism movement evident in the surrounding Meridian Hill neighborhood's apartment buildings of the mid-20th century. Its architectural significance has been formally recognized by the National Park Service as a contributing structure within the Meridian Hill Historic District, further solidifying its place in the city's heritage. It is also listed on the DC Inventory of Historic Sites.
Howard University's Meridian Hill Hall (1969-2014)
From 1969 to 2014, Howard University owned and operated the building as an off-campus dormitory known as Meridian Hill Hall. This period marked a significant chapter in the building's history, as it became a home for generations of Howard students.
One former resident recalled her experience as a student living at Meridian Hill Hall, describing it as a pivotal time in her life. She and her fellow students spent her last two college years living at Meridian Hill, one of Howard’s off-campus residence halls. It was across the street from her favorite hangout, Malcolm X Park. Her world was always a Black one, and now, spurred by Howard, the cultural and political environment she had found in the community while still a high school student not only expanded but deepened. She loved Black books, Black arts and Black plays, and her love for all three grew exponentially during this time.
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Her experience reflects the broader cultural and political awakening that many Black students experienced at Howard during this era. Howard University, during this period, was in-between student revolutions. In 1968, the school’s rebellious spirit was punctuated by the four-day takeover of the Administration building by over 2,000 students. That struggle - for Howard to be more Africentric and more responsive to the needs of the Black community in the District and elsewhere - was well-documented in an episode of the second season of Eyes on the Prize. Howard provided a nurturing environment where Black students could explore their identities, engage in political activism, and develop a deep sense of community.
She also recalled that one of the great things at Howard I loved was that I had the honor of having Black professors, particularly Black female professors. She idolized Esther Vassar, her English teacher. She appeared to me to be socially conscious, visually and in content. She wore her hair natural when she was not wearing an African headwrap. She reveled in writing papers for her class. One of her favorites was “Black Love Is Black Wealth: Nikki Giovanni and Her Works.” Professor Vassar loved it as well, commenting in the margins, “Excellent! (Later, I would hear and read about Ta-Nehishi Coates’ experiences with Howard professors such as history master Dr. Edna Medford. I definitely related. On campus: I became a member of Black Literary Artists of Creative Kingdoms (B.L.A.C.K., yep, that’s how clear we were back then), founded by master storyteller Lorenzo Lord Callender. The writing class I signed up for was taught by Haki Madhubuti, a master poet I knew from the Black independent school movement that I had become deeply involved in by that time. One of my girlfriends, Denise Rolark, was in the same class. A daughter of a well-known Black newspaper publisher, Calvin Rolark, we went to junior high together. But now we had grown into ourselves: she did a thoroughly researched presentation on the history of the Black press, while I presented on my beloved Black independent schools movement. Now Denise Rolark Barnes has taken over from her father and has become a major player in the press and the D.C.
Ubiquity is Howard’s oldest Afrocentric service organization. “We are a collective who seeks to spread love to the D.C. “There is a special sort of welcoming you feel when you’re in a space with Ubiquitarians that reminds you of being with people you have known your whole life,” said Johnson. The sustainable camaraderie Ubiquity has to offer its members is one of its biggest accomplishments, as evidenced by its 44-year history. “College is a reinvention time. “Coming from a family where there was no emotional aspect, my [Ubiquity] family was like a substitute for my biological family.
Redevelopment as AME at Meridian (2019)
Sitting at the corner of 16th and Euclid Streets NW, âme at Meridian was redeveloped in 2019 as an 8-story concrete frame and brick building located across the north precipice of Meridian Hill Park in Washington, D.C. offering 206 luxury rental units, and a series of modern amenity spaces. The move to sell the dormitory has been in the works for a while now and President Wayne A.I. Frederick has been talking about it since 2014 when he attained his position. Apparently Howard received 12 responses from prospective developers before choosing to go with this one. Fuller’s article quotes Dr. “As a son of a Howard graduate, I take great pride in redeveloping this great asset and reimagining it for the future,” said Jair K. Lynch, president and CEO.
âme has been redeveloped as an 8-story concrete frame and brick building located across the north precipice of Meridian Hill Park in Washington, D.C. Built in 1942 and known then as the Meridian Hill Hotel, it was the first building constructed by the federal government during World War II to provide housing for female wartime workers. The rich history of the building offered exciting design opportunities, with the design team repurposing the project into a 187,586 SF market-rate rental property. BKV Group’s design strategy was to play off the historic elements by adding a modern touch to the spaces. The property now features a series of connected outdoor spaces to relax and work. Also, one of most attractive amenities for residents is the indoor swimming pool. As a part of the historic rehabilitation, the pool was placed back into service and offers aquatic exercise opportunities for the residents with the design team taking advantage of the voluminous space and converting the boiler plant room into a robust fitness center that is used by residents on a daily basis.
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Meridian Hill Park (Malcolm X Park)
Meridian Hill Park, also known as Malcolm X Park, is an urban park in Washington, D.C., located in the Meridian Hill neighborhood that straddles the border between Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights. The park measures 11.88 acres (4.81 ha) and is bounded by 15th, 16th, W, and Euclid Streets NW. It sits on a prominent hill 1.5 miles (2.4 km) directly north of the White House. The park was added to the District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites in 1964, the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1974, and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1994.
The land where the park is located was previously inhabited by the Nacotchtank tribe. In 1816, Commodore David Porter purchased the land, then known as Peter's Hill, and renamed it Meridian Hill, after the geodetic marker placed there in 1804 to establish a longitudinal meridian for the city and nation. Porter built a mansion on the hill, which was later occupied by President John Quincy Adams.
During the American Civil War, the mansion and surrounding land were commandeered by the Union Army and hosted Camp Cameron. The mansion was converted into a military hospital. The Union Army regiments stationed at Camp Cameron included the 8th Illinois Cavalry Regiment, 19th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, 8th Michigan Infantry Regiment, 1st New Jersey Infantry Regiment, 3rd New York Infantry Regiment, 7th New York Militia Regiment, and 2nd Vermont Infantry Regiment. As was common with other Union military camps, escaped slaves and freedmen worked or sought shelter at Camp Cameron. The mansion was destroyed in a fire in 1863.
Following the war's conclusion in 1865, Pettit sold the estate to Colonel Isaac E. Messmore in 1867, who subdivided the land. A small black community developed in the area, primarily in the present-day park's northeast section. The community consisted of laborers and house servants residing in simple frame homes, and a grocery store.
Wayland Seminary, which was founded in 1865 to educate black preachers and teachers, moved to this community when a large Second Empire school was built in 1875 on the corner of 15th (then called Columbia Avenue) and Euclid Streets NW. Among the alumni who attended Wayland Seminary after its move to Meridian Hill were Booker T. Washington and Adam Clayton Powell Sr. The school building was later demolished after the seminary relocated to Richmond, Virginia.
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In 1887, former senator John B. Henderson and his wife, Mary Foote Henderson, resettled in Washington, D.C., and purchased six lots at the intersection of Boundary Street (present-day Florida Avenue) and the newly extended 16th Street NW. The Hendersons then built an elaborate stone house, designed to resemble a castle, which became known as Henderson Castle (also known as Boundary Castle).
Mary, with many friends in Congress, had grand plans for the area, including Meridian Hill across the street from her house. Henderson put forward, without success, two ambitious proposals, one by architect Paul J. Pelz in 1898 and the second by Franklin W. Smith in 1900, both with designs to construct a colossal presidential mansion on Meridian Hill to replace the White House. She also unsuccessfully lobbied for the Lincoln Memorial to be built on Meridian Hill. The first Lincoln Memorial proposal Henderson lobbied for was a design by architect John Russell Pope. After this was rejected by the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA), she hired architects Frederick V. Murphy and Walter B. Olmsted to design another plan.
In 1902, the recently formed Senate Park Commission (with its McMillan Plan) undertook a set of formal changes to Washington, D.C.'s civic appearance, most famously by reconfiguring the city's National Mall. This was influenced by the City Beautiful movement, a reform philosophy in the 1890s and 1900s that sought to improve the sanitation and public spaces of cities. Aspects of the plan included extending 16th Street NW beyond the city limits and building "a series of parks and parkways…to secure a harmonious and consistent building up of the entire city of Washington". The plan for parks included building them on privately owned lots, including the ones between 15th and 16th Streets NW owned by Henderson.
In 1910, the CFA recommended purchasing Henderson's land. Senate Bill 7725 was proposed, which would authorize purchasing the property and condemning the buildings that stood there. On June 25, 1910, Congress approved establishing Meridian Hill Park, which would be overseen by the United States Army Corps of Engineers's (USACE) lead officer. Congress authorized $490,000 to purchase the property. At the time there were at least 35 houses in the present-day park's boundaries, all but two occupied by black residents, and two grocery stores. One of the stores was operated by Russian-Jewish immigrants. Harry M. Clabaugh, chief justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, appointed white businessmen to appraise the value of these properties. A few of the property owners accepted the appraised values, but the remainder did not.
The Office of Public Buildings and Grounds (OPBG), under the jurisdiction of the Interior Department, chose its lead landscape architect, George Burnap, to design Meridian Hill Park. Construction of the park began in 1915 when architectural sculptor and craftsman John Joseph Earley started work on building massive retaining walls facing 16th Street NW. This wall supports the upper level of the park, which rises above a sloping hill overlooking the lower level. The original design was for the retaining wall to be covered in stucco. Earley found the finish product "dull". He began working with concrete aggregate, a then-new type of building material consisting of a specially washed and exposed-pebble surface set into the concrete substrate. He called this material "architectural concrete". Earley would go on to use this material for walls, fountains, benches, and balustrades throughout the park.
Burnap was dismissed from the OPBG in August 1916 and Peaslee took over his role as lead landscape architect the following year. He altered some of the design features, which included replacing the planned formal gardens on the upper level with an open mall, suitable for gatherings and performances. He also simplified the reflecting pool design and removed a planned bridge over the cascading waterfall. Peaslee drew inspiration from the Villa Borghese gardens and Villa d'Este in Italy, with the end result being Meridian Hill Park's design based on a collection of Italian gardens and parks.
After submitting a proposal to the CFA in 1919, landscape architectural firm Vitale, Brinckerhoff, and Geiffert was hired to design the planting scheme. After the park's upper level was completed in 1923, that portion was opened to the public. The first public artworks in the park were installed in the 1920s: the Dante Alighieri statue, the Joan of Arc equestrian statue, and the Serenity sculpture. The Meridian marker installed in 1804 was removed when 16th Street NW was widened. It was relocated to the southwest corner of 14th and R Streets NW and used as a carriage step stool. It is unknown what happened to the marker since that time.
During the early years of the park's construction, the surrounding real estate market began to develop. After successfully thwarting Harry Wardman's plan to construct an apartment building on the northern edge of the park, Henderson was unable to stop the Meridian Mansions being built just north of her home, across the street from the park. Of greater concern was construction of the eight-story Hadleigh Apartments (now known as the Camden Roosevelt) on the southern edge of the park which partially blocked sweeping views of the city.
Work on the park's lower level was delayed due to a lack of funding from Congress. Between 1924 and 1927, only $98,460 was allocated for the park's construction. Following debate between members of the House of Representatives and Senate, $92,554 was allocated for work in 1928, less than one-fifth of the requested $500,000 to complete the lower park's original design. Due to these limits, Peaslee submitted a final redesign to the CFA which was approved in March 1928. The changes included eliminating a planned concert pavilion and an elaborate entrance facing 16th Street NW. Funding did increase the following years, with over $400,000 allocated between 1929 and 1932. Most of the park's major projects were completed by 1932, which included the memorial to Buchanan.
The following year, ownership of the park was transferred to the National Park Service (NPS). No funds were allocated for the park's construction between 1933 and 1935. During the last year of construction by the Public Works Administration in 1936, $145,000 was spent, bring the total cost of the project to $1,536,209. Despite OPBG director Clarence O. Sherrill and his successor Ulysses S. Grant III enforcing segregtion in many of the city's public spaces, Meridian Hill Park was never officially segregated.
The park has hosted various social events, protests, and rallies throughout its history. Social events have included the Starlight Chamber Music Concerts series, Summer in the Park program, and cultural festivals. Protests became prominent after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., with black nationalists and black militants holding rallies there through the 1980s. A drum circle that began after the assassination of Malcolm X still takes place, attracting people of all races and backgrounds because of changing demographics in the area. Due to this connection, the park is often referred to as Malcolm X Park by some residents. Other protests and rallies at the park have been organized by various groups, including ones demonstrating against wars, globalization, and presidential administrations.
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