2422 K STREET NW

The 2400 block of K Street was once the most prosperous section of what is now the Historic District.

No. 2422 is one of the Historic District's oldest, built in 1874 by Joseph Brown. Built in an "Italian Villa" style, it is the most ornate in the Historic District. Built of concrete-block, the house is three-stories high and three-bays wide and features a prominent oriel bay window with hood molding. It also has decorative insets with cupids in relief above the door and windows and detailing at the eaves over the door and oriel window.

The house was a gathering place for Filipino-Americans in the 1930s-1950s and featured a garden in Snows Court that grew native Filipino vegetables. In 2017, Filipino-American activists worked with the American Library Association to recognize the Manila House as a literary landmark, with a plaque in honor of author Bienvenido N. Santos. Santos (1911- 1996), wrote about the Manila House in a collection of short stories, "Scent of Apples," the winner of the 1981 American Book Award.

St. Paul's Episcopal Parish now owns the building, which housed the Acton Academy, a Montessori-based school. The Academy closed in the summer of 2023, leaving the building vacant.