Recorder of Deeds Building Tours Celebrate Building’s 65th Anniv., 02/27 February 27, 2007

Seventh Annual DC Recorder of Deeds Building Open Houses and Tours Celebrate Building’s 65th Anniversary
The District of Columbia Recorder of Deeds Building, completed in 1942, features seven recently restored WPA-era Black history murals (depicting African American heroes including Benjamin Banneker, Frederick Douglass, Crispus Attucks, Matthew Henson, and the Massachusetts 54th Regiment) and other artwork, in a building designed to house the only District agency led and staffed almost exclusively by African Americans for 125 years. Come visit the ROD Building and hear about the history of past recorders of deeds, including Frederick Douglass (the first Black recorder of deeds, appointed by President James A. Garfield in 1881) and Blanche K. Bruce, the work of such prominent African American artists as William E. Scott and Selma Burke, and see the building’s intact 1940s décor, which was almost lost to demolition in 2001.

The second 2007 open house will be held on Tuesday, February 27, 2007, from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM. Tours will be held at 6:00 PM and 7:00 PM. The tours are free and no reservations are required. The DC Recorder of Deeds Building is located at 515 D Street, NW, just one block from the Archives/Navy Memorial Green and Yellow Line METRO station and Judiciary Square Red Line METRO station.

For more information, call the DC Recorder of Deeds at 202-727-0419.

Sponsored by the DC Office of Tax and Revenue/Recorder of Deeds.