Existing comment:
African American Heritage Trail, Washington, DC
Dunbar Theater/Southern Aid Society
1901-1903 Seventh Street, NW
The Southern Aid Society, one of the nation's oldest black insurance companies, opened this building as its headquarters in 1921. At the street level it housed the Dunbar Theatre, a popular movie house owned by the Murray family. Offices occupied the second floor, and apartments the third. The building's architect, Isaiah T. Hatton, graduated from M Street High School in 1905, then studied steam engineering and worked as a draftsman in the office of architect William Sidney Pittman. Hatton also designed the Whitelaw Hotel (1839 13th Street, NW), the Industrial Savings Bank (12th and U streets), the Murray Palace Casino (918 U Street), and a number of churches and private residences. |