Quattro Osteria
LeDroit Park
Quattro Osteria
GROUNDED IN HISTORY
LeDroit Park was established by Howard University faculty member and trustee , Amzi Barber as one of the first suburbs in D . C . Marked as an all-white community , the neighborhood was enclosed by a fence and even hired guards to keep Black people from entering . After many protests , the fence was removed in 1888 and by the 1890s , prominent African Americans started to move in . Most of the white families had left the neighborhood by WWI and LeDroit Park became known for its notable Black residents .
Famous inhabitants included educator and suffragist Mary Church Terrell and her husband , Washington ’ s first Black municipal court judge , Robert A . Terrell . Mary was the first African American to serve on the D . C . school board and in 1950 , at 87 years old , she led the movement to integrate restaurants in D . C . The Terrell house , located at 326 T Street is a National Historic Landmark . The country ’ s first African-American general , General Benjamin Davis , celebrated poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar , jazz legend Duke Ellington and the first elected African-American senator , Edward Brooke , all lived in LeDroit Park . More recent residents include Walter Washington , D . C .’ s first African- American mayor and civil rights leader Jesse Jackson .
ARCHITECTURAL STANDOUT
A walk through LeDroit Park is like strolling through a life-sized design display . Besides the famous Victorian structures , Italianate , Gothic , Queen Anne and rowhouses are scattered from street to street , creating a lively mosaic of styles . James McGill , a prominent architect of the era , designed 64 houses with Italian villas and Gothic cottages as inspiration . Elaborate carriage houses , Victorian turrets slicing the sky , scalloped rooftops and large estates with sprawling lawns are just some of the architecture represented . Typically , modern American zoning laws don ’ t allow such extreme diversity in housing structures contained in one neighborhood . The enclave provides a visual experience that ’ s unlike what you would experience in most other cities . Today , 50 of the original McGill houses remain and LeDroit Park is listed on the National Register of Historic Places .
HOWARD UNIVERSITY
Perhaps the most recognizable landmark in LeDroit Park is Howard University . Founded in 1867 as a private , historically Black research university , famous alumni include Vice President Kamala Harris and actor Chadwick Boseman . Howard has played a major role in shaping and influencing the neighborhood . The college started as a single-frame
FLYWASHINGTON . COM 44 AUTUMN 2023