949 25TH STREET NW

A tall white brick building, No. 949, was built by H.F. Morris for Jas. Gowens in 1880. It has four stories and is crowned by a gable dormer window in the mansard roof, making it one of tallest row houses in the Historic District. It has a projecting square bay, highly decorative brick cornice, an altered front door (moved from the 2nd to the 1st/below grade) and double hung windows. It displays elaborate ornamental brickwork in a variety of patterns. Its four metal "star bolts" connect the façade to the joists behind the brick to stabilize the structure.

"Gowens, a plate printer maker moved into the house with his six children. Just seven years later, he built an even grander building next door at 949 and moved into the new house with his family; renting out the previous home (951 25th St.) to a white family, government worker Milton Ailes and his wife and two children. Also living in the house was an African American servant, Florence Page, the only live-in domestic help on this square in 1900." (A. Hoagland)