DC Recorder of Deeds Building/WPA Era Murals
515 D Street, NW
DC’s Art Deco/Art Moderne Recorder of Deeds Building (1941) houses city land records. Many notable African Americans have served as recorders of deeds since President Garfield appointed Frederick Douglass to the post in 1881. These include Branche K. Bruce, the first African American to serve a full term in the U.S. Senate. Artwork inside includes portraits of recorders of deeds. Selma Burke’s bronze relief of Franklin D. Roosevelt, a statue of a young Abraham Lincoln, and seven murals exploring “the contributions of the Negro to the American Nation,” such as the 54th Massachusetts, astronomer Benjamin Banneker, and explorer Matthew A. Henson.
Detail, Shaw at Fort Wagner, mural by Carlos Lopez (Courtesy, Recorder of Deeds Building)
[logo:] DC Historic District
Marker is on D Street, NW, west of 5th Street, NW.
Courtesy hmdb.org
