Existing comment:
City Within a City
Greater U Street Heritage Trail
11 A Shared Neighborhood
Although Washington, D.C., has been a racially segregated city for much of its history, black and white Washingtonians have shared parts of this neighborhood.
The modern building across 15th Street sits on the site of Portner Flats, demolished in 1974. An 1897 apartment building, the Portner was occupied by white residents until the end of World War II. Its grand public dining room and parlors, large, high-ceilinged apartments, and many resident services made it a sought after address. Its elaborate drugstore entrance was a landmark on the corner.
In 1945, the Portner Flats became the Dunbar Hotel, at one time the largest black hotel in the nation. It was named for poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, who once lived in the adjacent neighborhood of LeDroit Park. The hotel became a popular gathering place for famous sports and entertainment figures, Howard University faculty, and other black professionals. Just up 15th Street stands St. Augustine Catholic Church, the city's oldest predominantly black Catholic congregation, founded in 1858 at 15th and L Streets. In 1961, the congregation took the dramatic step and merged with a white congregation, St. Paul's Roman Catholic Church, and moved into its 1883 Gothic Revival building. You can see it just north of the old Dunbar Hotel site, at the corner of Fifteenth and V Street. For 20 years, until 1982, it was known as St. Paul and Augustine. Today it continues to actively welcome members of all races and ethnic groups. |