2409 I STREET NW
Year Built
1909
Click photo below to see full sized image.
D. Vogt, 2022
Documents
History
Nos. 2407-2411 have typical flat-fronts and simple ornamentation, but are distinguished by wide stone lintels accenting the windows and corbelled brick that decorates the dentilled cornices. They are two-stories high and three-bays wide with a flat façade. They are brick in a Flemish bond pattern. This row was designed in 1909 by A.H. Beers for builder Simon Oppenheimer.
There was an earlier house at this address, with residents as early as 1881.
2409 was merged with 2407 I Street and there is additional description under that listing.
Resident/Owner
1881 - William Henderson, laborer (City Directory)
1884 - Gustavus E., lime burner and Marion Cozzens, 1 yr old infant daughter Mary dies, funeral at residence, (Evening Star, Sept. 9, 1884, p.3)
1885 - House is listed for rent for $10.30 a month (Evening Star, April 10, 1885, p. 4)
1887 - Mr. and Mrs. William F. Ellis and baby daughter born (The Critic and Record, Feb. 24, 1887, p. 4)
1887 - William Cozzens, laborer, Richard Cozzens, bricklayer, Michael Clancy, laborer (Boyds Directory)
1908 - The lots 2407 and 2409 I St. , "valuable improved real estate" were auctioned by Thomas J. Owen and Son Auctioneers (Wash. Post, Apr. 19, 1908, p.9 and Evening Star. Apr 16, 1908, p. 19).
1909 - The renters in 2407-11 I Street were all African Americans: Charles Harper, a rigger for a granite company, William J. Davis, a messenger for the War Department; William T. Nolan, a serviceman at an auto supply store; and Jesse White, a cook in a lunch room. All of them had other members of the household who worked as well -- children, lodgers, a sister-in-law (A. Hoagland, DC Rowhouses)
1910 - Residents in the house placed a Wanted ads offering services as "washing and cleaning by the day" by a colored woman (Wash. Post, Sept. 12, 1910, p.9) and a "chambermaid and waitress" by neat colored girls (Wash. Post, July 20, p. 12) and a driver (Wash. Post, July 8, 1910, p. 13).
1912 - A Wanted ad is placed offering services of an experienced "chauffeur" (Wash. Post, Oct. 31, 1912, p.12)
1914 - William J. and Reginia Davis. In 1917, Geneva E. Davis dies just before age three (Evening Star, June 23, 1917, p. 5) and infant Beatrice Davis dies at two days old (Times Herald, Apr. 23, 1917, p.9)
1920 - Virginia Davis, laundress/ William J. government employee, and Raymond Davis, age 7, b. 1913, DC
1936 - Albert Davis, age 18 marries Regina Brown, age 18 who lives at 2610 I St. (Evening Star, Sept. 20, 1936, p.51).
1941 - Resident Benjamin Franklin Tillman, age 22, marries Betty Ruth Lassiter, age 20 of 2502 I St. (Wash. Afro American, Dec. 6, 1941, p. 26)
1943 - Resident Fannie Happel marries at age 22 (Evening Star, Mar. 16, 1943, p. 32)
1947- George Cooper, age 26, charged with assault with a dangerous weapon on Christmas Eve; he suffered a bullet wound to the hand (Wash. Post, Dec. 31, 1947, p.22)
1958 - 1963 (+) Elizabeth Harter
1983 - Charles M. Bruce
Recollections
Source Material
EHT Traceries historic building survey, 1983
Foggy Bottom News, June 1958
Foggy Bottom News, June 1963, member directory
Boyds City Directory, 1914
FBA History Project, "Working-Class Row Houses." Clio: Your Guide to History. https://theclio.com/tour/2098/3
FBA History Project, "The Historic District's Longest Row." Clio: Your Guide to History. https://theclio.com/tour/2098/18
The Row House in Washington DC: A History, UVA Press, Alison Hoagland, 2023 (p. 244)
Sumner School Archives, DC, Briggs School student register, 1920-21
Street view (D. Vogt, May 2022)
Students celebrate as the semester ended. (D. Vogt, June 2024)
Rear facades of 2411, 2409, 2407 with depth and height variations. (D.Vogt, spring 2021)