BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Capitol Hill -- Hill Center (921 Penn Ave SE)

DC -- Capitol Hill -- Hill Center (921 Penn Ave SE):

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. HILLCT_160509_014.JPG: John Dahlgren Gallery John Dahlgren (1809-1870) spent much of his career at the Washington Navy Yard serving as an ordnance officer responsible for developing innovative military weapons. He was named the first Civil War-era leader of the facility in 1861, when the previous commandant and many officers resigned to join Confederate forces. Dahlgren left the Navy Yard in 1863 to command the Union blockade of southern ports. He returned in 1869 and served as commandant until his death a year later. In this photograph taken in Charleston, South Carolina, Dahlgren is standing in front of a Dahlgren gun, the distinctive bottle-shaped cannon that he invented while serving at the Washington Navy Yard. During the Civil War, the Washington Navy Yard was the home base for the Potomac fleet, which protected the river and city. Its ships transported soldiers to battle and carried the wounded back to the city for medical care. During his years in Washington, President Lincoln frequently visited the Navy Yard to meet with Dahlgren and other commandants who followed him.
2. HILLCT_160509_018.JPG: Abraham Lincoln Hall On March 14, 1864, in the midst of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) signed the Act of Congress that authorized an initial $25,000 for construction of the Washington Naval Hospital. Although work on the building began within months, the hospital did not admit its first patient until October 1, 1866, more than a year after the conflict had ended. A strong supporter of the Navy, Lincoln believed that the blockade of the South was critical to Union victory. During his presidency he often visited the Washington Navy Yard to discuss new weapons, review troops, or embark on river cruises. This photograph of the president was taken a little more than a month before he signed legislation authorizing construction of the Washington Naval Hospital. While serving in Congress from 1847 to 1849, Lincoln lived in a boardinghouse in Carroll Row on First Street Southeast, facing the United States Capitol. This post-Civil War photograph of Carroll Row shows Pennsylvania Avenue with Eastern Market and the Washington Naval Hospital barely visible in the distance. Carroll Row was torn down in 1887 for construction of the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress.
3. HILLCT_160509_027.JPG: John Philip Sousa Hall Known as the "American March King," composer and conductor John Philip Sousa (1854-1932) was born on Capitol Hill and grew up a few blocks from the site of the Washington Naval Hospital. Sousa's father, a Marine Band member, enrolled him as a Marine apprentice musician at age 13 to prevent the boy from joining a circus band. Sousa became renowned as the Marine Band's conductor from 1880 to 1892 and later organized his own band, which played concerts around the world. He is buried in Congressional Cemetery, less than a mile from the Marine Barracks. Sousa is famous for the military marches he composed, including Semper Fidelis, the official march of the United States Marine Corps, and Stars and Stripes Forever, the national march of the United States. The Marine Band was created in 1798 when President John Adams signed legislation to authorize the ensemble. The band performed its first public concert in 1800 and became the first musical group to play at the White House in 1801. Later, under Sousa's direction, the Marine Band went on its first concert tour in 1891 and gained new national prominence.
4. HILLCT_160509_030.JPG: Mathew B. Brady Gallery During the Civil War, photographer Mathew Brady (1823-1896) and his assistants carried their bulky camera apparatus onto battlefields, creating thousands of wartime images that brought the terrible reality of the conflict home to Americans. The photographers also roamed the city of Washington, DC, creating extraordinary images of the city's forts and defenses and other wartime series. Brady is well known for the portrait photographs of Civil War-era politicians, national leaders, and citizens, which were taken at his studio on Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, six blocks from the United States Capitol. Mathew Brady studied photography in New York and started his business there in 1844. He opened a Washington DC branch twelve years later, in time to document the faces and events of the Civil War. Brady employed several dozen assistants to work in his Washington studio or to take traveling darkrooms into the field. Many of his staff, including Alexander Gardner and Timothy H. O'Sullivan, later became famous photographers in their own right.
5. HILLCT_160509_040.JPG: Clara Barton Stairwell Known as the Angel of the Battlefield, Clara Barton (1821-1912) cared for wounded soldiers and organized the delivery of medical supplies during the Civil War. Her humanitarian efforts for Union troops were echoed in concerns that led to establishment of the Washington Naval Hospital. In 1865, Barton set up the Missing Soldiers Office at Seventh and E Streets Northwest. She spent the next four years tracing Union soldiers whose fate was unknown, including thousands who died at Andersonville Prison in Georgia. Later she campaigned for the establishment of the American Red Cross, an effort that finally succeeded in 1881. Barton came to Washington in 1854 to work as a clerk in the Patent Office and in the next years lived at various places in the city, including Capitol Hill She moved to her final home in Glen Echo, Maryland, in 1891. During the Civil War, battle wounds often were treated in the field, with the injured soldiers later carried to nearby temporary hospitals. Clara Barton worked ceaselessly to bring needed medical supplies to these improvised facilities.
6. HILLCT_160509_051.JPG: Ammi B. Young Gallery In 1864, the Navy Department hired architect Ammi B. Young (1798-1874) to give final shape to the design for the new Washington Naval Hospital and to oversee construction. Young also developed plans for the carriage house and the monumental fence. The project was completed in time for the first patients to be admitted on October 1, 1866. Young was a well-known architect when he began his work on the Naval Hospital building. He had served as the first Supervising Architect of the United States Treasury Department from 1852 to 1862, designing dozens of custom houses, post offices, and courthouses throughout the country. He also was the architect for the south wing of the United States Treasury Building, which still stands near the White House. Ammi B. Young was born in New Hampshire and began his career in New England, where he designed the Vermont State Capitol and buildings for Dartmouth College before moving to Washington, DC in 1852. Young designed for US Customhouse and Post Office in Georgetown while working at the Treasury Department. The building, still in use as a post office, was completed in 1858.
7. HILLCT_160509_057.JPG: Benjamin Henry Latrobe Boardroom In 1812, the Navy Department commissioned architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe (1764-1820) to design a hospital to serve members of the Navy and merchant marine to be built at a site near the United States Capitol. Although a naval hospital on Capitol Hill had been proposed since George Washington's era, this was the first time that an architect was asked to envision its design. Plans for Latrobe's building were abandoned after the British invaded Washington in 1814 and funds were needed for other purposes. Professionally trained in his native England, Benjamin Henry Latrobe came to Washington DC in 1803 at the request of President Thomas Jefferson to design government projects, including the United States Capitol and the Navy Yard. He lived on Capitol Hill, a few blocks from the site where the Washington Naval Hospital was built decades later. The ambitious design that Latrobe prepared for his naval hospital envisioned a U-shaped plan, a portico with Doric columns and a domed rotunda. The building was to be located on a site between the Navy Yard and the United States Capitol that includes what is now Garfield Park on Capitol Hill.
8. HILLCT_160509_065.JPG: Walt Whitman Art Classroom Poet Walt Whitman (1819-1892) came to Washington DC in late December 1862 to locate his brother George, a soldier who had been injured in the Battle of Fredericksburg. The poet stayed on to help care for the wounded at the city's crowded Civil War hospitals, becoming one of the most eloquent and compassionate voices of the war. Whitman often visited Capitol Hill during and after the Civil War, meeting friends at the home of well-known naturalist John Burroughs, or joining his friend conductor Peter Doyle on the Georgetown-to-Navy Yard horse car line. Whitman lived in Washington, DC for more than a decade. He moved to Camden, New Jersey, in 1873 to be with his family after suffering a stroke. Whitman often visited Armory Square Hospital, one of the dozens of temporary hospitals built during the Civil War to care for casualties brought to Washington from nearby battlefields. Because of its central location at Independence Avenue and Seventh Street Southwest, near the wharves. Armory Square Hospital often cared for the most seriously wounded men.
9. HILLCT_160509_072.JPG: Benjamin Drummond Hall Seaman Benjamin Drummond (1843-1881) became the first patient admitted to the Washington Naval Hospital when he arrived for treatment on October 1, 1866. Injured in a battle off the Gulf Coast of Texas in 1863, Drummond, an African American, was taken prisoner by Confederate forces and escaped. He later rejoined the United States Navy and participated in the blockade of Charleston Harbor under Rear Admiral John Dahlgren. Drummond's wounds reopened during service there, and eventually he was admitted to the Washington Naval Hospital, where he stayed for two years until his discharge in 1868. This photograph of an unidentified Union sailor in uniform was taken during the Civil War. Seamen such as Benjamin Drummond were issued a standard outfit made of lightweight blue wool when they enlisted. During the Civil War, many African Americans joined the United States Navy to fight for the Union cause. Eight had earned the Congressional Medal of Honor for heroism by the war's end.
10. HILLCT_160509_079.JPG: Elizabeth Haines Room Elizabeth Haines (1845-1928) was one of Washington's most successful nineteenth century businesswomen. As a widow with young children to support, she opened a small dry goods store in the Anacostia section of southeast Washington DC. Later she moved her business to a bigger building near the Navy Yard. By 1892, Mrs. Haines was able to build a large brick structure at Eighth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue Southeast, close to the Washington Naval Hospital. By then the surrounding blocks on Capitol Hill had filled with residences and the Haines store was able to thrive. To design her building, Mrs. Haines selected Julius Germuiller, the architect of many residences and commercial structures on Capitol Hill and elsewhere in the city. She claimed that hers was "the largest store in the world built, owned and controlled by a woman." The Haines Building was at a prominent commercial location where the Georgetown-to-Navy Yard street car line, marked in red on this map, turned onto Eighth Street. During the Civil War, Walt Whitman rode this line frequently with his friend, conductor Peter Doyle. Later the street car provided easy transportation from the Washington Naval Hospital to the Navy Yard.
11. HILLCT_160509_087.JPG: Harriet Jacobs Room Harriet Jacobs (1813-1897), herself a former slave, worked tirelessly in Washington DC, nearby Virginia, and later in southern states to improve conditions for slaves who had gained their freedom during the Civil War. Many of the former slaves lived in camps or temporary villages where she sought to improve sanitation and health care and to provide new opportunities for education. In 1861 Jacobs published Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, focused on the terrible impact of slavery on women. The book is now considered one of the most important slave narratives. Harriet Jacobs's account of her life in slavery originally was published anonymously. In the book she describes an abusive master and seven years spent hiding in an attic crawl space in her grandmother's home before her escape to freedom. This photograph shows an improvised school in a contraband camp late in the Civil War. The term contraband was commonly used for slaves who had escaped to Union lines during the conflict.
12. HILLCT_160509_094.JPG: Frederick Douglass Portico Born a slave on Maryland's Eastern Shore, Frederick Douglass (c. 1818-1895) escaped from bondage and became an influential writer, speaker, and newspaper publisher> During the Civil War, Douglass traveled to Washington several times to meet with President Lincoln, establishing a warm relationship with the president. Douglass wrote movingly of his life and escape from slavery in his widely read autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, which was first published in 1845. In 1870 Douglass and his family moved to Capitol Hill, first occupying a large home near the Capitol at 316-318 A Street Northeast. In 1877, the family moved a few miles to Douglass's final home, Cedar Hill, in Anacostia, shown below. Cedar Hill is a national historic site and is open to the public.
13. HILLCT_160509_141.JPG: Civil War Era Naval Anchor On loan from the National Museum of the United States Navy
14. HILLCT_160509_182.JPG: Gideon Welles Reception Room In 1863, Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles (1802-1878) officially proposed that a hospital should be built in Washington to care for the "sick and wounded of the navy." Approved in 1864, the structure became the Washington Naval Hospital. During the Civil War, Welles promoted the dramatic growth and modernization of the Navy, including construction of ironclad vessels. He also directed the successful blockade of southern ports, which prevented essential supplies from reaching the Confederacy and became an important element in Union victory. Founder of the Hartford, Connecticut, Evening Press, Gideon Welles was a firm opponent of slavery and staunch supporter of President Lincoln and his policies. he served as Secretary of the Navy from 1861 to 1869. This photograph of Welles was taken while the Washington Naval Hospital was under construction. The first major battle of ironclad vessels took place at Hampton Roads, Virginia, in March 1862. Although the engagement was considered a draw, it demonstrated the wisdom of Welles's policies and the importance of technological developments to Union success. After the battle, the Union vessel, the USS Monitor, returned to the Washington Navy Yard for repairs. She was viewed there by President Lincoln and many of the city's citizens.
15. HILLCT_160509_188.JPG: Francis M. Gunnell Administrative Office One of the most prominent medical directors of the Washington Naval Hospital, Francis M. Gunnell (1827-1922) served there from 1869 to 1872 and again from 1875 to 1879. As the hospital's chief administrator, he was responsible for care of the patients and for smooth operation of the facility. After leaving the Naval Hospital, Gunnell had a long and distinguished naval career, eventually achieving the rank of Rear Admiral. This is the first known photograph of the Naval Hospital, taken in 1870 during Gunnell's service there. At the time of the photograph, E Street Southeast was ungraded and the building was at street level rather than on a slight hill as it is at present. The building's main entrance faces south, toward the Navy Yard and Marine Barracks. Francis Gunnell was born in Washington DC. After studying medicine, he entered the United States in 1849 at age 22 as an assistant surgeon. During the Civil War he participated in the Union naval blockade of southern ports. Gunnell served as Surgeon General of the Navy from 1884 to 1888.
16. HILLCT_160509_194.JPG: Mary Prout Bradley Gallery When Congress authorized construction of the Washington Naval Hospital in 1864, Mary Proud Bradley (1810-1891) and her husband owned the western half of square 948 on which the structure was to be built. Negotiations to purchase the vacant lots probably began promptly, but it was not until 1865 that the Bradleys sold their property to the government for $4819.50. Mary had been born and raised near the Washington Navy Yard and had inherited the property from her father, William Prout, an early settler of the new Federal City. This detailed 1857 map of buildings in Washington, DC shows the sparsely settled blocks surrounding square 948 in the years just before the Civil War. Tunnicliff's Tavern, one of the first inns in Washington, was built in 1795 across Ninth Street Southeast from the property that Mary Prout Bradley inherited. By the time of the Civil War, the tavern had become a private residence. It later was used as a beer garden and eventually was torn down in 1931. The site is now occupied by Distad's service station.
17. HILLCT_160509_204.JPG: Michael Ignatius Weller Computer Lab A civic leader on Capitol Hill for more than forty years, Michael Ignatius Weller (1846-1915) worked tirelessly for improvements for the eastern half of the city, lobbying successfully for street paving and lights and a Pennsylvania Avenue bridge across the Anacostia River. He also was among the first citizens to propose public playgrounds for the city's children. Partly due to this work, Capitol Hill was transformed into a thriving city neighborhood during the era in which the Washington Naval Hospital was in operation. Born in England, Michael Wheeler immigrated to the United States in 1867 at age twenty-one. He married Rita Repetti, whose large family lived on Capitol Hill, and opened a successful real estate firm with her brothers. The Weller residence can still be seen a few blocks from the Naval Hospital. Michael Weller and the East Washington Citizens Association argued vigorously for a bridge to replace a ferry service across the Anacostia River at Pennsylvania Avenue. The iron bridge that resulted from their efforts, shown here, was completed in 1890. It was replaced by the modern Sousa Bridge in 1940.
18. HILLCT_160509_213.JPG: Sister Beatrice Duffy Hall Sister Beatrice Duffy (1827-1899), a member of the Sisters of Charity of Emmitsburg, Maryland, served as administrator of Capitol Hill's Providence Hospital from 1869 to 1898. The hospital had been created in 1861 at the request of city leaders to serve the needs of the civilian population when Washington's only general hospital was appropriated for military use. Under Sister Beatrice, Providence became one of the city's most innovative medical facilities and continued to serve the city's civilian population through the years that the Naval Hospital was in operation. Sister Beatrice can be seen seated to the left in this photograph. When she died in 1899, the Medical Board of Washington stated, "Viewed from any standpoint, Sister Beatrice must be graded as a woman of unusual power in her day and generation." Providence Hospital operated in temporary facilities for several years before construction began in 1866 for a permanent home. The building was completed six years later. Under Sister Beatrice's leadership, the structure was later expanded to become the largest hospital in the city. Patients were moved to a new building on Varnum Street Northeast in 1956 and the hospital's former home on Capitol Hill was demolished in 1964.
19. HILLCT_160509_220.JPG: Constantino Brumidi Gallery Italian-born artist Constantino Brumidi (1805-1880) designed and painted the lavish interior decorations of the United States Capitol from 1855 until his death in 1880. He had been trained in classical painting and drawing in Rome, Italy, before coming to the United States in 1852. Brumidi proudly became an American citizen five years later. While inspired by the art of the Italian Renaissance and ancient Rome, his paintings in the Capitol incorporate American plants, birds, and symbols. His grand allegorical painting of George Washington is in the Rotunda dome. Constantino Brumidi lived at several addresses not far from the Capitol building during his years in Washington. He painted the Apotheosis of Washington in the Capitol dome in 1865, at the same time that the Washington Naval Hospital was under construction. The fresco shows George Washington seated in the heavens surrounded by idealized figures, including thirteen young women representing the original states.
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