This article lacks inline citations besides NRIS, a database which provides minimal and sometimes ambiguous information.(November 2013) |
Meeting House of the Friends Meeting of Washington | |
Location | 2111 Decatur Place NW. Washington, D.C. |
---|---|
Coordinates | 38°54′49″N77°02′51″W / 38.9135°N 77.0475°W Coordinates: 38°54′49″N77°02′51″W / 38.9135°N 77.0475°W |
Area | less than one acre |
Architect | Price & Walton; Leon Chatelain Jr. |
Architectural style | Colonial Revival |
NRHP reference No. | 90001294 [1] |
Added to NRHP | September 06, 1990 |
Meeting House of the Friends Meeting of Washington (Friends Meeting House) is a historic Quaker meeting house at 2111 Decatur Place in NW Washington, DC.
The Colonial Revival building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
Surrounded by embassies, chanceries and military missions, the Meeting House of Friends Meeting of Washington was built in 1930 in a newly developed town house residential area. Twenty years later the building was enlarged on the south side. In 1970, the red brick town house and garden at 2121 Decatur Place, now known as Quaker House, was acquired for additional educational and community activities, and in 2019 the buildings were joined together with a new lobby and main entrance on Decatur Place.
The original grey stone structure, an outright gift to the Friends Meeting of Washington from a Rhode Island Quaker, has historical significance in the nation's capital. It was designed and built particularly to accommodate the then President, Herbert Hoover, a Quaker. The President and his wife, Lou Henry Hoover, worshipped here when in Washington. They attended the first meeting for Worship held January 4, 1931. The First Lady was present at the laying of the cornerstone. Secret Service arrangements were less formidable than now.
Of further historic interest, a ground floor room now used as an office has a beamed ceiling of timbers that had been built into the White House in 1814, part of the repair after the British burned Washington. The beams were removed during a later repair and renovation in 1927. The architect, Walter F. Price, located them in a local mill.
Most of the exterior of the Meeting House is faced with Foxcroft stone, an unusual, if not unique, facing stone on Washington area buildings. It has a lively grey coloring and a satin-like texture. The Foxcroft stone came from a quarry in Pennsylvania and is no longer available.
The grounds were landscaped by the well-known landscape architect, Rose Greeley. The landscaping and the placing of the building were intended to create a miniature park. The grounds of most urban Meeting Houses are enclosed by brick or stone walls which often shield a burial ground. The 2019 renovation completely reconfigured and terraced the west garden space.
A special feature of the terrace is a sun dial with the names of Fox, Penn and Woolman cut in stone and the inscription, “I mind the Light, dost Thou?” George Fox was the founder of the Society of Friends in 17th century England; William Penn established the “holy experiment” in Pennsylvania; John Woolman of New Jersey crusaded relentlessly against slavery in the 18th century.
Inside, the building is simple and functional. The Meeting Room with benches, about half of them facing each other, is used primarily for Meetings for Worship on Sundays, for weddings, memorial services, business meetings, lecture and other public gatherings. Visitors will note the absence of the usual features of church interiors: altar, pulpit or lectern, organ, choir space, stained glass, ornamentation, memorial tables and so on. None are necessary for worship after the manner of Friends-there is no minister, creed, sacrament, music, nor prescribed ritual. Silence is the basis for worship, although anyone who feels moved to do so may speak. Visitors are always welcome but prepared messages or forum discussions are not appropriate to the Meeting for Worship.
A library located on the same floor as the Meeting Room contains an extensive selection of books, pamphlets and periodicals of historical and current interest on the Society of Friends and Quaker social concerns.
A Friends meeting house is a meeting house of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), where meeting for worship is usually held.
The Benjaminville Friends Meeting House and Burial Ground is a Friends Meeting House of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), located north of the rural village of Holder in McLean County, Illinois. It was once the site of a now-defunct village called Benjaminville, founded in 1856 after Quakers settled the area. More Quakers followed, and the burial ground, then the current meeting house in 1874, were constructed. This site, listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places since 1983, is all that remains of that village.
The Cornwall Friends Meeting House is a historic meeting house located on a 5.4-acre (2.2 ha) parcel of land at the junction of Quaker Avenue and US 9W in Cornwall, New York, United States, near Cornwall-St. Luke's Hospital. It is both the oldest religious building in the town, and the first one built. In 1988 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places as a well-preserved, minimally-altered example of a late 18th-century Quaker meeting house.
The Smith Clove Meeting House is a Quaker place of worship in Highland Mills, New York, United States, a short distance from NY 32 on Smith Clove Road. It is the oldest religious building in the town and village of Woodbury, dating to the beginning of the 19th century, and is still used by the nearby Cornwall Quakers for meetings at least once a year.
The Friends Meetinghouse is an historic Friends Meeting House of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) located at the junction of Routes 146A and 98 in Uxbridge, Massachusetts. On January 24, 1974, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
The Arch Street Friends Meeting House, at 320 Arch Street at the corner of 4th Street in the Old City neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is a Meeting House of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Built to reflect Friends’ testimonies of simplicity and equality, this building is little changed after more than two centuries of continuous use.
The Saylesville Friends Meetinghouse is an historic Quaker meetinghouse located at 374 Great Road within the village of Saylesville in the town of Lincoln, Rhode Island.
The Ifield Friends Meeting House is a Friends meeting house in the Ifield neighbourhood of Crawley, a town and borough in West Sussex, England. Built in 1676 and used continuously since then by the Quaker community for worship, it is one of the oldest purpose-built Friends meeting houses in the world. It is classified by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building, a status given to buildings of "exceptional interest" and national importance. An adjoining 15th-century cottage is listed separately at Grade II*, and a mounting block in front of the buildings also has a separate listing at Grade II. Together, these structures represent three of the 100 listed buildings and structures in Crawley.
The Nine Partners Meeting House and Cemetery is located at the junction of NY state highway 343 and Church Street, in the village of Millbrook, New York, United States. The meeting house, the third one on the site, was built by a group of Friends ("Quakers") from the Cape Cod region, Nantucket and Rhode Island in 1780.
Friends Meetinghouse is a historic Quaker meeting house at 4th and West Streets in Wilmington, Delaware in the Quaker Hill neighborhood. The meeting is still active with a membership of about 400 and is part of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. It was built in 1815–1817 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
Coanwood Friends Meeting House is a redundant Quaker meeting house under the care of the Historic Chapels Trust. It stands in an isolated, sparsely populated valley south of Hadrian's Wall, in East Coanwood, about 5 miles south of the town of Haltwhistle in Northumberland, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.
Littlehampton Friends Meeting House is a Religious Society of Friends (Quaker) place of worship in the town of Littlehampton, part of the Arun district of West Sussex, England. A Quaker community has worshipped in the seaside town since the 1960s, when they acquired a former Penny School building constructed in the early 19th century. The L-shaped, flint-faced structure, consisting of schoolrooms and a schoolmaster's house, has been converted into a place of worship at which weekly meetings take place. The house is a Grade II Listed building.
The Goose Creek Meeting House Complex is a Quaker worship center, with an original 1765 Meeting House, an 1817 meeting house, a burying ground, and the Oakdale schoolhouse in the village of Lincoln, Virginia. The complex is on the site of the original log meeting house, built about 1750. The 1765 meeting house is a one-story stone building, and was converted to a residence after the construction of the 1817 meeting house.
Iowa Yearly Meeting House-College Avenue Friends Church is a historic church building located in Oskaloosa, Iowa, United States. The Colonial Revival structure was designed by Bloomington, Illinois architect A.T. Simmons, and completed in 1913. As their membership declined, Quakers in Iowa decided to concentrate on a few fundamental tenets of their faith, but gave way on their traditional concerns about simplicity and restraint. This more elaborate building replaced a simple 2½-story, brick and stone structure that was completed in 1865. The building project was a cooperative arraignment that included the Yearly Meeting, the Monthly Meeting, and nearby William Penn College. Oskaloosa had been chosen as the location of the Iowa Yearly Meeting, or the denominational headquarters, because of its central location to where the Quakers settled west of the Mississippi River. The previous building had separate meeting facilities for men and women, and this one does not. That separation was no longer considered necessary by the time this building was built. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.
Decatur Terrace, commonly known as the Spanish Steps, is a terrace in the Kalorama neighborhood of Washington, D.C., located on 22nd Street NW, connecting Decatur Place NW and S Street NW. Formally named Decatur Terrace Steps and Fountain, the nickname is a reference to the Spanish Steps in Rome. Washington's Spanish Steps are listed in the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing feature in the Sheridan-Kalorama Historic District, designated in 1989.
Godalming Friends Meeting House is a Friends meeting house in the ancient town of Godalming in the English county of Surrey. One of many Nonconformist places of worship in the town, it dates from 1748 but houses a congregation whose roots go back nearly a century earlier. Decline set in during the 19th century and the meeting house passed out of Quaker use for nearly 60 years, but in 1926 the cause was reactivated and since then an unbroken history of Quaker worship has been maintained. Many improvements were carried out in the 20th century to the simple brick-built meeting house, which is Grade II-listed in view of its architectural and historical importance.
Friends meeting houses are places of worship for the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers. A "meeting" is the equivalent of a church congregation, and a "meeting house" is the equivalent of a church building.
The Roaring Creek Friends Meeting House is a historic place of worship for members of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, in rural Columbia County, Pennsylvania, near Numidia on Quaker Meeting House Road.
Blackheath Quaker Meeting House is a Grade II listed building in the London Borough of Lewisham. It has been the home of Blackheath Quaker Meeting since 1972, and is also used by many community groups. Designed by Trevor Dannatt, it is believed to be the only Quaker Meeting House in Britain built in the Brutalist style. In the survey of Quaker meeting houses conducted by the Architectural History Practice for Historic England and Quakers in Britain it was described as a "Brutalist jewel" and "of exceptional aesthetic value".
Howgills in Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire, England, is a Grade II listed building on the Register of Historic England in use as a Meeting House for the Society of Friends (Quakers).